 The 737 involved, after the incident. The yellow arrow indicates the failure in the upper fuselage skin. | |
| Incident | |
|---|---|
| Date | April 1, 2011 |
| 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 122 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.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
NTSB reportwas 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. April 2, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
- ^ Pew, Glenn (April 2011). "Southwest In-Flight Fuselage Rupture (With Video)". AvWeb. Retrieved April 2, 2011.