Bullet hits Southwest plane at Dallas Love Field Airport

A bullet struck a Southwest Airlines jet as it was preparing to take off from Dallas Love Field on Friday night, the airline said. No injuries were reported, and the plane safely returned to the terminal. The plane was hit on the right side, near the cockpit, as the crew prepared to depart for Indianapolis on Flight 2494, Southwest said in a statement. The airline said the plane had been taken out of service and replaced for the flight. It departed two hours later, according to FlightStats, a tracking website. The FAA said in a statement that the plane hit by gunfire was a Boeing 737. Dallas Love Field airport said in a statement that the plane “encountered a security incident” and sustained damage about 9:50 p.m., and that the city’s police and fire departments arrived at the scene to investigate. That caused the runway to be closed temporarily. Dallas police officers arrived at the airport just before 10 p.m. in response to a call reporting a shooting, the Dallas Police Department said in a statement. A preliminary investigation determined that a Southwest Airlines aircraft was “hit by gunfire,” the department said. Neither the airline nor the airport provided further details. Southwest is the main carrier at Love Field, and the airline’s headquarters is there, too. The airport, ringed by residential neighborhoods, is eight miles from downtown. Love Field was the region’s main airport until Dallas Fort Worth International Airport opened in 1974.<br/>