HockleyPilot
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New Doorstep Bag Service Announced from Midway brought to you by your favorite Delta Connection Carrier.
Bag lost in-flight found
Luggage landed near Midway Airport
By Jon Hilkevitch | Tribune transportation reporter 9:40 PM CDT, October 22, 2007 A garment bag stowed on board a flight from Midway Airport made an unscheduled landing less than a mile from the airfield, federal authorities said Monday.
The bag was accidentally jettisoned from a Delta Connection plane Sunday morning when a cargo-bay door opened shortly after takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Atlanta-bound plane, carrying 70 passengers, returned safely to Midway, officials said.
An employee of the Belt Railway Company of Chicago found the luggage Monday on rail yard property at 6900 S. Central Ave., officials said.
"It is now in transit on its way to be reunited with its owner," said Kate Modolo, a spokeswoman for Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which operated the flight for Delta Connection.
A duffel bag that also fell out of the plane's cargo hold was still missing on Monday, she said.
The lost luggage had been checked at the gate and loaded onto the regional jet as passengers boarded the aircraft, officials said.
Airline inspectors had recently written up the plane, a 70-passenger Bombardier CRJ700, for deferred maintenance on a malfunctioning indicator light on the cargo door, the FAA said. But the aircraft was cleared to fly after ground crews completed a visual check to ensure the door was properly latched before flight, authorities said.
Investigators were assessing whether there is a connection between the faulty door light and the hatch door opening during flight, officials said.
The plane was later flown to Atlanta, without any passengers, for inspection and maintenance, Modolo said.
"The decision to put the door light problem on deferred maintenance and go ahead with the flight may have been legitimate, but it is an interesting coincidence that this incident occurred," said Fred Mirgle, chairman of the aviation maintenance science program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
"Incidents are going to happen, but those doors are damned important to the safety of the people on board the airplane," Mirgle added.
Meanwhile, the FAA estimated that the garment bag traveled only about a half-mile southwest of Midway on its intended 590-mile trip to Atlanta—and then plunged about a half-mile vertically into the rail yard.
The pilots of the plane detected a pressure problem in the cabin and flight instruments indicated that the cargo door, on the left side of the aircraft in front of the wings, had opened while airborne, said FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory.
"The loss of pressurization would be clear [to the pilots based on] gauge readings and physical symptoms," Cory said. "For example, you can hear the air blowing."
An inspection after the plane returned to Midway showed the cargo door was ajar, Modolo said. Initial FAA reports incorrectly stated that the door had separated from the plane, setting off a hunt for the door as well as the lost luggage.
It is very rare for aircraft doors to open or come off during flight, according to a database compiled by the National Transportation Safety Board. In the few cases that have occurred over the years, the most frequent cause was the failure of ground crews to properly latch the doors, the safety board said.
Sunday's luggage incident marked only the latest surprise landing in the neighborhoods surrounding Midway.
In January, a turbine wheel from the engine of a cargo plane landing at the Southwest Side airport crashed through the roof of the house of an elderly Archer Heights resident. The hot piece of metal landed in the women's bedroom, luckily missing her and her cocker spaniel. The incident was attributed to engine failure.
In 1999, a tire fell off a Northwest Airlines plane as it took off from Midway. The tire crashed through an airport fence and struck a car driven by a pregnant woman near Central Avenue and 63rd Street. Neither she nor her 7-month-old fetus was injured.
Bag lost in-flight found
Luggage landed near Midway Airport
By Jon Hilkevitch | Tribune transportation reporter 9:40 PM CDT, October 22, 2007 A garment bag stowed on board a flight from Midway Airport made an unscheduled landing less than a mile from the airfield, federal authorities said Monday.
The bag was accidentally jettisoned from a Delta Connection plane Sunday morning when a cargo-bay door opened shortly after takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Atlanta-bound plane, carrying 70 passengers, returned safely to Midway, officials said.
An employee of the Belt Railway Company of Chicago found the luggage Monday on rail yard property at 6900 S. Central Ave., officials said.
"It is now in transit on its way to be reunited with its owner," said Kate Modolo, a spokeswoman for Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which operated the flight for Delta Connection.
A duffel bag that also fell out of the plane's cargo hold was still missing on Monday, she said.
The lost luggage had been checked at the gate and loaded onto the regional jet as passengers boarded the aircraft, officials said.
Airline inspectors had recently written up the plane, a 70-passenger Bombardier CRJ700, for deferred maintenance on a malfunctioning indicator light on the cargo door, the FAA said. But the aircraft was cleared to fly after ground crews completed a visual check to ensure the door was properly latched before flight, authorities said.
Investigators were assessing whether there is a connection between the faulty door light and the hatch door opening during flight, officials said.
The plane was later flown to Atlanta, without any passengers, for inspection and maintenance, Modolo said.
"The decision to put the door light problem on deferred maintenance and go ahead with the flight may have been legitimate, but it is an interesting coincidence that this incident occurred," said Fred Mirgle, chairman of the aviation maintenance science program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
"Incidents are going to happen, but those doors are damned important to the safety of the people on board the airplane," Mirgle added.
Meanwhile, the FAA estimated that the garment bag traveled only about a half-mile southwest of Midway on its intended 590-mile trip to Atlanta—and then plunged about a half-mile vertically into the rail yard.
The pilots of the plane detected a pressure problem in the cabin and flight instruments indicated that the cargo door, on the left side of the aircraft in front of the wings, had opened while airborne, said FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory.
"The loss of pressurization would be clear [to the pilots based on] gauge readings and physical symptoms," Cory said. "For example, you can hear the air blowing."
An inspection after the plane returned to Midway showed the cargo door was ajar, Modolo said. Initial FAA reports incorrectly stated that the door had separated from the plane, setting off a hunt for the door as well as the lost luggage.
It is very rare for aircraft doors to open or come off during flight, according to a database compiled by the National Transportation Safety Board. In the few cases that have occurred over the years, the most frequent cause was the failure of ground crews to properly latch the doors, the safety board said.
Sunday's luggage incident marked only the latest surprise landing in the neighborhoods surrounding Midway.
In January, a turbine wheel from the engine of a cargo plane landing at the Southwest Side airport crashed through the roof of the house of an elderly Archer Heights resident. The hot piece of metal landed in the women's bedroom, luckily missing her and her cocker spaniel. The incident was attributed to engine failure.
In 1999, a tire fell off a Northwest Airlines plane as it took off from Midway. The tire crashed through an airport fence and struck a car driven by a pregnant woman near Central Avenue and 63rd Street. Neither she nor her 7-month-old fetus was injured.