A bullet struck the fuselage of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 that was on the ground in Dallas, Texas, with passengers and crew on board.
This incident happened on Friday, the 15th of November, involving flight WN-2494. This is a service that Southwest Airlines performs six times weekly, departing from Dallas Love Field Airport (KDAL). The flight’s destination is Indianapolis International Airport (KIND).
It isn’t clear how many people were on board the flight on the day of this incident. What we do know is that the crew finished loading their passengers, and the aircraft started to make its way to the departing runway.
But during taxi, a bullet hit the fuselage of the Southwest aircraft near the cockpit. A Southwest representative told the press that the bullet struck the right side of the fuselage, just below the flight deck.
Southwest Aircraft Returns After Bullet Strike
The crew returned the aircraft to the gate, where everyone disembarked. There are no reports of any injuries from the bullet on anyone on the Southwest flight. The airline obviously had to remove the aircraft from service.
An FAA statement reported the event as follows:
“While taxiing for takeoff at Dallas Love Field Airport, Southwest Airlines Flight 2494 was reportedly struck by gunfire near the cockpit around 8:30 p.m. local time on Friday, Nov. 15. The Boeing 737-800 returned to the gate, where passengers deplaned. The flight was headed to Indianapolis International Airport. Contact the FBI for more on the investigation.”
At this time, the exact location of the Southwest aircraft at the airport when the event happened is still unclear. Southwest’s passengers reached their destination on a different aircraft, a 737 MAX-8, with a delay of around two hours.
This Southwest incident follows developments earlier this week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where three aircraft suffered bullet strikes, with one injury to a Spirit Airlines cabin crew member. Other events involved JetBlue and American Airlines aircraft. The FAA has since barred all U.S. airlines from flying to airports in Haiti for 30 days, as it evaluates security conditions in that country.
