Loose Panels Force Emergency Landing at SFO

PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 757 like this one was found to have loose interior panels, which forced an emergency landing Monday. (Courtesy of American Airlines)

The crumbling interior of an American Airlines Boeing 757 en route from San Francisco to Dallas on Monday was enough for the captain of the flight to turn around and make an emergency landing back at SFO.

Flight 2293 landed safely with no injuries to the 184 passengers and six crew. American Airlines put the passengers up in hotel rooms overnight and were expected to fly them on to Dallas this morning.

Passengers began noticing interior panels of the plane coming loose shortly after takeoff but flight attendants initially did not believe there was a problem. One passenger noted that the pilot himself came back into the cabin to take a look and agreed that the damage was minimal.

Unbelievable sight: @AmericanAir passenger Joan Denney saw cabin wall split during @flySFO-DFW flight #KTVU 6:35a pic.twitter.com/3G2gTvUVY8

- Alex Savidge (@AlexSavidge) October 14, 2014

But he soon changed his mind and announced that the flight was turning around and making an emergency landing at SFO.

An American Airlines spokesman called it an "air duct issue," saying there was no depressurization in the cabin. Oxygen masks were not deployed.

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