Cunningham with oxygen mask, looking...bemused?
A Southwest flight from Nashville to Baltimore had to make an unscheduled stop at 6:15 p.m. Monday when a hole opened up in the cabin of the plane, at the base of the vertical stabilizer, according to NBC Washington.
Passenger Michael Cunningham was catching up on some sleep when he got an eyeful of the friendly skies at altitude:
"All of the sudden, the loudest noise I ever heard came out of nowhere," he said. "There was no pop, no creak, no explosion-like noise. There was just a loud roar. It took me a couple of seconds to wake up. I got the baseball cap out of my face and I look up and there's the sun coming through the ceiling. ...I saw sky where I shouldn't be seeing it."
Oxygen masks fell from the overhead compartments when the cabin lost pressure. Remarkably, the 737 landed without incident and no one was injured. Southwest will be inspecting the rest of its fleet. Airline officials say the inspections shouldn't cause any delays today. Follow the link to see a slideshow with images of the hole.
Waiting on word from Southwest. As soon as I hear something I'll update this post.
Update: According to the AP, what caused the football-sized hole to form isn't clear, and the National Transportation Safety Board says it could take some time to determine.
