The wing body fairing is held on by screws, not rivets. It is made of composite material and does not contain the pressure of the cabin. It is there to smoothly direct airflow past the wing/fuselage intersection. The hole in the fuselage (where the baggage can be seen) is the focus.

Jeff Dyrud, Thief River Falls, MN, USA

Got nothing to do with the plane itself or maintenence factors. There was obviously something that EXPLODED from the inside.

WSAS, Melbourne,

Sudden and extreme pressure caused the floor above the cargo hold to buckle the aluminum cargo igloo to come apart and a large section of fuselage to blow out and off, The girls I hang out with call this an Explosion. And so do I.

Peter, Vancouver. BC., Canada

They were lucky, not only because the crew managed to fly the plane down to earth, but also because the nature of the hole was such, it seems, that not too much air must have come in, otherwise, at that altitude, where the temperatures are way sub zero, they would have frozen to death.

David E, Liverpool,

Well who would have thought it, I have flown on 'city of newcastle' longreach on a sydney-singapore-london sector two years ago now, and experienced the best in service, quality, smoothness and flight efficiency, and though what happened yesterday, I will continue to fly qantas on trips downunder

Mike, Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom

Qantas is not the ONLY airline not to have killed a paying passenger!

I'll name a few:
Virgin
Easyjet
Monarch
Ryanair
First Choice Airlines
Evergreen (EVA)

need I go on?

Joe Soap, London, UK

David Learmount, Safety Editor at Flight International Magazine, said: "There's a hole where there shouldn't be."

Amazingly insightful observation.

J Jenkins, York,

Photos indicate that this not a piece of "fairing" falling off. This is a failure of a large piece of the shell of the plane. The shell of the hull and its supporting girders and frames comprise its structural integrity and this is in a highly stressesd area. Urgent honest survey and report required

Vince E., Southampton, UK

July 19 regarding bomb threats on its QF2 LA to Sydney flight and delayed these aircraft citing very credible threats. It would seem one bomb got through, luckily it didn't bring down the aircraft. If the explosive had been placed 10 to 15 feet further back it would have been a different matter.

Lee King, sydney, australia

Re: F Smith, London, England - Yes, to those onboard I'm sure that the crew seemed like heroes. Many also probably believed that their prayers and god helped out too. The reality is that the well-trained crew did their job. No more, no less. Doing your job well shouldn't be seen as exceptional.

Bill, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Cabin crew especially do not get praised enough for their job, here is a perfect example of how they kept the situation calm well done to them, and the pilot for an excellent job in keeping them all safe, god bless all who were aboard, I cant imagine how frightening that must have been.

E Mason, Lincoln, England

The THY DC-10 incident was quite different. The damage caused in that case led to complete loss of control of the a/c. To compare that to this is like saying a minor bump on your fender is akin to completely destroying your car. Rapid descent to FL100 is BASIC procedure in the event of rapid decomp.

Thom Browns, LAX,

"explosive decompression" is a type of decompression that indicates rapid loss of cabin pressure and results in visible moisture and a loud bang. This is opposed to "fizzy decompression" which is a slow loss of pressure and is much less noticable with virtually no noise.

Mark, Las Vegas, USA

Any lay person would reason that "explosive decompression" would only cause a hole in the outer fuselage, not into the passenger compartment as reports indicate. An explosion would result in blast damage in all directions as opposed to damage to the outer fuselage only from depressurization.

Dave, Milton, USA

I'm sure those people who were on that plane, in fear of their lives, would perhaps not consider the description of the pilots and crew as 'heroes' an overstatement (re: Martin, MEL). If I was in that situation, no praise would be high enough, considering the alternative.

F Smith, London, England

I am advised that the floor of the passenger compartment was pushed upwards. This would indicate an explosion rather than fatigue.
We shall have to wait frm more evidence.
Well done the Crew who did all the right things.

Adrian, Ringmer, England

I find it interesting that no mention has yet been made of chemical analysis. Even a university undergraduate is capable of conducting a chemical analysis to determine the presence
of residue from chemical explosives. Why has this not yet been
mentioned, when it is so fundamental and obvious?

Mike Cato, Vestal, NY, USA

Thank heaven for the the positive outcome of this very disturbing event today. Kudos to the flight deck and flight attendants for a job well done. This could have been a very sad day. We all should take a moment and thank whomever one prays too for the safe landing that was.

