Oops! Southwest Flight Takes Off with Door Wide Open

Caroline Morse Teel is the Managing Editor for SmarterTravel Media. Follow her on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline.

Caroline joined Boston-based SmarterTravel in 2011 after living in Ireland, London, and Manhattan. She's traveled to all seven continents, jumped out of planes, and bungeed off bridges in the pursuit of a good story. She loves exploring off-the-beaten path destinations, anything outdoorsy, and all things adventure.

Her stories have also appeared online at USA Today, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Yahoo, Boston.com, TripAdvisor, Buzzfeed, Jetsetter, Oyster, Airfarewatchdog, and others.

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On your next flight, should you look out the window and make sure your plane’s door is closed before the flight leaves? ABC News reports that a Southwest flight from Houston to Dallas took off with a cargo door open.

An eyewitness at the airport told ABC News, “I couldn’t believe my eyes…I couldn’t believe a plane as sophisticated as they are would take off with the cargo door open.”

A representative from Southwest Airlines told ABC News that an indicator light came on right after take off, and the captain landed the plane in order to have the door checked out. Luckily, no one was injured.

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