From ABC News:
The jet plunged from 36,000 to 19,000 feet in just one minute. Within five minutes, it reached the safer altitude of 11,000 feet before landing safely at Yuma Marine Corps Air Station/International Airport at 4:07 p.m. Friday.

From ABC News:
(YUMA, Ariz.) -- The ceiling of a Southwest Airlines plane out of Phoenix tore open in mid-air Friday, prompting a sudden loss of cabin pressure, a rapid descent and an emergency landing at a military base in Yuma, Ariz.

"My husband who was sitting right underneath this could look up and see a hole in the roof of the plane, and could see the sky up there, which was a little disconcerting," passenger Sandra Haros told KTAR, an ABC News Radio affiliate in Phoenix.

Southwest Airlines reported no customer injuries aboard Flight 812, but said a flight attendant suffered a "minor injury upon descent."

The Southwest flight, a Boeing 737, had taken off from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport around 3:45 p.m. local time, bound for Sacramento, Calif., with 118 passengers on board.

Flight attendants had just taken drink orders when passengers reported hearing loud pops. Soon, the roof opened up. Astonished passengers described a gaping hole, perhaps three to four feet long and a foot wide, right next to the luggage compartment.

The plane suffered a rapid decompression, oxygen masks popped out and the plane went into a dive, according to passengers and officials. The Southwest pilots radioed air traffic control, declared an emergency, and began a rapid descent -- quickly diving to a lower altitude so passengers would be able to breathe on their own.

The jet plunged from 36,000 to 19,000 feet in just one minute. Within five minutes, it reached the safer altitude of 11,000 feet before landing safely at Yuma Marine Corps Air Station/International Airport at 4:07 p.m. Friday.

What caused the hole in the plane's fuselage was not immediately clear. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was launching a formal investigation into the incident, and that an "in-flight fuselage rupture" led to the drop in cabin pressure aboard the plane.

Southwest Airlines said Saturday that it will take 81 planes out of service to inspect them for metal fatigue. The airline operates nearly 550 aircraft.

Boeing and the FAA also were investigating.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

blackrock wrote:That would have have been one hell of a ride. 17,000fpm is 168 knots straight down

Savannah-Tom wrote:

blackrock wrote:That would have have been one hell of a ride. 17,000fpm is 168 knots straight down

If the plane maintained a 500 mph true airspeed, and 17000 feet per minute descent, the angle would only be about 23 degrees. That would seem pretty extreme compared to normal, though.

I wonder if the pilot slowed down or kept his speed at normal cruise? With a big hole in the fuselage, a further rip would be a concern, but I don't know how much the crew knew about the condition of the plane while still airborne.

I hope more details will get into public domain. I'd love to learn more about this.

tom

porterjet wrote:Normally emergency descents are done as close to the MMO/VMO red line as possible, that gets the highest rate of descent. The 17,000 FPM being reported is probably using radar returns which gives a pretty wide window on the exact time, lots of rounding off. 10,000 + FPM is quite possible in most jets. The Boeing has BIG spoilers so I would say they may have gotten to somewhere around 15,000 FPM for a couple of dozen seconds. At lower altitudes, when VMO replaces MMO as the speed limit, they would have had to pitch up a bit to not overspeed causing a reduction in the descent rate. At 15,000 FPM that would have happened within 45 seconds or so.
Even in jets capable of cruising at FL 430 the whole exercise in the simulator, from bang to leveling off at 10,000 ft., is over in 3 minutes.

madpilot wrote:Crazy! I guess it's a good thing they practice quick donning procedures and rapid decent. I look and see TUC is at that alt.

z3skybolt wrote:At the higher flight levels....

The flight attendants and passengers will pass out quickly if the pilots delay...

Once the cabin altitude reaches about 25,000 MSL the immediate danger to the passenger is basically over...

How critical the decent is depends upon how large the hole is in the aircraft....