Airline passengers in mid-air scare as plane plummets in China
An afternoon flight from Kunming to Hangzhou was forced to turn around when mechanical problems caused drop in altitude and cabin pressure
Passengers on a flight to eastern China feared for their lives on Sunday afternoon when their plane suddenly lost altitude.
The 146 passengers and nine crew members were around 20 minutes into their journey on board Capital Airlines flight JD5158 from Kunming, Yunnan province, to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, when they heard loud noises, quickly followed by the pilot’s announcement that the cabin was losing pressure and oxygen masks would be lowered, according to Chinese media reports.
One of the passengers, identified by his family name Zhang, told the Qianjiang Evening News that he saw and smelled smoke and felt a “strong loss of gravity” as the plane rapidly descended.
His six-year-old boy complained about aching ears and asked him why the plane was dropping so quickly, to which Zhang replied they were playing a game of wearing masks.
“I am only in my 30s and I don’t want to die. Even if I had to die, please don’t let anything bad happen to my son,” Zhang recalled him thinking to himself while his wife watched him with tears in her eyes.