J W Ford, Key West, Florida, United States

dropping to 10,000' as a emergency decent manuver is standard protocol for decompression. seems like a non-event to me - the reason for the hole could be from MANY reasons, the most obvious one to me would be ground crew failded to latch a cargo hold door properly. not the first to come off n flt

mike , seattle,

The comments about QANTAS sending its maintenance offshore & the quality is questionable is more Aussie racism coming to the surface. This aircraft's last THREE services were in AUSTRALIA - in 2008, 2006 and in 2004.

If this is a structural issue then maybe its best ALL the services are abroad

jce, sunshine coast, Australia

What ever the cause.. Qantas is a superb airline, they fly daily some of the longest sectors in the world, I am sure they will get to the bottom of this, if you were to look at the records of all "the great" airlines of the world you will find instances that have occured.. my money still with QF.

Will, Melbourne, Australia

Lets not jump to any conclusions until the proper analysis has been done. The last thing the world needs is hysteria about airplane travel due to a terrorist incident. Great job Qantas crew for a smooth and steady landing!

Joyce DaCunha, Lugano - Ticino, Switzerland

As a former Qantas ground engineer I am curious. The luggage that can be seen through the hole indicates something holed both the aircraft skin and the aluminium container holding the luggage. The only thing I can think of is either a bomb or one of the oxy cylinders exploding (they're in the area).

Anthony, Sydney, Australia

"It is not unusual that parts fall off aircraft in flight". As an airline pilot, I beg to differ. It is most unusual. Inevitably, the media sensationalises the incident. A descent in such circumstances is controlled and regularly practised by pilots during recurrent training.

John, Eastbourne, UK

1) Sudden decompression, automatic release of O2 masks, rapid decent to 10k, land at nearest airport. All very textbook. Pilot and crew did their jobs as trained. Heroes is an overstatement. 2) Contracting maintenance work to overseas providers has nothing to do with the quality of said work.

Martin, MEL,

To determine whether or not the incident was a result of a bomb explosion or structural
failure, a simple analysis for chemical explosive residue is all that is needed, I find it peculiar that
this is not mentioned in any of the articles I have read concerning this incident.

Mike Cato, Vestal, NY, USA

"(Lockheed knew about this but deemed too costly to remedy)"

I really don't know if Lockheed knew, or not. But, I suppose that they decided to leave the fix to Douglas, since it was Douglas that built the DC-10.

The initial fix for the problem on the DC-10 was "nickel and dime".

Henry Hillbrath, Chalfont, PA. , USA

About 1990 we had a 2m wing flap fall into the top of a large Horse Chesnut tree in the garden; Windsor fire brigade recovered it and arranged for BAA Heathrow to collect it.
BAA Heathrow later said they were unable to offically record the incident, as no airlines had reported a missing wing flap !

Peter Hooper, Windsor, UK

25 years ago, Canada changed over from gallons to liters. Nobody told the guy filling the tanks with fuel. Result ? A Boeing 737 on a trip from Toronto to Vancouver ran out of gas at the Manitoba/ Ontario border. They landed at an isolated WW2 strip by gliding the plane. No passengers injured.

w alexander, delta, Canada

This DC10 is made by McDonnell Douglas, not Lockheed as an earlier post had stated. Most likely a structural failure in the fuselage, which then caused the fairing to be torn off as some mechanics have indicated. BTW I am a license aircraft mechanic and currenty work at a Boeing supplier.

Joe, tulsa, usa

'The hole blown in the side...could have been caused by an explosive device or a damaged fuselage.'
This doesn't make sense. A hole in the side of a Boeing 747 IS a damaged fuselage.

Steve, Torrington,

Bob and David,
you don't know what you are talking about, the two DC10 events are completely unrelated to the Qantus incident.
On the DC10 the cargo door cam locking system did not engage correctly, the decompression of the Qantus 747 looks as if it was caused by corrosion or cracks in the skin.

Keith D Flanigan, Hoofddorp, Netherland

Let's clarify. Qantas does maintain planes offshore - not this one, though (last 2 overhauls were in MEL). No doors were involved. For some reason a hole has occurred, which also blew off the wing-body fairing (which makes the damage appear worse). Pilots were superb. ANYTHING ELSE IS GUESSWORK.

Dave, Sydney, Australia

All this talk about being the same as the DC-10 is complete cobblers.The DC-10 crashes were caused by a design fault in the cargo door locking system(Lockheed knew about this but deemed too costly to remedy).In this case I would not speculate at the moment.Just relieved that everyone got down safely

Julian Newphry, Newcastle, Australia

Having traveled for years to many parts of the world - flying is still the safest way to go. Qantas is an excellent airline and Boeing planes are the best, however, it is starting to bother me that maintenance is being done oversease. It is the same for most airlines - scary!

