Employee's At Flavor Flav's Chicken Restaurant Claim Their Checks Are Bouncing All Over Town

Fuselage hole forces Southwest emergency landing

PHOENIX – A "gunshot-like sound" woke Brenda Reese as her Southwest Airlines flight cruised at 36,000 feet. Looking up, she could see the sky through a hole torn in the cabin roof.

The Boeing 737 lost cabin pressure after the hole developed Friday, prompting frightened passengers to grope for oxygen masks as the plane made a terrifying but "controlled descent."

A passenger called it "pandemonium." Another watched as a flight attendant and another passenger passed out, apparently for lack of oxygen, their heads striking the seats in front of them.

Officials said Flight 812 lost pressure because of a fuselage rupture. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the pilot made a "controlled descent from 36,000 feet to 11,000 feet altitude."

His safe emergency landing at a military base in Yuma, about 150 miles southwest of Phoenix, drew applause from relieved passengers.

No serious injuries were reported among the 118 people aboard but a flight attendant was slightly hurt, according to Southwest Airlines. The cause of the hole was not immediately known. The FBI called it a "mechanical failure," not an act of terror or other foul play.

Reese said the plane had just left Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for Sacramento, Calif., when the "gunshot-like sound" woke her up. She said oxygen masks dropped as the plane dove.

Seated one row from the rupture, Don Nelson said it took about four noisy minutes for the plane to dip to less than 10,000 feet. "You could tell there was an oxygen deficiency," he said.

"People were dropping," said Christine Ziegler, a 44-year-old project manager from Sacramento who watched as the crew member and a passenger nearby faint. Nelson and Ziegler spoke after a substitute flight took them on to Sacramento.

Reese described the hole as "at the top of the plane, right up above where you store your luggage."

"The panel's not completely off," she told The Associated Press. "It's like ripped down, but you can see completely outside... When you look up through the panel, you can see the sky."

Cellphone photographs provided by Reese showed a panel hanging open in a section above the plane's middle aisle, with a hole of about six feet long.

The National Transportation Safety Board said an "in-flight fuselage rupture" led to the drop in cabin pressure aboard the 15-year-old plane. A similar incident on a Southwest plane to Baltimore in July 2009 also forced an emergency landing when a foot-long hole opened in the cabin.

Four months earlier, the Dallas-based airline had agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle charges that it operated planes that had missed required safety inspections for cracks in the fuselage. The airline, which flies Boeing 737s, inspected nearly 200 of its planes back then, found no cracks and put them back in the sky.

Julie O'Donnell, an aviation safety spokeswoman for Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes, confirmed "a hole in the fuselage and a depressurization event" in the latest incident but declined to speculate on what caused it.

Reese said passengers applauded the pilot after he emerged from the cockpit following the emergency landing at Yuma Marine Corps Air Station/International Airport.

"It was unreal. Everybody was like they were high school chums," Ziegler said, describing a scene in which passengers comforted and hugged each other after the plane was on the ground.

"I fly a lot. This is the first time I ever had something like this happen," said Reese, a 37-year-old single mother of three who is vice president for a clinical research organization. "I just want to get home and hold my kids."

Gregor said an FAA inspector from Phoenix was en route to Yuma. The NTSB said it also was sending a crew to Yuma.

Holes in aircraft can be caused by metal fatigue or lightning. The National Weather Service said the weather was clear from the Phoenix area to the California border on Friday afternoon.

In 1988, cracks caused part of the roof of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 to peel open while the jet flew from Hilo to Honolulu. A flight attendant was sucked out of the plane and plunged to her death, and dozens of passengers were injured.

Three years ago, an exploding oxygen cylinder ripped a gaping hole the fuselage of a Qantas Boeing 747-438 carrying 365 people. The plane descended thousands of feet with the loss of cabin pressure and flew about 300 miles to Manila, where it made a successful emergency landing. No one was injured.

Source: Yahoo
Hoang, Associated Press writers Don Thompson and Adam Weintraub contributed to this report from Sacramento, Calif.

Nicki Minaj Brings "Tragedy" To Lil Kim's Front Door With New Diss Track

Nicki Minaj fires back!

