A 747 Crosses Pacific With Hole in Body

Agence France-Presse

TOKYO -A United Airlines Boeing 747-400, carrying 285 passengers and crew members, crossed the Pacific on Tuesday with a one- meter hole in the fuselage, a television station reported.

The hole behind the main section of the plane, beneath the fuselage, was discovered only after the plane, arriving from Chicago, landed at Tokyo's international airport at Narita, according to an airline spokesman.

The Fuji television station showed pictures of the hole, measuring one meter (3.3 feet) long and half a meter wide.

The fuselage was torn when a tire exploded on takeoff at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, United Airlines experts said.

The plane was carrying 263 passengers and 22 crew members, the airline said. []