Ellie, Bay Area, USA

Some Qantas maintenance has been moved off-shore. Some is done in Los Angeles & Singapore - to world best standards. These centers are not cheap and standards are very high. Have you never shopped around for better service at a better time which resulted better efficiency (and, yes, did save money).

Quintin, Bulimba, Queensland

Actually Southwest killed a boy on the ground.The plane overran the runway,plunged through a fence at Chicago Midway and crushed a car with a family driving down the freeway.Southwest pilots are known as the cowboys of aviation,they taxi too fast and take alot of chances,they have been very lucky .

Sandy, Medina, USA

Might have been caused by a bomb... oy. Well, in that same vein, perhaps it was struck by a meteor.

rick jones, sunnyvale, ca, USA

Shame to say but this once great Australian airline is now a not so great Asian airline. Most maintainence jobs have been moved overseas to save on costs and, unfortunately, the quality of the workmanship isn't what should be expected. By the way it is QANTAS (QLD And NT Air Services). There is no U

Nathan, Sydney, Australia

Qantas (no "u" by the way), has lost passengers over the years, but none in the jet age.

John Phillips, Sydney, Australia

To Claire of Milton Keynes -- The very best to you and your husband (who was a passenger). Your post stopped me in my tracks. Thank God for the outcome.

I'm no aviation expert but I am a thinker.... The rapid descent to 10k ft. had to be right out of the text book. Good on you, pilots!

Bill O', Vermont, USA

100+ yrs of aviation and we still can't build them right!

Compounding the situation is that the airlines are in financial trouble so they may do whatever to cut costs: keep planes in service longer, skip some maintenance steps, look for cheapest parts and help.

Dennis, Dallas TX, USA

'Quantas is the only airline in the world that has not killed a paying passenger.' I believe Southwest Airlines in the US also has that distinction.

RNB, Atlanta, USA

Well done the pilots for bringing the plane down with no loss of life, this time everyone onboard was real lucky. To suggest an explosion incites fear of extremist action, how about some good news that an accident happened and everyone survived?

joe, cambridge,

Interesting that this is the fourth incident for Quantas this year alone. I'm curious if all incidents were on 747 aircraft? Seems like they need greater safety overhauls on their aircraft.

Andrew, Kansas City, USA

My brother in law just arrived from Australia to Alabama. He worked his career at Quantas at Brisbane. Quantas is the only airline in the world that has not killed a PAYING PASSENGER. They are the greatest and safest. This incident just proves once again that they know their business and are trained

PmFunk, Decatur, Al, USA

Why does the story make it seem like the plane "plunged" uncontrollably from 30k feet to 20k? A loss of pressure would not cause this! It's the standard response to bring the aircraft to 10k feet expeditiously because 10k is considered an altitude safe for oxygen content when compared to 30K feet!

Ben, USA,

What's the story on Qantas moving part of their maintenance procedures offshore as part of a cost-cutting exercise? Anyone able to update on this? The incident does show the sturdiness of the 747 airframe, & the survivability of air incidents, in spite of what may be possible undetected corrosion

dave edwards, London,

"Pictures of the aircraft clearly show ..." Total RUBBISH! The fairing panel coming off was just INCIDENTAL. It was an explosion INSIDE the hold that RIPPED a hole in the fuselage AND ALSO BLEW LUGGAGE UPWARD THROUGH THE FLOOR PER WITNESS ACCOUNTS!!!

Mike M, Boston MA, USA

Bob,
The DC-10 plane crashed twice for the same reason, the viewing hole was only fitted after the first crash but it was not used properly so the second crash occured, i believe the first crash was in the USA and the second was in Paris

Rachel, Lymm,

So, why not ground all Boeing 747-400 aircraft until the cause has been established?

Stu Peters, Nova Scotia,

Naleen,

I prefer traveling on aircraft manufactured with original -- rather than recycled -- material.

Using recycled material to manufacture aircraft might lead to many more of these incidents.

Roger Jennings, Oakland, CA, USA

This is incredible piloting, for sure. I could not imagine the terror that must have been felt by the passengers. And I guess it is hard not to look at flight attendants as much more than flying caterers until a real emergency strikes and we are reminded that they are much more. Bravo to the crew!!!

