US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Bullet hole found in jet at Charlotte airport

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-03-09-plane-bullet_x.htm

I know this was posted late last year. But I can't find it. These are the results of the investigation. However, US Airways does not fly from Mexico to Denver.

Bullet hole found in jet at Charlotte airport
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Federal investigators said a bullet hole found in the side of a US Airways jet could be nothing more than a hunting accident.
US Airways workers at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport discovered the hole early Monday morning or late Sunday night, WCNC-TV in Charlotte reported.

The plane had flown from Mexico to Denver, then to Charlotte.

The FBI, which is investigating, said there's nothing to indicate that terrorism is involved or that there was any malicious intent.

The aircraft was examined at the US Airways hangar.

Agents don't know where it was shot, but experts said the bullet didn't strike a critical area because the pilots would have received a warning indicator if it had.

FBI agents said the bullet hole could be the result of a hunting accident.

Aviation consultant Alan Winninger said this case demonstrates that many airports have blind spaces where someone could shoot at an airliner and not be seen.

Puncture holes were found last December in a US Airways jet at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport as it was sitting at the gate.

The FBI said it is still investigating the December incident and that nothing suggests the two incidents are related.

US Airways is based in Arlington, Va.

From that article it looks like it's TWO incidents, not a report on the earlier one. Scary stuff. Two in three months isn't going to instill confidence, that's for sure.

Possible hunting accident? Who's hunting that close to CLT? The only place I can think of around there that's reasonably wooded and would have a potential view towards Terminals B/C is on the west side of the airport, along Wallace Neel Rd or some of the side streets.

I suppose this could have happened elsewhere and the plane then flown in but they keep discovering them in Charlotte.

And I'll withold any comments about rednecks and rifles. :rolleyes:

Geez, maybe it was shot someplace else and the pilots and mechanics failed to notice a small bullet hole? Someplace where hunting is a bit more prevalent? Or maybe some 15-year-old just shot at the plane unthinkingly?

If you think Al-Qaida is everywhere, then eventually they will be.

Take a deep breath, relax, and get on with life.

Your life has been in worse danger this past year, I guarantee it.

? Mexico to Denver?
US Airways has 3 destinations in Mexico: MEX (ico City), Cancun, and Cozumel. I believe flights are only to hub airports such as PHL and CLT, not to DEN. (Maybe Mexicana Airlines DEN-MEX, but that's it, I think. Not even UA flies DEN-MEX/CAN/CZM)
Does US Airways do maintenance/seat configuration/training or something in Mexico? But then, why would it stop in DEN instead of going back direct to CLT?
I wonder if this is an entirely true story...remember USA Today also put on a lot of strong publicity about how US Airways was going to go down the drain and how WN was going to take over PHL/PIT and the entire US east coast.