Air Traffic Control Recordings Reveal Tense Minutes On Sacramento-Bound Flight

SACRAMENTO (CBS13/AP) -- Air traffic control recordings reveal the tense early minutes after the roof ripped open on a Sacramento-bound Southwest Airlines jet flying over western Arizona in April.

   Flight 812's pilot quickly declared an emergency and put his jetliner in a descent when its fuselage ruptured at more than 34,000 feet on April 1. He didn't wait for air traffic controllers to approve the move.

   The recording was released by the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday. It showed controllers scrambled to make sure there were no other planes in the path of the Boeing 737 as the pilot made the harrowing, four-minute descent.

Pilot: (inaudible) "We are reporting an emergency descent. Declaring an emergency, we lost the cabin."
Pilot: "Apparently we've got a hole in the fuselage in the back of the airplane."
Controller: "He'd like 10,000 feet, can you approve that?
Controller: "Ahhh….
Controller : "He's doing it anyway."
Controller: "Yes. Approved."
Controller: Descending to 10,000."
Pilot: "We're probably going to turn around and go back to Phoenix. We'll get right back to you."
Controller: "OK change of plans. Southwest 812 is going to Yuma now. He couldn't make it to Phoenix."

   After he reached 10,000 feet, the pilot rejected Phoenix and Palm Springs, instead choosing the airport in Yuma, Ariz., just 50 miles to the south.

Southwest Flight 812 landed with all passengers on board safe and sound.

The National Transporation Saftey Board is still investigating if poor work on the boeing assembly line caused the rip in the fuselage.