A little over a week ago, Megan and I headed to the airport to fly from St. Louis to London. We were excited about more than just the destination, as we had found a great price on business-class seats for the trip (which had us leave in the mid-afternoon and arrive in the morning).
The trip had two legs: A flight to Toronto, then a flight to London. We figured we’d be on a fairly large plane from St. Louis and then a really big plane to London, so it was very much to our surprise that it was a regional jet with only 3 seats per row (1 on one side, 2 on the other). It had the smallest overhead compartments I’ve ever seen.
No problem, though–a plane is a plane. That is, until it starts to drop out of the sky.
That’s what happened to us about 30 minutes before reaching Toronto. There was a sudden drop in cabin pressure and the plane lurched downwards. The captain came on the intercom right away to say that everything was fine and that it was normal for oxygen masks to drop in a moment–in fact, he was so calm that when the masks dropped, passengers didn’t put them on right away.
The flight attendants quickly realized the miscommunication and made it much clearer that we needed to put on the masks now. Despite the countless times I’ve half-listened to the preflight instructions, it was harder to get and use the mask than I thought. They’re attached to the overhead compartments by a string that you need to tug down on (it looks like a clasp, but it isn’t). And the masks don’t easily cinch–I had to hold mine to my face.
Meanwhile, the plane wasn’t crashing, but it also wasn’t exactly flying. Plus, it was starting to smell like something was burning–that’s when I started to get really concerned. But we just held hands, tried to relax, and hoped for the best.
Fortunately, everything ended up okay. I’m not entirely sure what happened, though we heard something about an air circulation malfunction (I’m not sure why the plane nosedived as a result of it, though). We were quite happy to get back on solid ground, though.
Have you ever been on a plane when the masks dropped?
I would have a very hard time getting onto my connecting flight after an incident like this. Then again, I guess your only real options on that case are to fly home or just live in Canada! Glad you all made it through the experience unscathed!
We weren’t worried about getting on the big plane to London, but we were a little nervous getting back on the same regional jet on the trip home!
I think the usual protocol for a loss of cabin pressure is to immediately reduce altitude to try and get to a height where the air is more breathable. That’s probably why the plane nosedived.
Ah, that makes sense.
Well, that’s the sort of excitement you don’t really need in your life…