Entry #24: Qantus Jet Cracks Open In Mid-Air

I'm not a big fan of flying, so whenever I hear a story about a plane breaking apart in mid-air, I get a bit worried. Today a Qantus 747 busted a hole in the fuselodge in mid-flight, causing the oxygen masks to come down and the pilots to execute an emergency landing.

Passengers described hearing a loud bang and seeing debris fly into the cabin. As the plane depressurized, oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and cabin crew members shouted to passengers to put them on.

“There was a terrific boom and bits of wood and debris just flew forward” into the first-class area, a passenger, Dr. June Kane, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

Another passenger, Phill Restall, of Chippenham, England, said that he was awakened by the sound of what the authorities said may have been an explosive decompression, but that there was no panic.

“It dawned on a lot of people that this was a major incident,” he told the British Broadcasting Corporation. “There was no screaming. It wasn’t your typical television movie.”

Thankfully nobody was hurt, although a lot of people were pretty shaken up obviously. Thankfully nothing like that has every happened to me (although I was on a plane that went into a steep dive once).

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