A private Learjet carrying U2 singer Bono in it yesterday had its rear door fall off mid-flight just days after another plane of the same make crashed as it was about to land in the Bahamas, killing everyone on board including renowned pastor, Dr. Myles Munroe and wife.
Aviation authorities in are reported to have launched an official investigation into the incident which occured as Bono's plane began its descent into Berlin's Schoenefeld Airport. Germout Freitag, of the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation says Bono (real names Paul Hewson) was with two pilots and four other passengers on board at the time, CNN reports.
"The investigation will take at least six to eight weeks and will be greatly hampered if the door is not located. [We] have no idea at the moment what caused this and need to examine both the door and the area of the plane."
The £50million Learjet 60 was preparing for landing when a large chunk of its door was ripped off. Freitag said this may have happened because the rear hatch was not properly closed. According to him, the ground crew discovered that the hatch was missing shortly after the aircraft landed at 12:26 a.m., 11 minutes after it blew off.
"The ground crew realized the door was gone and two suitcases had fallen out. Officials have not yet located the two suitcases or the hatch door, but they have been able to pinpoint the area where they are likely to have landed by the radar."
DailyMail confirms that the Irish star was the only member of U2 on board the Learjet 60 D-CGEO making the two-hour afternoon trip from Dublin to Berlin, as bandmates Larry Mullen, the Edge and Adam Clayton were due to fly separately later that evening. The plane was flying at about 8,000ft, when the tailgate of the plane became detached, a source close to the singer said.
‘He was extremely lucky, the plane could have gone down. About an hour into the journey they heard a big thud coming from the rear of the plane. They were startled for a bit but they continued on and made the descent into Berlin airport. When they landed they were horrified to learn that the compartment at the rear of the plane had completely detached.
The entire door along with Bono and his companions’ luggage had fallen out mid-air. They don’t know if the door and the contents landed over water or land but they were extremely lucky. They were at an altitude where anything could have happened and they are all feeling very lucky to be alive.’
The U2 music group were lined up to accept an award at the Bambi International Music awards in Berlin, but Bono flew out early to attend a diplomatic function with the German minister of economic cooperation and development, Gerd Mueller. He has already met with Walter Lindner, Germany's special representative on Ebola.
GER Special Representative #Lindner exchanged with #Bono in Berlin about the fight against #Ebola today. @ONECampaign pic.twitter.com/GwtOdQFoGV
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) November 12, 2014
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