Update: Bullet Found Aboard US Airway Flight That Was Grounded Yesterday
- Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:33pm by
Emily Esfahani Smith
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WASHINGTON (AP/THE BLAZE) — A US Airways plane bound for Charlotte NC was grounded yesterday after the pilot found a hole in the fuselage, as we reported earlier. Today, investigators have found a bullet aboard a US Airways plane that was grounded in Charlotte, N.C., after a pilot making a pre-flight inspection found a hole in the fuselage, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.
The official said there is no evidence so far that there was an intent to target the plane.
FBI agents were interviewing ground crew members at both ends of the plane’s flight Monday from Philadelphia to Charlotte. Agents also have interviewed passengers.
The location of the hole found above a window toward the rear of the Boeing 737 suggests that a bullet came in from above, not from below, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigations.
Investigators also are trying to determine whether the craft was on the ground or in the air when it may have been hit, the official said.
The airline said there were no apparent problems during the flight. The plane seats 144 people, although it wasn’t clear how many were aboard. The hole in the aircraft was being repaired and the plane was being returned to service.
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Comments (55)
elr4
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 12:25pmDuh!!! The magic bullet came from the grassy knoll !!
Report Post »bkeely
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 10:27amGuns don’t shoot planes, people shoot planes.
Report Post »======================
Buck
http://www.***************
Heirloom Seed, ‘How God plants His garden.’
vivrobbins
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 6:47amI give up.
Report Post »dcwu
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 6:13amObama acts the way a Chechen terrorist would act as President. Is he a red muslim?
Report Post »Suzee
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 2:26amthose pesky space aliens……….how did they get their hands on our bullets……hmm maybe those agents bought them at a gun show and gave them to space aliens so we could track them too.
Report Post »lillianrose
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:53amLOL, I had the same thought!
Report Post »Parnell3rd
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 1:58amI’m thinking, maybe another pilot circa John Belushi in the move 1941.
Report Post »caprica
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 1:19ammore bad news tomorrow ..press one for English !
Report Post »caprica
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 1:18ammore bad news tomorrow…nothing good is happening since obama sat on his throne….no jobs, high food prices, gas price, war on Lybia helping the same terrorists that attcked USA soldiers in Iran …bad news everywhere, …it will get much worst…this is obama change and hope agenda.
Report Post »impeach this bastard and it will get better for all of us
JETJOCKEY737
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 1:13amHas anyone considered that the aircraft may have been banked when hit? Makes the location of the bullet hole a lot less miraculous.
Report Post »338lapua
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 7:35amInteresting, I bet you are onto something. I was going towards falling round until you suggested this. A banking aircraft presents a much larger target,plus it slows down. But a .40 cal. bullet…..sounds like some knob in the hood pointing his gun at a plane.
Report Post »JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 12:32amI think it is just a case of what goes up must come down, some where.
Report Post »OUTRIDER WRITER
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 8:13amRight. Consequence of firing a bullet into the air. (For you sniper theorists: Would you hire him, based on that shot?)
Report Post »mickrussom
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 12:23amThe communists are simply trying to make this a big deal to do away with our Second Amendment, our god given right to firearms and defense further buttressed by the US CONSTITUTION.
Report Post »donh2
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:31pmSabatoging airplanes is Mummar Khadaffi’s preferrred means of revenge. Security needs to be especially tight as long as he still lives.
Report Post »Goldlady
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:17pmI live here and let me tell ya, this place is a rathole. Remember that 16 year old that fell out of the wheel well to his death on approach to Boston’s Logan Airport last December? That flight originated from Charlotte-Douglas International. They never did find out how he got access to the tarmac.
They’ve already ruled out the shooting range nearby, which was a training range for police.
It was a .40 caliber bullet and I would not be surprised to find it was someone in the airport shooting down toward the plane. I also would not be surprised if they don’t solve this.
Report Post »mikenleeds
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:04pmomg , just another excuse to scream gun control
Report Post »Exrepublisheep
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:09pmHMmm, just another excuse to complain about the president. I think its Bush’s fault. Where was Cheney when the shot was fired? A hole in a plane? Don Trump has fake hair.
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:00pmMaybe the dhimmis in the Obama government, like Janet Napolitano and Eric Holder, should start doing their job instead of using the Samantha Power/George Soros/U.N. doctrine “Responsibility to Protect” to go into Libya to partner with the vile enemy al Qaeda.
Report Post »xoke
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:58pmThey flew over St. Louis?
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:56pmI had to laugh out loud when they went on to say this:
“The official said there is no evidence so far that there was an intent to target the plane.”
Well what were they targeting then?
Report Post »marine249
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:54pmhit from above
sniper man in the moon
Report Post »en1mac
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:53pmDisgruntled Stewardess?
