Jet loses panel and continues flying

An American Airlines flight took off from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport last month and lost a panel from its belly shortly thereafter. The plane landed at its destination of Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport without incident, and now an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration aims to determine the cause of the mishap.

Officials at American Airlines say the pilot thought the loud noise was caused by shifting cargo, and a flight attendant described “a loud shaking noise from the belly of the plane” followed by a noise that “sounded like an explosion.” Ground crews in Paris were the first to notice a panel giving access to an air conditioning unit was missing.

American’s manager of flight operations Jim Kaiser said, “There was no way this crew could have known this panel had departed. If they had known, they obviously would have returned.”