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| Image: Hon Kit - Jetphotos |
A Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau was forced to return to Kuala Lumpur International Airport due to technical issues and bad weather conditions on Sunday (April 3).
The airline said in a statement that Flight MH2664 from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau (Sabah, east of Malaysia), operated by Boeing 737-800 - registered 9M-MLS - turned back due to technical issues with the aircraft.
"It was also compounded by bad weather en route," it added.
As a precautionary measure, the pilot made the decision to return to Kuala Lumpur in the interest of passenger safety, the company said, adding that the eight year old 737-800 landed safely in Kuala Lumpur at 5.03pm (Sunday) after departing at 2.30pm from KLIA.
Malaysia Airlines said that the safety of its crew and passengers was of utmost importance.
One likely reason for the sudden drop is an air pocket. In a nutshell, an air pocket is a region of low pressure causing an aircraft to lose height suddenly. Air pockets are just an extreme form of turbulence where a downdraft causes the aircraft to drop suddenly. Modern planes are built to withstand extreme turbulence, but an unexpected drop isn't much fun for people onboard, especially if not buckled in. Injuries (and more rarely, fatalities) are caused mainly by people and objects being tossed around the cabin.
Passenger Halimah Nasoha wrote of her experience on Facebook saying that many passengers panicked, screamed and some cried as the aircraft lost altitude sharply about 30 minutes into the flight.
"It was very frightening for many of us. I really felt like I was going to die.
"I was upset because I didn't wear a seatbelt at that time," she said in her Facebook page recalling the incident.
"The flight was unstable. It went up and then went down. But, the first time it went downwards was the worst," she added.
Halimah said a flight radar tracker displayed in the cabin showed that the flight had dropped from 25,000 feet to 23,000 feet.
Halimah praised the efficiency of the pilots in handling the emergency situation without any untoward incidents happening to the passengers and the aircraft.
Source: The Star - Simpleflying.com