A Southwest Airlines plane was struck by a bullet while taxiing for departure at Dallas Love Field Airport on Friday evening, the airline has confirmed, with passengers onboard the plane at the time of the incident.
Southwest flight WN-2494 was preparing for the two-hour flight to Indianapolis at around 9 pm on November 15 when a bullet hit the fuselage of the Boeing 737 jet just below the flight deck.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the airline said the plane immediately taxied back to the gate, where passengers were deplaned, and the aircraft was taken out of service for a full safety inspection.
The airline was able to organize a replacement aircraft, and the flight ended up departing for Indianapolis just two hours later.
Dallas Love Field confirmed the incident, saying in a statement that “Dallas police responded to a security incident involving a commercial aircraft at Dallas Love Field Airport.”
“Runway 13R/31L was briefly closed but has since reopened. No injuries were reported, and there was minimal impact on airport operations.”
The incident occurred just hours after another Southwest Airlines plane was evacuated while still at the gate at Denver International Airport after a passenger’s cellphone caught fire as the plane was preparing for departure for Houston.
More than 100 passengers were evacuated from the aircraft via emergency slides as the cabin started to fill with smoke when the cell phone suddenly caught alight.
The owner of the cellphone sustained minor burn injuries during the incident, while a second passenger was also slightly injured during the evacuation, authorities said.
On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a special ‘Notice to Air Missions’ banning US airlines from flying to Haiti for at least 30 days after three commercial airliners were struck by gunfire in the region of Port-au-Prince airport on November 11.
A Spirit Airlines flight attendant sustained minor injuries after several bullets pierced through the cabin of an Airbus A320 aircraft as it was making its final approach to Port-au-Prince, damaging an overhead locker and prompting an emergency diversion to the Dominican Republic.
Later on Monday, both American Airlines and JetBlue confirmed that post-flight inspections of two planes that had departed Port-au-Prince on November 11 also revealed evidence of being hit by gunfire.
Dallas Police say the suspect in Friday’s incident at DAL Airport remains at large.
