Virgin Blue Passengers Terrified.......
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Virgin Blue Passengers Terrified.......
Passengers on a Virgin Blue flight from Townsville to Brisbane today were "terrified" when the plane made a rapid descent, forcing an emergency landing in Mackay.
Elizabeth Hansen, a passenger onboard on flight DJ 656, said the 737-700 made the emergency landing after it rapidly lost cabin pressure at 30,000 feet.
“We were at 30,000 feet and all of a sudden we took a dive down to 10,000 feet. The pilot told us that the oxygen masks may fall, and ‘not to panic’," she said.
“The next thing we knew we were told we were being diverted to Mackay.”
Mrs Hansen said the plane had been experiencing problems with the air conditioning shortly before the pilot announced an emergency landing was necessary.
“There was a problem with the air conditioning. We weren’t getting any fresh air through,” she said
“When it got hot and clammy we freaked out a bit… the increasing and decreasing of speed freaked us out a lot, as well as the plane rocking.”
Mrs Hansen praised the actions of one stewardesses, who tried to calm the nervous passengers.
“One of the stewardess said ‘it looks like everyone’s starting to freak out, and told us to calm down, saying that everything would be ok… she was really good.”
Mrs Hansen she has been on many flights and never experienced anything as terrifying.
“It was all really scary.”
Mrs Hansen was relieved when the plane touched down safely in Mackay, but was less than pleased with the customer service she experienced afterwards, which left about half of the plane’s estimated 80 passengers stranded.
“It was really stuffy and everyone came out with red faces.
“People with connecting Virgin flights got onboard another flight pretty quickly, while people with connecting flights with other companies were told they’d have to wait several hours for another flight.
“We were told not to expect to be back in Brisbane until 7pm.
“It has been really shocking service… they’ve not been nice to the affected passengers.”
The passengers were also outraged when told they would have to pay for another ticket.
“We were told we would have to pay for the later flight.”
Virgin Blue’s public relations manager Amanda Bolger said the Mackay diversion was precautionary, necessitated by a cockpit indicator.
It was too early to say what caused the indicator to go off, she said.
She said that an engineer is inspecting the plane, and once it has been checked passengers will be allowed back on it.
Passengers with connecting Virgin flights “received priority”, she said.
Passengers would not have to pay for an extra ticket, despite being instructed otherwise.
A spokesperson for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed they received a report of the flight being diverted to Mackay, but said they were not yet aware of the reason behind the diversion.
Elizabeth Hansen, a passenger onboard on flight DJ 656, said the 737-700 made the emergency landing after it rapidly lost cabin pressure at 30,000 feet.
“We were at 30,000 feet and all of a sudden we took a dive down to 10,000 feet. The pilot told us that the oxygen masks may fall, and ‘not to panic’," she said.
“The next thing we knew we were told we were being diverted to Mackay.”
Mrs Hansen said the plane had been experiencing problems with the air conditioning shortly before the pilot announced an emergency landing was necessary.
“There was a problem with the air conditioning. We weren’t getting any fresh air through,” she said
“When it got hot and clammy we freaked out a bit… the increasing and decreasing of speed freaked us out a lot, as well as the plane rocking.”
Mrs Hansen praised the actions of one stewardesses, who tried to calm the nervous passengers.
“One of the stewardess said ‘it looks like everyone’s starting to freak out, and told us to calm down, saying that everything would be ok… she was really good.”
Mrs Hansen she has been on many flights and never experienced anything as terrifying.
“It was all really scary.”
Mrs Hansen was relieved when the plane touched down safely in Mackay, but was less than pleased with the customer service she experienced afterwards, which left about half of the plane’s estimated 80 passengers stranded.
“It was really stuffy and everyone came out with red faces.
“People with connecting Virgin flights got onboard another flight pretty quickly, while people with connecting flights with other companies were told they’d have to wait several hours for another flight.
“We were told not to expect to be back in Brisbane until 7pm.
“It has been really shocking service… they’ve not been nice to the affected passengers.”
The passengers were also outraged when told they would have to pay for another ticket.
“We were told we would have to pay for the later flight.”
Virgin Blue’s public relations manager Amanda Bolger said the Mackay diversion was precautionary, necessitated by a cockpit indicator.
It was too early to say what caused the indicator to go off, she said.
She said that an engineer is inspecting the plane, and once it has been checked passengers will be allowed back on it.
Passengers with connecting Virgin flights “received priority”, she said.
Passengers would not have to pay for an extra ticket, despite being instructed otherwise.
A spokesperson for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed they received a report of the flight being diverted to Mackay, but said they were not yet aware of the reason behind the diversion.
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Reported in the media elsewhere
"the increasing and decreasing of speed freaked us out a lot,"
Message here, don't fly into SYD MEL BNE ADL PER (add your own) if you don't wan't to be freaked out
"the increasing and decreasing of speed freaked us out a lot,"
Message here, don't fly into SYD MEL BNE ADL PER (add your own) if you don't wan't to be freaked out
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I am soooooooo tempted to make an inane "I told you so" comment with regard to booking mixed carriers yourself on the web, but will refrain.
