Posted on 11/14/2013 7:20:06 AM PST by george76
RALEIGH-DURHAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, N.C. -- The pilot of a Southwest Airlines flight headed to RDU went on the loudspeaker and told passengers their plane was going down, according to a woman on board the flight.
"He said, we're going down. And everyone is looking around like, is this a joke? Is he serious? And then you felt the nosedive," passenger Shelley Wills said.
Wills told ABC11 the Tuesday night flight from Tampa took a nosedive thousands of feet in the air while they were about 100 miles away from RDU.
Wills is a nurse and tried helping the first-time flier seated next to her who was clutching her chest.
"I'm thinking oh my God, she's going to scare herself into a heart attack," Wills said.
She said people all around her pulled out their cell phones in a desperate attempt to reach their loved ones. She texted her daughter and her husband, but the messages did not go through.
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
What a ridiculous headline...
If the plane doesn’t descend quickly with a pressurization problem, everyone will die...
The pilots were talking about getting down to a safe altitude.
They want to remote control our cars. Maybe some pimple faced kid took control of the plane for a test drive for the feds?
Well it was stupid of the pilots to announce it the way they did.
I’m happy that all ended well for these passengers.
Still—I don’t ever plan to fly again unless an emergency should come up with my daughter and her family presently living in Canada.
If I can’t drive there, I don’t go there is the way I look at it. I visited all the places I have wanted to visit, both here and abroad.
OK here's a question. If I'm on a plane going down do I really want my loved ones on the line listening as I crash?
I don’t believe for one second that the story is accurate about that part of the story.
Besides, if you have a pressurization problem, you have to “plummet”...you want to “plummet”...
The plane is required by law to be able to “plummet” to a safe altitude quickly in the event of loss of pressurization.
I had a similar experience on an Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to Seattle, immediately after takeoff and at about my guess around 10k level my ears started popping suddenly and their was a bitter sharp smell in the cabin, my guess is the cabin presurization valves went off kilter or vented suddenly, plane did a deep descent and you could actually feel the pressure building up. Landed and changed planes.
Yes-he should have stated that the passengers should expect a brief moment of rapid descent and not to be alarmed.
“The pilots were talking about getting down to a safe altitude.
Well it was stupid of the pilots to announce it the way they did.”
His first thought was to control the plane and keep everyone safe, not the proper wording for the warning to the passengers. If he had more time, he might have said it differently, But if I were a passenger, I’d be happy that he focused on the job, and not the proper way to word the emergency.
Crew and passengers would be fine up to around 14,000 feet MSL. Above that, expect a little shortness of breath. Above 18,000 feet pressure altitude hypoxia starts setting in, depending on one’s aerobic condition.
And yes, the crew used poor judgement saying the words “going down.”
TC
Grab a mask, pull and attach to face.
Pilots in full control the entire time.
Would like to know more about this plane ...
Most sea level people find it hard to breathe at even 5,000 feet, I have seen that when I worked on a cruise boat at Lake Tahoe, and I have personally worked at 9200 feet as a snowcat mechanic. But Alaska Airlines handle that situation perfectly, I fly them a lot, they are the best.
My impression is the pilot usually says nothing until the desired altitude is reached. Rapid descent can involve some serious maneuvers.
Here's a chart of the flight in question.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA3426/history/20131112/2130Z/KTPA/KRDU/tracklog
He was flying at 41,000 feet. That's the maximum service ceiling for the 737-700, and quite high for a 75 minute flight.
“we’re going down.” It is very hard to give those words any other meaning than a crash is imminent and we’re about to die. From the circumstances described - and, given the state of journalism, to be taken with a huge grain of salt - it was a very poor choice of words to say for an emergency descent.
LOL! Like the three words you never want to hear while huddled around a low campfire, deep in the woods at night. One of your buddies suddenly stiffens, as all the cricket noises stop, goes wide-eyed and barks “WHAT WAS THAT?”
Aviate, navigate, communicate...
“OK here’s a question. If I’m on a plane going down do I really want my loved ones on the line listening as I crash?”
yes, it will up the award for pain and suffering substantially.
If I can’t drive there, I don’t go there is the way I look at it.Yup, me too. I haven't flown since my flight home from Viet Nam May 9 1968
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