Report Post »miles from nowhere
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:51pmSomeone was shooting weapons within range of the airport and one of the bullets dropped in there, would be my best guess.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:53pmThey say their is a gun range …. 7 MILES! away if I remember correctly.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:58pmOne hell of a shot, probably bigger than a .22
Report Post »psycodad36
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:42pmso they don’t know a damned thing, if it came from above,trajectory would mean it was more than likely on the ground when struck.or bad anti American shots fired from above.which more or less would have caused seriouse cabin damage.either a freak accident or a poorly tryed and failed attempt at another of our airliners
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:40pmIf you ring that buzzer one more time, I swear……
Man, the flight attendents are getting touchy.
Report Post »dontbotherme
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:48pmDarmok…. :D
Report Post »LadyIzShy
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:39pmfrom above? and it was probably an accident? is that the line of bull they want me to swallow?
oh please
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:38pmThat means someone fired in the air & the bullet landed on the plane or there was a sniper @ the airport .
Report Post »Dale
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:51pmI suspect the unions – after all they are trying to unionize tsa – think about it.
Report Post »PeachyinGA
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:52pmI vote, sniper at the airport. The other option seems less likely.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 1:05amAs others have speculated, this COULD be a legitimate accident – someone firing a rifle into the air from a distance and via the law of probability hit the plane when it came down. I just have to wonder if someone took a potshot at it though during the landing or takeoff stage sometime in the flight.
Report Post »My Two Cents
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 12:21pmIt could have been a Libyan rebel celebration. They seem to have an affinity for shooting their guns in the air with no concern for where the bullets might land.
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:36pmI hope this does not start another effort to ban all guns.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:40pmJust aboard planes.
Report Post »PeachyinGA
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:48pmWhile our president is handing out guns in the streets of Libya, our vice president is trying to restrict sales of bullets in America. Go figure!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:49pmDarmok:
I will not put anything above the administrations usage of events for their own means; Napoletano would love something like this to turn into a major event she can use to get the heat off of her part of the government over the gun smuggling fiasco.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:51pmit didn’t come from inside .. they say it came from above .. you would have to be pretty high to shoot above a window on an airliner .. seems very strange to me … someone in the control tower? On top of a hanger … observation area? .. very strange.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:56pmSnow
I think you just broke the case, it was a plane of illiegals smuggling guns, while secretly being sent to Libya, but someone forgot to put on their safety, they reached up to switch on the light and boom, winning.
Or it could have been Charlie Sheen on a bender.
I think I vote for Charlie Sheen.
You are right though, I wonder what Big Sis and Hillary are going to say about this.
Report Post »J.C. McGlynn
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:58pmDamn, I’m good. Can’t hit the side of a barn but a plane at 30000 feet
Report Post »Wilkins
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:06pm@CatB, could be someone a distance from the airport discharged a gun up into the air. Depending on the firearm it could come down a couple miles away. Doesn’t mean someone was targetting the airplane. Could be just carelessness / stupidity / ignorance of firearms safety, or someone just playing asshat. In the middle east people are often killed or injured when bullets someone has fired into the air in ‘celebration’ come back to earth.
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:21pmFly the friendly skies but stay away from Liberal bastions filled with welfare and empty promises they just might be disgruntled.
Report Post »1TrueOne55
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:30pmIf the bullet trail indicates a downward trajectory then it would have been fired into the sky. Totally random act of God. Or maybe from a Libyan rebel firing his gun in the air. This is why when reporters show video of rebels in the middle east shooting into the air, I begin praying for the reporters safety since what goes up must come down according to God’s Law of Universal World Physics called gravity. I would interview the Police firing range to see if there was any safety incident at the range in which a weapon was discharged into the air…
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:42pmHow the dickens can you shoot DOWNWARDS at an airplane?
Report Post »redneck
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:43pmChris Rock said it best, “bullets should $5,000″. People would be more selective in their targets.
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:44pm@J.C. McGlynn
Report Post »Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:58pm
Damn, I’m good. Can’t hit the side of a barn but a plane at 30000 feet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From above it, too!
t00nces2
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 8:08amBanking turn landing… Some idiot shot at it thinking he would miss, but didn’t… or, some nefatious shot at the plane hoping to make a lucky kill shot.
Report Post »GODSAMERICA
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 10:53am@bikerr
Report Post »Actually following obama standard way of doing things, he will put a moratoram on airplanes for 6 months or so.
robin.kevin
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 11:55amTo the comments about a falling bullet, its a good idea but the truth is a falling .30 cal bullet only has the force of about 30 foot pounds. It may be possible for a falling bullet to kill someone if it hit just right but not likely and more so the idea of it making a whole in a plane I think would be even more unlikely…
However that would not rule out a stray bullet shot high such as someone shooting over a hill thus the bullet does not change direction and does not come to a stop before falling it would not loose as much force. But without knowing when the hole was made its almost impossible to pin point when where, how and from what firearm it came from… With air traffic controllers sleeping in the tower I think a stray bullet is the least of concerns in airplane safety…
Report Post »drago
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 1:06pmA bullet shot into the air, would hit the plane at a downward angle, on its return to earth, not hard to figure out.Most likely the plane was on the ground, when someone thought it would be cute to fire a gun into the air.And the way the muslims like to shoot into the air with their ak’s, makes ya wonder……
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