Non-fatal inflight emergency landing in Yuma, Arizona
Southwest Airlines Flight 812
The 737 involved, after the incident. The yellow arrow indicates the failure in the upper fuselage skin.
Incident
Date
April 1, 2011 (2011-04-01)
Summary
Rapid decompression caused by in-flight structural failure
Site
near Yuma, Arizona
Aircraft
Aircraft type
Boeing 737-3H4
Operator
Southwest Airlines
IATA flight No.
WN812
ICAO flight No.
SWA812
Registration
N632SW
Flight origin
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, Arizona
Destination
Sacramento International Airport, Sacramento, California
Occupants
122
Passengers
117
Crew
5
Fatalities
0
Injuries
2
Survivors
122
Southwest Airlines Flight 812 was a Boeing 737-300 passenger jet that on April 1, 2011, suffered rapid depressurization while cruising at 34,000 ft (10,000 m) near Yuma, Arizona, leading to an emergency landing at Yuma International Airport. Two of the 123 people on board suffered minor injuries. The aircraft was operating Southwest Airlines' domestic scheduled service from Phoenix, Arizona, to Sacramento, California.[1]
The depressurization was caused by the structural failure of the fuselage skin, which produced a hole approximately 60 inches (150 cm) long on the upper fuselage.[2][3][4][5] The NTSB investigation revealed evidence of pre-existing metal fatigue, and determined the probable cause of the incident to be related to an error in the manufacturing process for joining fuselage crown skin panels.[2]
The incident was the second of this type in less than two years, following the structural failure of Southwest Airlines Flight 2294 in 2009, and led to the FAA increasing the inspection rate of certain airframes.
^"Holed Southwest Airlines flight makes emergency landing". BBC News. April 2, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
^ abCite error: The named reference NTSB report was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Six-foot hole opens in 737 during flight". King5 News. Archived from the original on April 4, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
^"'Plane going down. Love you'". NBC News. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
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