If you happen to be a nervous flyer, or possibly even have a flight coming up soon, this may not be the story for you.
On Wednesday, a Delta plane traveling from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale suddenly plunged mid-air, dropping nearly 30,000 feet in less than seven minutes, Buzzfeed News reported.
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Passengers reported that the aircraft made its startling descent about 35 minutes after takeoff.
“All of a sudden the oxygen mask dropped out and you started hearing this real howling sound, which I think was the engine because the pilot was diving to get below,” passenger Brandon Tomlinson said. “It was like a roller coaster as we were going down. And you can see in the actual flight attendants’ eyes that his was real, this wasn’t something to mess around with.”
A flight attendant came on over the intercom to tell passengers repeatedly not to panic, which was certainly easier said than done.
In an interview with WSB-TV , passenger Harris Dewoskin reported that the cabin was chaotic during the sudden plunge.
“Obviously it’s a hectic moment so the passengers around me, a lot of people were kind of hyperventilating, breathing really hard,” he said, adding that one person was so scared he hugged his son and told his family he loves them.
A spokesperson for Delta Air Lines suggested the flight experienced a “possible issue with the aircraft depressurization.”
Anthony Black told Buzzfeed News the pilots opted to initiate a controlled rapid descent in response to the issue, which he also said is “extremely rare.”
“As a precautionary measure, the crew elected to rapidly descend from 39,000 to 10,000 feet,” he said. “The goal was to basically get to an altitude where people don’t have to wear masks on the aircraft, and it also reduces the issue of depressurization.”
The plane was diverted to Tampa, where it made an emergency landing.
No injuries have been publicly reported. On Thursday, the aircraft underwent evaluation by maintenance technicians.
As for those who were on board, the incident has left them feeling pretty shaken.
“There was a scary 60 to 90 seconds where we didn’t really know what was going on,” Dewoskin told CNN . “At 15,000 feet in the air, it’s a scary moment for sure.”
h/t: CNN , Buzzfeed News
