An error at the factory was responsible for an area of thin fuselage skin that allowed the fuselage of an American Airlines Boeing 757 to rupture, tearing an 18-in by 7-in (46-cm by 18-cm) hole over the forward left passenger door and causing a rapid decompression, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.1
The Oct. 26, 2010, decompression prompted an emergency landing at Miami International Airport. None of the 160 people in the airplane was injured.
The accident was one of several recent instances in which an airplane fuselage ruptured, causing a rapid decompression. The events prompted the NTSB to convene a public forum in late September to examine issues associated with aircraft fuselage structural integrity — the first of several sessions designed to provide a closer look at situations associated with recent accidents.
In its final report on the Miami accident, the NTSB noted fatigue cracking in the fuselage crown skin, where the rupture occurred, …
