Yesterday (Sunday, 15th October), AirAsia passengers on flight QZ535 got the scare of their lives when the plane plunged 20,000 feet downward shortly after taking off.
According to CNN, the drop in cabin pressure caused the plane – which was from Perth, Asutralia to Bali, Indonesia – to drop from 32,000 feet to 10,000 feet in just 25 minutes into the flight. Videos taken by those onboard have since gone viral on social media.
In a compilation video provided by Seven Network, emergency oxygen masks fell from the ceiling while a frantic cabin crew member can be heard yelling, “Passengers get down, get down!” Amidst the chaos, a couple, Malcolm and Janet Canning, look anxiously on and embrace each other. Passengers later described the scary episode as “terrifying” and “traumatising” as they thought they were going to die.
“I actually picked up my phone and sent a text message to my family, just hoping that they would get it. We were all pretty much saying goodbye to each other. It was really upsetting,” a woman named Leah told Nine News.
One of the passengers, Claire Askew said, “The panic was escalated, because of the behaviour of staff, who were screaming and looked tearful. Now, I get it… but we looked to them for reassurance and we didn’t get any, we were more worried because of how panicked they were“.
“Our engineers are assessing the aircraft. All affected passengers will be scheduled to the next available flight and provided with necessary assistance including meal vouchers. The safety of our guests is our utmost priority. AirAsia Indonesia apologises for any inconvenience caused,” reads the official statement provided by AirAsia via BBC.
“We commend our pilots for landing the aircraft safely and complying with standard operating procedure. We are fully committed to the safety of our guests and crew and we will continue to ensure that we adhere to the highest safety standards,” added Capt. Ling Liong Tien, AirAsia Group’s head of safety.
It was revealed that the plane managed to land safely at Perth International Airport and another Bali-bound plane was provided by AirAsia. Thankfully, there were no reports of injury.
Would you still dare to fly so soon after experiencing such a scary incident? We would probably be a little hesitant.
Sources: CNN, Channel NewsAsia, BBC/ Featured image: Channel 9.
