PostedAugust 19, 2022, 7:35 PM
Panic in flightA terrifying message wakes passengers from their sleep
In the middle of a night flight between the United States and New Zealand, an alert sounded and oxygen masks were deployed, creating chaos. It was actually a malfunction.
The masks remained hanging from the ceiling for the last three hours of the flight.
DR
Passengers on a flight from Los Angeles to Auckland (NZ) overnight from Thursday to Friday were sleeping peacefully when a terrifying message rang out over a loudspeaker: “This is an emergency. This is an emergency. Put on your mask,” ordered a voice. In the process, the oxygen masks were released from their hatch, sowing panic among the passengers. Kelly, who regularly takes this flight, nevertheless assures that the trip had taken place quite normally until then.
“All the hostesses had to get started, as if there was an emergency. Everyone was shocked, even them. It was pretty crazy, “says the 23-year-old young woman at «New Zealand Herald». Kelly says two passengers suffered a panic attack, with one fainting in the aisle. The traveler claims that after putting on their masks, the occupants of the aircraft experienced 15 minutes of total anguish, having no idea what was happening.
Three hours of anguish
Kelly was so scared that she finds it difficult to remember precisely the sequence of events. “I think I expected to freak out. So I told myself to bury my emotions. I was focusing on my heartbeat,” she recalls. After endless minutes of terror, the captain finally announced that he had checked and that everything seemed to be normal. The masks, however, remained hanging for the last three hours of the flight.
In principle, oxygen masks are only deployed in the event of a significant loss of altitude or severe turbulence. The pilot and flight attendants tried to reassure the passengers, while explaining to them that the masks would continue to emit oxygen as a precaution. “People were calm, but silently terrified. There were three hours left before landing, and as they were talking to us about the weather in Auckland, people were clinging a little more to their seats, ”says Kelly.
“Oxygen masks were not necessary”
Once the aircraft landed in Auckland shortly after 5 a.m., the captain offered his most sincere apologies to the passengers. Air New Zealand has confirmed the incident. “We are in the process of contacting flight customers to apologize for this disruption,” the company said. According to David Morgan, chief of operational integrity and safety, the oxygen masks automatically deployed when the plane descended from 10,300 meters to 8,300 meters to avoid the announced turbulence.
“During this descent, an automated emergency warning activated asking people to put on their masks,” he explained, before adding: “We are sorry for the alarming wake-up call on this flight. This was not an emergency situation and oxygen masks were not required.” On Friday morning, engineers inspected the aircraft’s cabin monitoring system to find the cause of the malfunction.
(joc)