During climb; a flight attendant advised captain that a passenger seated over the left wing saw an o...

Attributes
ACN	898665
Time
Date	201007
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Component
Aircraft Component	Wing Access Panel
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Maintenance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

During climb; cabin crew [flight attendants] advised that a passenger seated over left wing saw an object depart the wing during takeoff. Flight attendant advised that there was an opening visible on top of left wing. With appropriate precautions; first officer went back and determined that a small circular panel was missing [from] top of left inboard wing (approx 3 inches in diameter). Contacted dispatch/ maintenance control and with their concurrence returned to departure airport.aircraft had just come out of c-check. Missing panel was access to gear hydraulic actuator. Don't know why it came loose; but may not have been re-secured during c-check.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: During climb; a Flight Attendant advised Captain that a passenger seated over the left wing saw an object depart the wing during takeoff and an opening was visible on top of the A320 wing. Dispatch and Maintenance Control were contacted; aircraft returned to departure airport.

Narrative: During climb; cabin crew [Flight Attendants] advised that a passenger seated over left wing saw an object depart the wing during takeoff. Flight Attendant advised that there was an opening visible on top of left wing. With appropriate precautions; First Officer went back and determined that a small circular panel was missing [from] top of left inboard wing (approx 3 inches in diameter). Contacted Dispatch/ Maintenance Control and with their concurrence returned to departure airport.Aircraft had just come out of C-Check. Missing panel was access to gear hydraulic actuator. Don't know why it came loose; but may not have been re-secured during C-Check.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

During climb; a flight attendant advised captain that a passenger seated over the left wing saw an object depart the wing during takeoff and an opening was visible on top of the A320 wing. Dispatch and maintenance control were contacted; aircraft returned to departure airport.