Door detaches from plane, lands on golf course

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- A plane door detached shortly after takeoff and plunged from the sky onto a South Florida golf course.

The main cabin door fell from the airplane and landed onto the golf course near the Westin Diplomat Hotel & Spa, Wednesday afternoon.

The incident occurred shortly after the jet took off from Opa-Locka Executive Airport.

The door seemed to have fallen in between two condominium high-rises and crashed through some trees before hitting the ground, skidding 15 feet and coming to a stop on the golf course.

Ricky Nelson, who lives nearby, said he is glad he does not live in a high rise. "I'm glad I don't live on the eighth or the seventh floor coz it probably would have went straight through," he said.

Officials said Canadair CL600, which was carrying passengers on board, landed safely at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport shortly after losing the door. None of the passengers were injured.

"I hope they were low enough, you know, cabin pressure and all that," said Nelson.

There were also no injuries at the golf course, which happened to be closed for one of only two days of each year for maintenance.

The FAA is investigating.

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