Fortunately, this story has a happy ending but it must have been terrifying in the moment. According to the South China Morning Post, a Japan Airlines Boeing 737-800 “started plummeting violently at around 7pm and dropped to 3,000 meters in just 20 minutes.”
TMZ shared a video with the caption: “TERRIFYING video shows passengers on a Japan Airlines flight writing goodbye notes as a sudden mechanical issue sent the plane into a steep panic-inducing descent. 😳👀”
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Flight JL8696 was flying from Shanghai to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport but had to divert to Kansai Airport in Osaka where it landed safely Monday night around 8:50pm local time.
There were 191 passengers and crew on board and thankfully no one was hurt. The Japanese government said the pilots contacted air traffic controllers after an alert signaled a problem with the pressurization system that maintains cabin air pressure.
One shaken passenger posted on social media: “My body is still here but my soul hasn’t caught up. My legs are still shaking. When you face life or death everything else feels trivial.”
The flight was a codeshare with Spring Airlines Japan. After complaints, the budget airline reportedly offered each passenger just 15,000 yen (about $104 USD), which many say is far too little given the experience.
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This is code share flight with Spring Airline which is a Chinese LCC, not operated by Japan Airline.
This is a simple case of an emergency decent do loss of, or possible loss of cabin pressure and the airplane had to get to 10,000 feet as soon as possible. This is a standard procedure in this case. No one in the video even looked to be in a panic, I’m sure the crew kept them well informed of what was going on and they all would be OK.
I hate it when the news takes an issue and twist it so the public sees it in a different light.
You are 1000% correct about the drop in altitude as anyone who flies many times knows of this procedure. Reporters doing what reporters do, Drama.
Correct. when the aircraft experiences a rapid decompression usually from a failed seal the protocol is to desend the aircraft to an elevation where passengers will not need to use oxygen. Great job pilots! Media turns this emergency into something else!
That JAL photo is nice but it is not a 737. Why not use a 737 with a JAL logo rather than any photo you can find that has a JAL logo on it? It would lend more credibility to your reporting.
I didn’t have a JAL 737 photo. I looked but only a 787
That’s exactly what I thought, but there must be a way to warn passengers about that maneuver in that specific situation. Any passenger with a weak heart could have had a heart attack. Just my personal opinion…
This sounds like the plane descended to a safe altitude after losing pressure. This maneuver is the standard method in such a case. If the aircraft does not descend fast passengers and crew could die due to lack of oxygen. Yes, it is terrifying but at least you survive.