Delta Jet Loses Wing Panel During Orlando-Atlanta Flight

[steve2470]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/delta-jet-loses-wing-panel_n_4977400.html

Passengers on a Delta jet got a bit of a scare on Sunday when a panel on one of the wings apparently flew off during a flight from Orlando to Atlanta.

David Watterson told ABC News he was falling asleep when he heard a boom and saw a missing wing cover and hydraulic fluid leaking from the opening.

He told ABC News that while passengers remained calm, it was “concerning to see a big chunk of the plane missing.”

Michael Lowe later tweeted this image:



*end*

Is this a maintenance issue or ? Incredible.

[valerief]

1. Unions schmunions! The ruling class wants mo' money! nt

[LeftinOH]

2. The first thing I thought-

[Eleanors38]

5. Ha! That was a great episode.

[longship]

7. There's some THING on the WING!

Classic Shatner.

[ellie]

10. My favorite adaptation

[IMG][/IMG][/URL]

Terror at 5-1/2 feet.

[shanti]

8. haha!

me too!

[Orrex]

3. Think of how much money they could save by not including those panels in the first place!

[Eleanors38]

6. And no worries about panels flying into control surfaces!

[TorchTheWitch]

4. All week I've been watching tons of plane crash investigations

The one thing that scares the shit out of me is how horrible maintenance or even the actual design of the plane/controls are.

What's so terrifying is that in horrific crashes when it's a maintenance issue it's the tiniest little thing that not only creates havoc on the physical plane but what it does to the controls and how little pilots can do anything no matter how knowledgeable and experienced they are.

One I just watched last night I'd never heard of before was a British airliner where because of shoddy maintenance practices bolts used to replace a windshield were a hair smaller than the correct size. In flight the windshield blew out and it SUCKED the pilot out of the plane where he was held on to by crew members by his feet while a tornado of wind was going on in the cockpit, yet the single co-pilot brought the plane down in a perfect landing, and no one died. This one for some reason disturbs me in so many ways more than others with great loss of life. Can you even IMAGINE a pilot being sucked out of the windshield with crew members hanging onto him for dear life by his feet not just to try to save him but so that he wouldn't get sucked into the engine if they let go and blow the engine assuring a crash that would have killed everyone?...

Kind of long but worth the watch.

[magical thyme]

9. yeah but they saved 2 cents and 10 minutes labor

gotta keep those profits rolling in for the 1%ers.

Seriously -- holy shit.

[laundry_queen]

12. I watch mayday religiously

I remember that episode.

It's shocking to me the crappy repair work that goes on. And as you say, the smallest thing - 1 defective bolt or something can bring down an entire jet. Scary shit. Especially in these days of cost cutting. The freakiest one for me was the one about bogus parts. It's better now, but for years there was no way to tell and many of those bogus parts are probably still on planes from those years of repair. Parts that are just waiting to fail...

[Lurks Often]

11. Probably a maintenance issue

Looking at the picture there doesn't seem to be anything that would suggest metal fatigue or externally caused damage.

The hydraulic leak was almost certainly caused by the hydraulic line suddenly being exposed to a 400+ MPH air stream, something it wasn't designed to withstand.