Here's a less sensational report from the
Calgary Herald:
WestJet flight aborted
A Winnipeg-bound WestJet Boeing 737 had to abort its journey and return to Calgary last week after an air conditioning unit malfunctioned, causing the airplane to slowly lose cabin pressure.
Officials said the matter prompted the crew to put the plane into a steady, eight-degree descent, returning to Calgary without incident last Monday.
A commercial plane typically lands with a descent of about three degrees.
Clive Beddoe, WestJet's chief executive, said there was never a danger and bristled at a media report of a "nosedive" that alleged a plunge of 5,100 metres in only a minute.
Tim Morgan, the airline's senior vice-president of operations, said the descent would have lasted at least three or four minutes, adding the manoeuvre was a standard process in such a situation.
He said WestJet had experienced a similar incident once before.
"It's certainly something you would not normally experience, but you're not hanging from your seat-belt heading towards the ground," he said. "It was by no means dangerous."
Morgan said the air conditioning unit was fixed and the airplane is flying again.
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