American Airlines pilot continued flight after crew reported explosive noise, vibration

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident onboard an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Paris, in which the captain continued flying after crew members heard what they believed to be an explosion in the cargo hold shortly after takeoff.

Unknown until the plane landed in Paris: the access panel to the air conditioner had ripped off during the flight.

If the pilots had known, "they obviously would have returned" to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport," Jim Kaiser, American's manager of flight operations quality control and Chuck Harman, American's 757/767 fleet captain, wrote in an e-mail to American's pilots Wednesday, defending the captain's actions. "This captain did exactly what we want our captains to do," they wrote.

"Even in hindsight, this flight was never in danger," said American spokeswoman Martha Pantin.

About 10 to 14 minutes after American Flight 48 departed Dallas on April 20, and had climbed about 10,000 feet, "the crew in the back of the plane felt a very strong vibration from underneath," and notified the cockpit, according to an e-mail from an unnamed flight attendant. About six minutes later, the flight attendants, along with the passengers, heard "a loud explosion," according to the e-mail.

A crew member told Capt. Steve Kantlehner, what they had heard and felt.

The captain called dispatch, and decided it was most likely an inside cargo door that was left open, therefore allowing bags to shift, according to the flight attendant's e-mail. The captain decided to fly the 10 hours to Paris, rather than return to Dallas-Fort Worth to check out what the noise was, the flight attendant said.

"The flight was unusually hot and a little shaky from time to time," the crew member wrote.

When the Boeing 767 landed in Paris the next morning, the crew learned that the access panel to the air conditioner had ripped off, the flight attendant said.

FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said the agency is investigating the incident. The investigation could take "from a couple of weeks to a couple of months," he said.

Kantlehner declined to comment, said Karl Schricker, an Allied Pilots Association spokesman. Schricker backed the captain, disputed the flight attendants' account and said the captain said the noise did not sound like an explosion.

When the captain contacted American's personnel on the ground, he learned the plane had two fewer containers than a maximum cargo load, so the containers could shift up to 10 feet, Schricker said. The captain has 21 years of experience flying a Boeing 767, and had felt containers shift before.

"When the crew believes that luggage has shifted, there is no warning light, and no system malfunction, and you can pressurize the plane, the safest course of action is to not air-interrupt," Schricker said.

The air conditioner access panel has no warning light and is not a structural component of the aircraft, he said.

In fact, had the captain returned to Dallas, he would have had to dump 60,000 pounds of fuel over Texas, and make an emergency overweight landing.

"The course he took was the safest for the passengers," Schricker said. "To go back to DFW would have put his crew and the passengers at more risk."

American said it "is investigating the incident, and until all of the facts are known, we will have no further comment."

The flight attendant who wrote the e-mail did not respond to an e-mail, and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants could not provide information regarding the flight attendants onboard the flight.

"We can't say anything at this time because it is under investigation," said APFA spokeswoman Brenda McKenzie in Dallas. "We have to wait until the investigation is over."