Naturally DJ will protect passengers with DJ oncarriage, as they should.
There is no responsability to connect passengers off any carrier onto another and with web booking engines there is now register of incarriage/oncarriage as there is with legacy airlines using GDS's.
Caveat emptor
Sounds like the crew made a very good fist of it, as we would expect. Well done.
Best all
EWL
Naturally DJ will protect passengers with DJ oncarriage, as they should.
There is no responsability to connect passengers off any carrier onto another and with web booking engines there is now register of incarriage/oncarriage as there is with legacy airlines using GDS's.
Caveat emptor
Sounds like the crew made a very good fist of it, as we would expect. Well done.
Best all
EWL
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I am soooooooo tempted to make an inane "I told you so" comment with regard to booking mixed carriers yourself on the web, but will refrain.
Although I would hope most posters on here would be aware of the risk of doing that.
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Elizabeth Hansen, a passenger onboard on flight DJ 656, said the 737-700 made the emergency landing after it rapidly lost cabin pressure at 30,000 feet.
That's interesting, given that the aircraft was an Embraer 190.
Sounds like a form of custard !
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"In related news over the past few months Qantas has had a spate of mid-air incidents..."
I'm just waiting for some journo to use that line.
FRQ CB
I'm just waiting for some journo to use that line.
FRQ CB
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The passenger wasn't Pauline Hansen was it?!
Mind you we have had a few unnecessary rapid descents in Australia over the years.
Wouldn't be the first time a crew has made a meal of something simple and preventable.
Mind you we have had a few unnecessary rapid descents in Australia over the years.
Wouldn't be the first time a crew has made a meal of something simple and preventable.
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Wouldn't be the first time a crew has made a meal of something simple and preventable
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Counting the amount 'freaking out' was used, it seems Mrs Hansen might be from fountain lakes or the like. The pax should be thankful they're all safe & well. That said, it's a pity some clown told them they had to pay for another ticket, or just maybe she was a little too freaked out, & got this bit a little arse about.
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VBA Eng:
was it a decomp or did the a/c/ just fail?
Interesting reference to capt's (alleged) PA re PSU masks - I take it they did not deploy? ..... Notionally, TUC at FL300 is 1 to 2 mins .... which is less than decent.....As for "taking a dive" from FL300 and the third party pax speed references........thought the plan was to decend at the same speed as when the incident occurred?
Seems like a lot of missing pieces to the story. - not throwing buckets - just really curious.
Love the lazy reporting - all relying on the first person anecdotal - why worry about facts or even the basic journo mantra (who what where why) when you can dash off a few para's of comments.
AT
was it a decomp or did the a/c/ just fail?
Interesting reference to capt's (alleged) PA re PSU masks - I take it they did not deploy? ..... Notionally, TUC at FL300 is 1 to 2 mins .... which is less than decent.....As for "taking a dive" from FL300 and the third party pax speed references........thought the plan was to decend at the same speed as when the incident occurred?
Seems like a lot of missing pieces to the story. - not throwing buckets - just really curious.
Love the lazy reporting - all relying on the first person anecdotal - why worry about facts or even the basic journo mantra (who what where why) when you can dash off a few para's of comments.
AT
Meeja !!
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If crew were as inaccurate as journo's only one aircraft in 10 (if that) would actually arrive at the right destination.....
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Ex AAP- 16 Feb 09:
Qld: ATSB won't investigate Virgin diversion
The air safety watchdog has decided not to investigate the sudden descent of a Virgin Blue flight yesterday morning.
A 737-700 .. flying from Townsville to Brisbane .. diverted to Mackay after the aircraft rapidly descended from 30 thousand to 10 thousand feet under pilot control .. when a cockpit light flashed.
No one was injured.
After receiving a report from Virgin Blue .. the Australian Transport Safety Bureau says there's no need for them to investigate.
The airline's public relations manager AMANDA BOLGER says the descent was a precaution and there was no depressurisation in the aircraft.
Ms BOLGER says most passengers flew out of Mackay free of charge on other Virgin flights .. and were also given credit for the cost of their flight.
AAP RTV ahe/pjo/crh/tm
Headline: Qld: ATSB won't investigate Virgin diversion
The air safety watchdog has decided not to investigate the sudden descent of a Virgin Blue flight yesterday morning.
A 737-700 .. flying from Townsville to Brisbane .. diverted to Mackay after the aircraft rapidly descended from 30 thousand to 10 thousand feet under pilot control .. when a cockpit light flashed.
No one was injured.
After receiving a report from Virgin Blue .. the Australian Transport Safety Bureau says there's no need for them to investigate.
The airline's public relations manager AMANDA BOLGER says the descent was a precaution and there was no depressurisation in the aircraft.
Ms BOLGER says most passengers flew out of Mackay free of charge on other Virgin flights .. and were also given credit for the cost of their flight.
AAP RTV ahe/pjo/crh/tm
Headline: Qld: ATSB won't investigate Virgin diversion
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At least it is good to know that Qants is not the only airline with "terrified" passengers "fearing for thier lives". At least it made the media, but was buried away - if it were QF, it would be front page news.