I was a passenger on flight 2294 and, with reference to the poster above's comments about turbulence, there wasn't any of note. Not on take-off and not during the flight.
It was pretty smooth and, as I remember, a basically cloudless day. Now, the rest of those comments were pretty much on target--the size of the hole was not going to put the plane at risk.
The problem was, none of us on the plane really knew the extent of the damage until after we landed.
All that said, the flight attendents and the flight crew did a fantastic job in handling all aspects of the ordeal and it was amazing how the passengers basically stayed calm. No doubt concerned--but no panic or hysteria whatsoever. And the three flight attendents had a HUGE part in keeping the passengers in a positive frame of mind and calm. I hope that Southwest recognized them for their handling of the situation. They should have earned a huge measure of appreciation for a job well done.
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