Qantas flight QF1889 makes emergency landing: 20,000 feet plunge
Passengers on board a Qantas flight from Darwin to Cairns say they feared for their lives after the aircraft made a rapid emergency descent of 20,000 feet before returning safely to Darwin Airport.
QF1889 was scheduled to fly from Darwin to Cairns on Monday, however, it was forced to abandon the scheduled journey and urgently return to Darwin Airport for a priority landing, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The Qantas flight, which was operated by Alliance Aviation, took off around 6.15am.
Around 30 minutes into the flight, a warning light went off and the plane went into a “rapid descent”, which was manually conducted, bringing the plane from 30,000 feet, to 10,000.
“After receiving a pressurisation warning light shortly after take off on Monday morning, the pilots followed standard operating procedures and initiated a controlled descent to 10 thousand feet over a number of minutes,” the airline said in a clarified statement.
The airline accepted that the experience would have been “unsettling” for those on board, but stressed the plane did not “plunge”.
“We understand this might have been an unsettling experience for our customers and want to thank them for their patience and understanding.”
Speaking to local outlet the NT News, one passenger said the cabin filled with screams as the plane plunged 20,000 feet with no explanation or warning.
“I think it is the closest all of us passengers ever want to come to a plane crash,” they said.
“There was no notification before descending quickly.
“Paramedics were waiting when we landed.”
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, another passenger said the “drop” made her think “we were going to die”.
“The little girl next to me started screaming in pain from her ears hurting from the rapid descent,” she said.
The airline said pilots followed standard protocol and that the incident is being investigated.
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