"Tragedy" gets at the Queen Bee, saying she is old news. Not sure if this is a snippet or the entire song because it only contains one verse.

"Pink Friday, Eminem, 8 Mile/It must hurt to sell your album on PayPal/Especially when you're in the game fifteen-twenty/You was hot when Shaq teamed up with Penny," Nicki raps.

Wiz Khalifa & Amber Rose Reportedly Engaged, Plan To Marry This Summer

For Wiz Khalifa and girlfriend Amber Rose things just got serious.

According to Popeater.com the couple is engaged to married and will be tying the knot as soon as this summer.

Lil Wayne Banned From Touring In Europe

UK fans hoping to catch a Lil Wayne concert will have to wait a little longer.

The rapper has been banned from entering Europe due to his recent weapons conviction.

The cancelled dates means fans at a couple of festivals and several concerts will have to wait until next time around to see the Young Money CEO.

It isn't unusual for UK authorities to keep big name stars out of the country for legal issues elsewhere. Snoop Dogg has been banned from several different UK events in the past 4 years.

Wayne is currently on the North American leg of his 'I Am Still Music II' tour

Source: ThisIs50

Chis Rock's Hilarious David Letterman Interview, Clowns On New York Mets

Snoop Dogg Interview With George Lopez: Did He Really Sell Cameron Diaz Weed In HS? "I Might Have"

They chopped it up about the new disc, pondered if Snoop should run for president, and cleared up a funny rumor that's been floating around.

When Cameron Diaz appeared on Lopez Tonight recently, she said she bought weed from Snoop in high school. Snoop didn't exactly deny it.

"I might have sold her some of that "white girl weed". you know ... sticks and stems and seeds," Snoop joked.

Later in the show Snoop came back to perform "Boom" off his new album.

Notorious B.I.G's Son & Will Ferrell Star in New Movie...'Everything Must Go' (Official Trailer)

Adapted and directed by Dan Rush, and based on a short story by Raymond Carver, EVERYTHING MUST GO tells the story of NICK PORTER (WILL FERRELL) a career salesman whose days of being on top are long gone. The same day Nick gets fired, for falling off the wagon one last time, he returns home to discover his wife has left him, changed the locks on their suburban home and dumped all his possessions out on the front yard. Faced with his life imploding, Nick puts it all on the line - or more properly, on the lawn - reluctantly holding a yard sale that becomes a unique strategy for survival.

The Hangover 2 Official Trailer

Former NBA Star Dominique Wilkins Gets Into Fight With Suit Designer Over Unpaid Debt Inside Arena

During his playing days, Dominique Wilkins was known as the 'Human Highlight Film'......none of his highlights were quite like this however.

A bizarre incident at Philips Arena left Hawks legend Dominque Wilkins fending off an attacker at Thursday night's game.

Police said after Wednesday night's Atlanta-Orlando game at Philips Arena, while Wilkins was doing a live television broadcast, Rashan Michel started cursing at him. After the broadcast, Wilkins began walking across the basketball court, when Michel began following him.

Investigators said a Philips Arena security officer tried to stop Michel, grabbing his arm. Police said Michel started swinging his arm and hit the officer and Wilkins.

Michel, an ex-referee and clothing store owner, has been charged with one count of simple battery. Witnesses say he accused Wilkins of owing him money for suits purchased several years back.

According to police, Michel said he had made dress suits for Wilkins for $17,000. Police said Wilkins would not confirm Michel's allegations.

A MySpace page for Michel shows the suit maker posing with a number of NBA stars, President Barack Obama, and others.

Michel bonded out of the Fulton County Jail around 2 a.m. Thursday on a $1,000 bond.

Hawks vice president of public relations Arthur Triche said the team was aware of the altercation and the suspect's arrest, but had no additional comment.

Michel appeared on V103's Frank and Wanda Morning Show Thursday morning.

He said he had filed suit against Wilkins about three months ago, saying he was owed about $13,000.

Michel said he told Wilkins that he could take his time paying him, since Wilkins faced some family issues. Michel said he went to the arena Wednesday night to discuss the matter, but all of a sudden, he said, Wilkins punched him first. In addition, Michel said he had contacted a lawyer over the matter.

Source: ThisIs50