Austin hotel closing after third falling-glass incident

Falling-glass incident is the third in recent weeks involving the Austin, Texas, hotelHotel says it will close while it replaces all balcony glass; guests are being relocatedThe hotel is being sued over a June 10 incident in which two people were injuredRead more about this story from CNN affiliate KXAN-TV.

(CNN) -- The W Austin hotel is closing indefinitely after glass fell from the balcony panels of the Austin, Texas, building for a second day in a row and the third time in recent weeks, the hotel's parent company announced Tuesday.

The hotel will be closed "until further notice" as the glass panels are replaced, the hotel's parent company said in a statement Tuesday. Guests of the hotel are being relocated to other hotels.

"We are replacing every piece of balcony glass on the building," Stratus Properties CEO Beau Armstrong said in the statement.

The incident occurred the same day a lawsuit was filed against the hotel on behalf of two people who were injured June 10 when glass from a broken panel rained down on them in the hotel pool, CNN affiliate KXAN-TV reported.

According to the lawsuit, the hotel had been warned of the problem before the incident but failed to respond, KXAN reported.

Just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, three panels fell from the south side of the building, a day after panels fell on cars parked below on 3rd Street, KXAN reported.

The W Hotel in midtown Atlanta was the site of a fatal accident on May 28, when two women crashed through a 10-floor window and one fell to her death. According to a preliminary investigation, the friends were "play fighting" when they smashed into the window and fell.

In the days following that incident, an Atlanta police spokesman said in a statement officers were not looking at the glass in the windows as a factor and had "no reason to believe this was anything other than a tragic accident."

In a statement Tuesday, W Austin stressed that the Austin and Atlanta incidents were "completely unrelated."

"They involve two dissimilar types of buildings that were built at different times," the statement said. "The incident at the W Austin involved balcony glass on empty condos above the hotel and the incident at the W Atlanta Midtown involved a guestroom window."

CNN

S. Korean military sorry for jet incident

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- The South Korean military apologized Monday for shooting at a commercial airplane carrying 119 passengers and crew.

The Asiana Airlines flight was preparing to land Friday morning at Incheon International Airport, 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of Seoul, when two soldiers fired at the aircraft after mistaking it for a North Korean military jet.

The soldiers were on Gyodong Island near the North Korean border. After firing 99 rounds, they reported the incident.

The South Korean military claims the rounds were only warning shots from K-2 rifles, and there was no damage to the aircraft because it was out of range.

"I sincerely apologize for causing the public concern over the incident," Col. Lee Bung-Woo, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday.

The aircraft, on its way from Chengdu, China, was "flying on its regular route under command of the flight control tower," Asiana Airlines spokesman Ki Won Suh said.

Asiana confirmed two other flights flew on the same route 20 minutes before and after the firing incident, raising questions about why only one flight concerned the soldiers. The passengers and pilots were unaware they had been fired upon until they landed.

"We understand the guards need more education on how to distinguish civilian airplanes," said Lee, the military spokesman. But the South Korean military said it will not reprimand the two soldiers because they acted in accordance with procedure.

The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two Koreas. Pyongyang said it would cut off all ties with Seoul last month, accusing the South of waging psychological warfare by sending propaganda into North Korea undermining the regime.

CNN's Jiyeon Lee contributed to this report

CNN

Air Force checking its 737s in wake of Southwest incident

By Larry Shaughnessy, CNN STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe Air Force has two Boeing 737sThey are used for VIP flightsPlanes have been checked to make sure they are in good condition, spokeswoman says Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Air Force says the military versions of the Boeing 737 that are used for VIP flights have been re-inspected after part of the ceiling of a similar type of Southwest Airlines plane ripped off in flight, allowing passengers to see the sky and forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing.

The Air Force only flies two 737s. They are based at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington and are for use by distinguished passengers like the first lady, the vice president, the secretary of state or congressional leaders, according to Maj. Shelley Lai, a spokeswoman for the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews.

The Air Force's jets are the 737-700 model, which is much newer than the 737-300 model that was involved in the Southwest Airlines incident. Plus the Air Force's jets have seen far fewer "cycles" than the typical commercial Boeing 737. Those jets have gone through, on average, 35,000 take off and landing cycles. The Air Force's jets each have about 2,000 cycles. Take offs and landings put the most strain on an airplane, which is why number of cycles is a more important gauge of wear and tear on a plane than hours in flight or miles flown.

In spite of the differences between the jet involved in the Southwest case and the Air Force's jets, Lai said the Air Force did check to make sure it's planes are in good condition and it is in touch with Boeing, the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board to make sure it is in compliance with all inspection and maintenance orders regarding 737s,

No Air Force flights have been delayed or canceled because of the problem with some commercial 737s.

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