Lost Luggage

Hard to keep track of the stuff:

A garment bag stowed on board a flight from Midway Airport made an unscheduled landing less than a mile from the airfield, federal authorities said Monday.

The bag was accidentally jettisoned from a Delta Connection plane Sunday morning when a cargo-bay door opened shortly after takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Atlanta-bound plane, carrying 70 passengers, returned safely to Midway, officials said.

An employee of the Belt Railway Company of Chicago found the luggage Monday on rail yard property at 6900 S. Central Ave., officials said.

"It is now in transit on its way to be reunited with its owner," said Kate Modolo, a spokeswoman for Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which operated the flight for Delta Connection.

A duffel bag that also fell out of the plane's cargo hold was still missing on Monday, she said.

...Airline inspectors had recently written up the plane, a 70-passenger Bombardier CRJ700, for deferred maintenance on a malfunctioning indicator light on the cargo door, the FAA said. But the aircraft was cleared to fly after ground crews completed a visual check to ensure the door was properly latched before flight, authorities said.