Pilot was Vladimir Vodopivec (64) from Belgrade, Serbia.

Edited Google translation from very early Serbian media news, here:

EKSKLUZIVNO Srpski pilot spasao putnike posle eksplozije u avionu

EXCLUSIVE Serbian pilot rescued passengers on the plane after the explosion.

Pilot Vladimir Vodopivec (64) from Belgrade has managed this morning to safely lanad the plane with 74 passengers and crew at the airport in Mogadishu in Somalia after an explosion blew off part of the fuselage near the right wing of the aircraft, 'Blic' learns. International media assess that the pilot "did impossible work", because the incident passed without casualties.

- Half an hour after we took off from the airport in Somalia, at 3,300 meters high there was a terrible explosion. Passengers began to cry, and I immediately went back to the airport. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured - says Vladimir Vodopivec.

...

Experienced pilot had similar thoughts.

- I think it was a bomb, but fortunately it did not damage the control system, so I was able to come back and I land at the airport. This had never happened to me. We lost cabin pressure. Thank God everything ended well - said Vodopivec immediately after the incident to his friend.

Vodopivec, born in Belgrade, is an experienced pilot who worked in Yugoslavian and than Serbian JAT, then in "Montenegro Airlines", and in recent years in Africa, as employed in the "Dalo Airlines". Soon, says his friend, he would retire.

http://ocdn.eu/images/pulscms/ZTc7MD...c7b6a511cd.jpg

the pilot is an experienced 64yo Captain Vlatko Vodopivec that worked for JAT and Montenegro Airlnes, flown with him couple of times, his voice is convincing :)

While I agree with everything here regarding the ability to maintain airworthiness, the statement about pax vulnerability seems open to question.

For more details.

http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/ima...d3fc220_18.jpg

"Somalia's ambassador to the United Nations, Awale Kullane, was on board the plane, Reuters news agency reported. He posted video of the incident on Facebook."

https://youtu.be/jMHWd5Mhh1g

Somalia investigates possible bomb blast on airliner - Al Jazeera English

It obviously wasnt caused by a bad food fart.
Now,having never flown in and out of there,I guess airlines would stop serving that city/country until proper screening is done?

well knowing the Somali aviation authorities, the investigation will take the shape of " nothing happened, move along nothing here to see "


You are spot on about Turkish as I stated earlier. There is a lot more to this that I cant go into.


I do think the international community need to take the lead with this and take a good hard look at procedures in place, security wise and the real reasons behind this.

Plane departure was delayed for one hour. Assuming timed device, if it was on schedule, explosion would have happened at cruise altitude, not at 3300 meters.

Looking at the crack protuding more than one frame forward, this might have already been far beyond the required damage tolerance capability and that crack my have grown up to the door if the fuselage would have been fully pressurized...
Crack stoppers are required to stop a two bay crack (one frame/one stringer lost, two skin panels cracked). Initial damage beyond this might indeed cause full desintegration.

Many major news sites are beginning to accept that beside the two injured passengers, one male passenger in his 50s was lost through the gap, and his body is being brought to Mogadishu.

From the position of the damage it doesn't appear that the device was either at floor level or in an overhead locker, rather at torso level of a seated passenger. This could imply various things, from an deliberately fired explosive hidden on the person of a pax to a grenade accidentally detonated in someone's pocket - and Mog is a place where grenades are routinely carried. None of these obviously lend themselves to being a timed device. The choice of position, right over the wing, the strongest point of any aircraft, also does not indicate a bomber with much clue of optimising his efforts. If you had the gumption to make an explosive belt wouldn't you also know enough to set it off somewhere more vulnerable, or instruct your drone to do so?

location of explosion
 

How about, as was suggested for the crash in Egypt, something stuffed in a life jacket pouch under a seat? That's below window level, pretty much at the level of the centre of the hole.

I think that until there is some evidence, it's unfair to conclude that the deceased passenger was the bomber.

I was thinking the same. How often are these areas thoroughly checked (in terms of the life jacket being there I mean)? And when they are checked, I would doubt that it would be more than just a perfunctory check (quick "feel" check).

I'm also curious as to how long the aircraft was on the ground prior to departure? Had it night stopped?

You might notice most of the stains on the outside of the airplane seem to originate from the bottom of the hole then sweep upward along the path of the airflow over the wing. That would suggest to this untrained observer the initial punch through was there, and the balance of the hole might have been simple propagation of the failure. If that's true we can be glad the airplane was still climbing at a relatively low speed -- 350 knot winds could have done some serious peel back of the skin. .

Damage tolerance and luck
 

See photo at # 40 for a bit more damage - and many improvements have been made since then in structural analysis. :D

Other decompression issues
 

Interesting article in Seattle Times today

Timeline: 8 emergency landings after explosions, structural damage | The Seattle Times

Originally published February 3, 2016 at 2:22 pmUpdated February 4, 2016 at 6:23 am
Goes on listing other similar incidents

Includes pics of the Hawaii convertible 737

I agree that the news is touting the pilots words about the luck of the explosion at lower altitude. However I fail to see a structural tie-in with this fact. Simply citing past incidents with different outcomes does not justify a conclusion.

Pressure differentials and blow-down rates need be considered vs structural concerns and routings of critical control cables etc.

I hope that we don't get too deep into this as it only helps the bad guys

I agree with lomapaseo here. One of the most significant hazards to aviation safety and security today (to safety and security generally) arises directly from the vast amount of information available via the internet. We can't prevent much of it but we certainly shouldn't be contributing to it.

I think the pilot & crew deserve congrats - it sounds like a text book handling of a very non-standard occurrence

kept calm, got people away from the damage and landed in one piece

just goes to show good people aren't just with the big airlines......

Yes, they did a great job. And just look at composition of that group: The flight crew included Serbian pilot, Italian co-pilot, two flight attendants from Greece, two from Kenya and one from Bosnia.

"When we heard a loud bang, the co-pilot went back to the cabin to inspect the damage, and I took over the commands as the procedure demands," the Serbian pilot told AP, adding that the engines and hydraulics functioned normally so he had no problem flying the aircraft back to Mogadishu.

"Smoke came into the cockpit, but it was mostly concentrated in the back of the aircraft," he said by phone. "The stewardesses did a great job calming down the passengers and following the emergency procedure."

Kullane, Somalia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said in a social media post that he "heard a loud noise and couldn't see anything but smoke for a few seconds." When visibility returned, he realized "a chunk" of the plane was missing.

"I think for the first few seconds and minutes ... I was terrified and most people were terrified," he said. "Of course, we give credit to the pilot who landed that plane."