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Door falls from the sky and lands on store in Florida, FAA says. Here’s what happened

This door fell on the roof of a furniture store Wednesday, Aug. 2, in Fort Myers, Florida, officials said.
This door fell on the roof of a furniture store Wednesday, Aug. 2, in Fort Myers, Florida, officials said. Iona McGregor Fire District photo

A door plummeted out of the sky over Southwest Florida and landed on the roof of a patio furniture store about the same time it opened for the day.

It happened around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 2, in Fort Myers, according to the Iona McGregor Fire District.

“Truck 74, along with Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies, responded to Leaders Furniture of Fort Myers in reference to aircraft door falling on the store’s roof,” the fire department said in an Aug. 2 Facebook post.

“Our crew ... retrieved the door. No one was hurt and there was no damage to the building.”

Details of the hard landing — including what it sounded like from inside the store — were not released.

News of the discovery had social media commenters speculating on what happened to the rest of the aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration says it was a Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo 105 helicopter and it landed safely at Page Field Airport, about two miles north of the furniture store. Five people were aboard and there were no reports of injuries.

An FAA investigation of the incident is underway.

Investigators have not said how high the aircraft was when the door popped off. Photos posted by the fire department show the door was within a foot or two of landing on the ground beside the store, which is one-story high.

Fort Myers is about 125 miles south of Tampa.

A door fell out of the sky and landed on the roof of this Florida furniture store and the FAA says it came off a helicopter with five people aboard.
A door fell out of the sky and landed on the roof of this Florida furniture store and the FAA says it came off a helicopter with five people aboard. Street View image from Oct. 2022. © 2023 Google
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This story was originally published August 3, 2023 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Door falls from the sky and lands on store in Florida, FAA says. Here’s what happened."

MP
Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
Mark Price is a state reporter for The Charlotte Observer and McClatchy News outlets in North Carolina. He joined the network of newspapers in 1991 at The Charlotte Observer, covering beats including schools, crime, immigration, LGBTQ issues, homelessness and nonprofits. He graduated from the University of Memphis with majors in journalism and art history, and a minor in geology. 
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