Qantas have denied claims that they flew a packed passenger jet with a massive torn hole in the side of the fuselage. You can find the whole story here : http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=175879

One interesting quote I'd like to make:


Who the hell compares the size of an object to a fridge... I must say that had me laughing. "Ah, yes officer, a huge hole, in fact it was probably the size of around two refrigerators....."
I rest my case lol. It appears all the allegations of a cover-up are being made by a single business man. In the news article there is no report of anyone else onboard agreeing with the claims. Seven people quoted him as saying the incident was a cover up.

Cheers,
Chris

Get a real job you hippie! Surely he realizes that with a massive hole in the side of the fuselage the aircraft would be unable to pressurize. If the aircraft was unable to pressurize there would be no oxygen for the duration of the flight. I seriously doubt that him and the rest of the PAX can hold there breath for that long...

As usual the media is a bit sketchy with the details, but I'm guessing the airplane is a 747-400. If that is the case then the passenger may not be as crazy as some think.

I've seen a few tire failures on 747s during takeoff. In at least one case pieces of the tire took out a bunch of hydraulic plumbing and wiring in the wheel well. When this is the case the crew will have positive proof something is wrong with the airplane and will usually return to the airport.

I saw another case where the only damage was to the wing to body fairing (the big curvy thing where the wing joins the fuselage) where hunks of tread punched holes into it. These fairings are ususally made of something like fiberglass honeycomb attached to a metal framework and serves no structural purpose. If nothing else was damaged and no warning light came one the crew may have thought everything was OK and pressed on. Maybe not a smart thing to do but the passenger may have been right about the "two refrigerator hole".