It's a bird! It's a plane! It's the door to a plane falling to the ground? Flying can be a scary experience for some, but the anxiety might be upped a bit when the plane's door suddenly detaches from the aircraft. This was the case for those on the Canadair CL60 this week.
On Wednesday, the Canadair flight departed from Opa-Locka Executive Airport in Miami around 4 p.m. The plane contained several passengers who were headed towards Pompano Beach, but it had to take a detour to Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport when the plane's main cabin door detached and fell onto a golf course, shortly after takeoff.
The large door, with retractable boarding stairs attached, reportedly fell right between two buildings before hitting the ground on the golf course at the Southern Florida Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hallandale Beach. The door then skidded for about 15 feet across the green.
After being diverted to Fort Lauderdale, the plane landed safely and no one on board was injured. It did leave airport staff a bit baffled though.
"An airport vehicle met the aircraft as it exited the runway and escorted it to Bombardier Aviation (a maintenance facility on the airport) where it was discovered that the main cabin door was missing," FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.
"Before your next arrival or departure, I need to do a runway inspection. I just had an aircraft (that) lost a door. Want to make sure nothing is on the runway," a ramp controller radioed the air traffic control tower. Staff was not immediately aware that the door had settled on a golf course.
Luckily, no one on the ground was injured, as the incident occurred on one of the two days of the year that the golf course closes for maintenance. The door was later removed by a tow truck.
The plane had the unique identifying number, or tail number, N207JB. This same number belonged to an aircraft that crashed in 2009, according to National Transportation Safety Board records.
The FAA is investigating the event and trying to figure out what caused the door to detach.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
