DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines is investigating how a jet bound for Paris (on April 20) lost a panel from its belly shortly after taking off from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport before continuing on across the Atlantic.

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OK, now this is just a guess, but based on recent developments in the field of commercial aircraft maintenance, it is not out of the question that the nuts on that panel (not to mention the one flying the plane) were either: 1. the wrong size; 2. cracked; 3. loose, or 4. missing altogether.

It is a distinct possibility that someone will find a Federal Aviation Administration policy that states nuts and bolts on commercial airliners do not actually have to be tight as long as in the judgment of the airline's maintenance honchos no one will be hurt when and if the part (hopefully NOT a wing) falls off and plummets to the ground.

Of course, the policy also stipulates if the nuts are on an important part of the aircraft, such as something that holds the wings on, a good-faith effort should be made to tighten them. If a wrench is not available, very strong waterproof glue should be used to bond the two parts. (Elmer's is unacceptable.)

The funny thing about the American Airlines lost panel incident is that a flight attendant reported hearing a "loud shaking noise from the belly of the plane" and later "a noise that sounded like an explosion." For some reason, however, the pilot KEPT FLYING ON TO PARIS FOR NINE

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HOURS.

Let me admit right up front that I am not an expert on commercial airliners or the emergency procedures used when parts fall off. But I am willing to go out on a limb to say that shaking and loud explosion noises should, as a matter of routine, catch the attention of the average pilot. To be sure, it is probably a coincidence that the panel fell off only a week after American grounded 3,300 of its jets to inspect electrical wiring.

Admittedly it is possible the pilot had a perfectly fine excuse for ignoring the shaking and explosion sounds. These could include being on break at the time, or he might have been pouring a Martini and the gurgling drowned out the sounds. It is also possible that the flight attendant did not tell the pilot about the shaking and explosion sounds immediately because he or she was told to never disturb a pilot on break. Still, a person would be forgiven for thinking that the shaking and explosive noises might indicate something important fell off the aircraft like, oh, the landing gear. (In fairness, it is likely that a passenger would have alerted a crewmember to the loss of a wing when the snack cart with the tiny bags of peanuts and plastic shot glasses full of Coca-Cola reached their seat.)

Once alerted to the noises, the pilot on the American flight took a wait-and-see approach. After a while, with no more reports of shaking or explosion noises, he assumed the earlier noises were just cargo shifting and kept flying. This is called pilot emergency rationalization.

For me, the recent revelations on the poor state of commercial airliner maintenance have had one positive effect. I now know that I was perfectly correct in gripping the armrests of my seat so tightly on takeoff and landing that my seatmates complained the blood oozing from my fingernails was getting on their clothing. I now know my fears were, if anything, grossly understated. Chances are some part of that plane was missing and the pilot was just hoping no one would notice.

I remember once when arriving in New York from California at night in a heavy rainstorm the plane was making a long final approach over Long Island. Every so often you'd hear the engines rev as the pilot hit the gas to bring the plane up, like maybe he saw a church steeple, or a small mountain. Looking out the window all I could see was the wing lights flashing in the rain and fog. At one point I thought I spotted a kid on the ground waving frantically. It turned out to be a church steeple in Ronkonkoma. Since no other passengers looked as worried as I felt, I assumed I was just being stupid. After all, doesn't the pilot have a ton of electronic gear that will bring us in for a perfect three-point landing even though he can't see diddly out the front window? I now know that it was possible that the instrument landing equipment had fallen out of the plane without the pilot noticing.

Charles Walsh can be reached via e-mail at cwalsh@ctpost.com