Ellen Hilburn, Washington, USA

Qantas has had a series of incidents in recent years; including quite a few with its lo cost company Jetstar in Australia
From what I have read in the Australian media, this aircraft was recently refitted in Victoria, and quite a lot of rust was detected in this 17 year old aircraft
A worry?

Tony Becker, Nice, France

All I can say is 'Thank-you' to the crew for getting the plane down safely. My husband was amongst the passengers, he said that the feeling that there is absolutely nothing you can do was the hardest thing to get your head around. However the crew and the Captain acted calmly and efficiently.

Claire McGeechan, Milton Keynes, UK

Hazel--

The DC-10 in the THY crash already had the window to check if the cargo door was properly locked; it did, however, have the too-short bolt.

Bob Washington, Manchester, USA

Thank god for the safe landing of the plane and the passengers inside. I hope that the passengers get the help their need to deal with ordeal. I just hope that all airlines update their airliners with alternative energies and recycled material to reduce cost for themselves and the passengers.

Naleen Lal, Northern California,

"He said the hole had exposed some bags in the hold which are usually contained in metal containers. "It's interesting to see them - how else could that be if not an explosion?". Since the hold is pressurised so are the metal cases so when the hold loses pressure quickly the cases will rupture.

William Garrett, Harrow,

I knew there was a reason why I do not fly Qantas.

Farrukh, Woking,

Duh, If you are at normal cruise of 32,000 feet you have to drop 20,000 feet to get to atmospheric air that you can breathe without a mask (12,000 feet). Such a drop is normal and required. The problem was serious but don't make the descent sound like it wasn't intended.

Gary Smyth, McMurray, U.S.

I am no engineer, but a licensed aircraft mechanic. Based on the pictures it appears the forward wing root fairing departed the aircraft. I doubt a bomb caused it. The edges of the damaged area are too "clean" for a bomb blast. l suspect loose or corroded fasteners that gave way.

Mark G, San Diego, USA

"plunged 20,000 feet" is sensationalist reporting. Standard pilot practice in decompression situations is to dive to breathable air altitude, the plane did not plunge by itself or be uncontrollable. The pilots and crew are to be commended for their quick reactions to save everyone.

RR, DC,

Bob Travels- and I have been completely misled by Bollywood. I thought that it would be normal for the beautiful hostesses to start singing duets with the Pilots as the passengers provided the chorus.

Kara Swart, London, uk

Don't you just hate the way that whenever there's an aviation incident they wheel out veteran David Learmount for his 'expert' opinion? He hasn't the faintest idea at this stage, especially from his armchair. Professionals don't speculate on the cause of incidents, they wait for the facts.

William, Bridgend, UK

Um, Dave, the THY DC-10 crash near Paris 35 years ago had only 1 similarity- explosive decompression. In the Turkish case, a new aircraft with a design defect in a cargo door crashed after the door let go, and the floor buckled, damaging the aircraft control cables. 747s and DC-10s aren't similar.

stu, san francisco, US

In the case of the Paris DC 10 it was because the bolt to seal the door had been made the wrong size (too short). Eventually, after first claiming the bagage handle did not close it properly, the true facts emerged, and the plane was redesigned with a viewing hatch to show the bolt had locked in.

hazel paul, London, England

And I thought in these situations passengers would be sucked out of the hole, hanging on by their fingertips for minutes so that the cameras could get that last look of desperation. Obviously I have been totally misled by Hollywood.

Bob Travels, Stevenage,

The pilot did a good job. Must have been very scary for the passengers but luckily flying is still the safest mode of public transport. Lets hope they find the cause and fix it.

Oxford Don, Oxford, UK

Sounds like the right crew makes all the difference in the world. I bet their were some soiled knickers on that plane though.

bigjim-ky, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Great to hear that the Qantas Crew handled the incident so well and that no one was hurt. Goes to show how skilled and important those guys really are!

J Clarence, Brisbane, Australia

Its not what goes wrong on the aircraft, the point is that every single person got off unhurt. If part of your car fell off on a motorway would you be able to say the same? Well done crew! Its not easy to stay calm when things go wrong but time and time again we do.

Ashley, Manchester,

Don't forget the Hawaiian Airlines 737 that lost 1/3 of it's roof and one stewardess...

Noaf, Mae Jo, Thailand

Ever since Qantas moved a large part of their maintenance off-shore to save money, they have had a series of mishaps. Hmmmm....

D Gibson, Melbourne, Australia

Very lucky. Remember the Turkish DC-10 which crashed near Paris when exactly the same thing happened?

David Chown, bath,