Portion of Wing of London Passenger Jet Nearly Snaps Off

Of all the things you want to see while looking out of the window of a plane, "part of the wing dangling off" is very low on that list.

The above photo comes from Cole Morton, a reporter at London's Daily Telegraph, who was aboard a CityJet flight to Florence yesterday when passengers heard a "bang" and saw what you see above. According to Morton, the passengers were startled by the noise but the plane made a safe landing shortly after.

"The bang made people jump and was alarming. Then we sat there thinking 'this isn't right, surely? Does the pilot know?' But we didn't appear to be crashing. So there was a tense few minutes while we circled and waited for an announcement. It was a relief to get back on the ground."

CityJet says that the part of the wing that became detached was a cover of the operating mechanism. The airline also says that the plane should be back in the sky this week after repairs, so rest easy, future CityJet customers.