A Delta 767-300 diverted to Tampa after rapidly descending 29,000 feet in just seven minutes.
Delta Flight 2353 was headed from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesday when a cabin pressure irregularity occurred midway through the flight.
While flight attendants attempted to calm passengers, pandemonium broke out onboard, with many genuinely fearing their aircraft would crash.
Harris DeWoskin, a passenger onboard, described the incident to WTFS, an ABC affiliate in Tampa Bay:
Out of nowhere, I felt what felt like a sort of a rapid descent. We started dropping in altitude and then air masks the oxygen masks dropped from the top of the plane, chaos sort of ensued amongst the passengers. Initially, it was sort of a panic there wasn’t really any forewarning. The oxygen masks dropped down then one of the flight attendants, I believe, grabbed the intercom and was just repeatedly over the intercom stating ‘do not panic, do not panic,’ but, obviously, it’s a hectic moment. So, the passengers around me a lot of people were kind of hyperventilating breathing really hard…
I immediately reached out to my girlfriend, my family and let them know some scary stuff is going on right now on the plane. The oxygen masks dropped, let them know I loved them. In hindsight, we turned out alright. Just my intuition, reach out to my family and to the people I know what’s going on I love them. Life is fragile. There was a scary 60 to 90 seconds where we really didn’t know what was going on.
Life is indeed fragile.
A Delta spokesperson confirmed there were no injuries:
We apologize to our customers on flight 2353 from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, which diverted to Tampa out of an abundance of caution and landed without incident following a cabin pressurization irregularity en route.
Here’s some video from the incident:
CONCLUSION
I can think of few more unpleasant things than sitting on an aircraft that is rapidly descending without clarity over why. Thankfully, the rapid descent was out of an abundance of caution by a skillful pilot and no passengers were injured.
Have you ever encountered such a rapid drop in altitude on an airplane?
image: @BrutusOsceloa / Twitter
I think it would be more accurate to say it was a skillfully piloted controlled descent than a “rapid drop.” C’mon.
Overdramatic bloggers. Pilots executed an emergency descent to get you to breathable air. The chemical Oxygen generator for the masks last around 12 minutes. No one almost died
Who said someone almost died?
Seems like a controlled decent over a 7 minute period. It’s not like they hit a microburst and suddenly fell out of the sky.
C’mon, man. I give you a (playfully) hard time about the gratuitous clickbait you post, but this is really, really bad. Clickbait is bad enough, but now you’ve gone to intentionally misleading, sensationalized titles. As others have noted, this was hardly a situation where people almost died. Please reconsider for the future.
Strongly disagree. My title was on the basis of the sentiment onboard as evidenced by the video and interview of Harris DeWoskin. Where did I ever even suggest that death was imminent?
Respectfully, your title strongly suggests something much more serious than just a depressurization warning and controlled descent. Then I read the story and find a “blah” event that I’m sure was scary for those onboard, but hardly anything newsworthy. The title simply is misleading, even if “people nearly dying” is hyperbole on my part.
Did you even read the story? There is NO mention of anyone “almost” dying.
People apparently don’t read the story, just the comments…
I mean Yeah?
Sounds like Harris DeWoskin is a drama queen.
IMHO, Delta needs to stop flying such old planes, which are also bad for the environment. There have been a lot of these “minor incidents” with Delta lately. And, while Delta claims they have the best mechanics in the business, no mechanic is perfect and old planes will always cause problems.
Delta has many older planes, but also many newer planes. The aircraft type is more important than the age of the plane with regards to the environment. For example, Delta will have a total of:
95 A220s (PW GTF)
100 A321NEOs (PW GTF)
35 A330NEOs (RR Trent 7000)
25 A350s (RR Trent XWB)
All of these aircraft have modern and efficient engines. The A319/20s from NWA will be approaching retirement age within the next decade, and will probably be replaced by the A220 and future B797, as well as by the 737 Next Gens. The 767-300(ER)s will be replaced by A330NEOs and the future B797. The -400ERs still have some life in them yet and are probably here to stay, as are the 777s. In the Regionals, the CRJ-100/200s will stick around to fill the 50-seat market while more CRJ-700/900s and E170/175s (Hopefully -E2s) are ordered. The MD-80s and MD-90s will be retired soon. The 717s will probably stick around for a while though, hence the recently announced cabin renovations. Delta makes great use of its 757 fleet and those will continue to fly through the end of the decade. The 797 cannot come soon enough. Delta has great mechanics and maintains their planes well. Here is an analogy to represent the situation: It would be better and more reliable to drive a well-maintained older car than a poorly maintaned newer car.
Why Delta uses a 767 with Delta One cabin on a 581 miles flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale?
People can die, have died, in these circumstances. Helios Airlines for one, if I’m not mistaken ( although in that incident the pilots had no oxygen, as well as the passengers); the Payne Stewart crash another.
I’ve been on a flight on which the masks deployed ( a false alarm, although we didn’t know it). It was really scary….terrifying in fact. We had a rapid, if not emergency descent but still landed at our intended destination, as it was the closest.
I’m guessing most readers of this blog have experienced similar and related issues ( diversions, returns, engine loss, aborted takeoffs/landing, touch’n’go). But I still like to read about them when they happen.