A Dallas-bound American Airlines flight from San Francisco turned back and made an emergency landing after some of the cabin’s wall panels cracked loose.

The captain of the Boeing 757 decided to turn around an hour into the flight on Monday because of a possible blown air duct, an airline spokesman said.

The plane landed without incident and no one was hurt.

The cabin did not lose pressure and oxygen masks did not deploy, the spokesman said.

James Wilson, of Kyle, Texas, said he and his fellow passengers knew there was a problem within minutes of takeoff, when they felt the fuselage violently shake and heard popping noises coming from outside of the Boeing as it made its initial ascent. Then interior panels on both sides of the aircraft pulled apart from the walls.

“It was the whole row 14 on all sides, from the floor to the ceiling,” said Wilson, who was seated in the row behind and felt a change in cabin pressure. “It sounded like it was popping and banging so loud at first I thought stuff was coming out of the overhead compartments.”

Crew members were “pulling the panels apart and looking for daylight behind there”, he said.

The captain initially announced that the flight would continue on to Dallas because the pressure inside the cabin was stable, but he changed his mind and decided to make an emergency landing after he saw the damaged panels for himself, according to Wilson.

“We had some very professional flight attendants and they did a very good job keeping people calm. They said, ‘It’s just cosmetic,” he said.

Aviation safety experts said that although it was disconcerting for passengers to see any piece of the plane break, the cabin’s wall panels were not part of the plane’s structure.

“The plastic wall has no meaning to the safety of the plane. They are there so you don’t have to look at the bare walls,” said Robert Ditchey, an aeronautical engineer with four decades of experience. “On the other hand, it’s not normal for this to happen to a side wall. Someone is going to have to fix this airplane.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said it would work with the airline to determine the plane’s problem and correct it before it flies again. American Airlines was arranging other flights for the passengers.