Airplane Engine Hole Causes Passengers to Abandon Plane

Passengers on a Transaero plane fled their aircraft before takeoff after a passenger noticed a hole in the engine, reports Ria Novosti.

The Moscow to Krasnoyarsk, Russia flight was prepping for takeoff Monday when a passenger spotted what appeared to be a hole in one engine. According to The Australian, the pilot thanked the passenger for bringing it to his attention, but, after a two-hour delay, the plane was again ready to take off without the hole covered.

Twenty-seven concerned passengers bailed, and the plane took off as planned.

As it turns out the "hole" was just a missing inspection panel, which the plane was allowed to fly without. Passengers who fled were reimbursed for their tickets, but had to pay a fee because the airline did not deem the incident an emergency.

In March 2011, A US Airways plane was grounded after a hole was found in the fuselage. In April 2011 a fuselage rupture caused a Southwest plane to make an emergency landing. A similar incident also happened in 2010 when a Qantas plane was forced to return to San Francisco after an engine exploded.

Check out a video of the hole below. Would you have gotten off the plane?