Qantas jet lands with hole in the aircraft by Magdalena Rosova

Explosion took place in Qantas jumbo jet. Suddenly a hole the size of a small car appeared in the floor. Fortunately, plane at 29,000 feet with 346 passengers safely made emergency landing in Manila.

Only few nausea and no injury happened, according to airline officials. They say the accident has to link to terrorism. The passengers and crew flew by different plane then and arrived in Melbourne Saturday morning.

Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Aviation, told: "From the pictures that we've seen out of Manila during the course of the day, it would seem that one of the panels to the outer skin of the aircraft has literally come away from the rest of the fuselage."

As a consequence, the aircraft experienced huge decompression. Even though it is common for metal panels o be lost from plane in flight, it rarely causes the holes of instance like in Qantas. Investigators will examine closely the fracture points.

Passengers, on flight from London to Melbourne, described hearing a big bang and as the air rushed out the hole their ears were pipping. The pilot quickly put the plane to 10,000 feet, where the air is breathable. No one was hysterical. "It was absolutely terrifying, but I have to say everyone was very calm," said passenger June Kane. As the plane successfully landed, applause went up.

Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said it was soon to determine what caused the hole. They will interview the crew and examine the structure of the plane.

Geoff Dixon, the chief executive officer of Qantas, thanked the pilots and the crew for how they handled Friday's events.

The passengers were taken to several hotels and then left on another plane to Melbourne. Qantas has a strong safely record and has never lost a jet to an accident, even though there were few crashes of smaller planes in the past. Since 1951 there have been no accident causing death on their jets.



related story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/25/quantas-jet-lands-with-ga_n_114931.html

by Magdalena Rosova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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edited by Beata Biskova