Air Asia plane plummets 20,000 feet, flight crew panics

[Oz Jon 2,476]

The  frustrating thing is that their fares from Melbourne to Cebu, Davao or PP are very competitive (particularly if you fly with only carry-on and no check-in baggage - <$600 if you can pick your dates). Cheaper to buy new gear in SE Asia than pay $200 return to check it in, have a meal and choose a seat.

Unfortunately, they have had far too many "incidents" in the past year,or so for my liking..... it seems that all is not well with that airline.

ps. I've repeatedly heard reports that their flights from KL to SE Asia are very good, but their KL-Australia flights are the pits

 

Edited October 17, 2017 by Oz Jon
added prices

[miles-high 3,917]

A “plummeting plane”: I don’t know why some journalists use those “sensational” words for just a normal, STANDARD emergency procedure to descend to the breathable altitude of 10,000ft (depending on the terrain below). Perhaps they need more clicks from the readers?

When there is a pressurization problem, it’s normal to bank the airplane to about 35 to 50 degrees (to keep the passengers in the seats, to leave the airway to avoid possible other traffic below and to increase the rate of descent), nothing to be “freaked out".

“23,800 feet in nine minutes”: that’s only 2,650ft per minutes that’s almost normal rate descent, perhaps their emergency was not that pressing or perhaps the integrity of the airframe was in question? Normal emergency descent would be more than 4,000ft/min, depending on the nature of the pressurization problem. Again, I guess it’s some “sensationalism” on the writer’s side… Perhaps, those oxygen masks freaked them out…

The flight crew would often be too busy in ensuring the safety of the airplane, to navigate and communicate with ATC.

If the cabin crew “freaked out” however, that’s another story – it probably shows inadequate training or perhaps the inherent problem of non-European or American cabin crew…

That’s another reason I usually fly on European or American legacy airlines – most European or American (that includes Canadian, too ;)) cabin crews are quite capable of coping any emergency situation – it’s cultural upbringing and education, I guess…

[Kreole 1,584]

My only flight on Air Asia was last month, a RT to Kuala Lumpar for a visa run.  No incidents and super cheap.  The seats were comfortable and the fabric seemed like leather.  Not a thing different from other more expensive airlines I have flown.  And I agree with miles-high that the rate of descent was not sudden at all, just a normal glide downward, if the report is accurate.  It is unfortunate that the crew freaked out.  I would like to know more details as to cause which might answer a lot of questions.  I assume the plane turned around and returned to Perth, but again, the report does not say.  

[Jester 3,616]

I'm going to be miserable on a long light anyway so might as well take the cheapest flight. Nothing in human behavior would surprise me from overpaid, over trained, over educated professionals to a kid walking down the street.

Without all the details last thing I would want to see done is firing the crew, they are now seasoned and know what not to do!    Plus we only have the opinion of one reporter.

[SkyMan 23,717]

Yeah, I read plummeting and then....

3 hours ago, miles-high said:

“23,800 feet in nine minutes”: that’s only 2,650ft per minute

And I'm wondering where the plummeting came in.

[SkyMan 23,717]

9 hours ago, A_Simple_Man said:

For being human?  It ain't like in the movies.  I bet that happens on a lot of crashes but we would never know because they seldom survive to tell the tale. 

Maybe most would panic but panicking as in this case shows they aren't cut out for the job.  Most night watchmen sleep at their post, you still fire those you catch and hope by doing so you increase the odds of having alert guards.  Maybe next time there will be less panic.  Sounds like it would be unlikely to make things worse.

[broden 57,115]

they should of said they were practicing for their special halloween fright flight

ticket sales would jump

[Monsoon 28,941]

16 hours ago, shadow said:

AirAsia flight QZ535 left from Perth, Australia Sunday  and headed to Bali, Indonesia. However,  shortly after takeoff the plane dropped almost 23,800 feet in nine minutes, according to the Associated Press.

9 hours ago, samatm said:

Very frustrating article as it does not mention the cause of the free fall.    What happened man?   

 

The "plummeting" was most likely  an emergency descent initiated by the crew if there were in fact a pressurization issue as the article suggests. That would be the SOP in such a situation. Basically if theres a problem with that system the priority is to get down to 10,000FT or whatever the MSA (minimum safe altitude) is for the route of flight. 

It sounds to me. like the flight crew (in the cockpit)  should be lauded for a job well done. They were clearly presented with an emergency and did what they were trained to do. As a result, everyone walked away unscathed. I'm sure the passengers were scared shitless, but I, or any other pilot could load the average passenger into a plane and scare the living shit out of them without doing anything dangerous or even pushing the envelope of the plane's capabilities. An emergency descent would certainly be capable staining some underwear. 

A complete report will be available on the incident for the public to review I would think since the flight originated in AUS and terminated in AUS due to the emergency. There shouldn't be any Indonesian coverups. 

[Monsoon 28,941]

4 hours ago, SkyMan said:

Maybe most would panic but panicking as in this case shows they aren't cut out for the job.  Most night watchmen sleep at their post, you still fire those you catch and hope by doing so you increase the odds of having alert guards.  Maybe next time there will be less panic.  Sounds like it would be unlikely to make things worse.

It is times like these where one might reconsider their priorities when booking flights... 

Cheap and good don't always align with each other... 

[Woolf 8,550]

Not much info here about this incident, strange

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/600735-air-asia-returns-perth.html

[Kabisay-an gid 6,854]

13 minutes ago, Monsoon said:

It is times like these where one might reconsider their priorities when booking flights... 

Cheap and good don't always align with each other... 

Amen to that! I'll stick with top-notch professional airlines - I fly EVA from LAX to Taipei to Cebu. EVA (Taiwan based) is ranked as the third safest airline in the world, and 6th best airline overall. They've never had a plane crash in all the years they've been in business.

[Kabisay-an gid 6,854]

12 minutes ago, Woolf said:

Not much info here about this incident, strange

No deaths or injuries, no crash landing - rate of descent was normal for a cabin pressure loss event, the plane never "plummeted".

Except for apparently a couple panicked crew members screaming, the incident was barely newsworthy. IMHO, certain news sources of questionable repute intentionally used words like "plummeted" in their article titles as clickbait.

[musicman666 1,961]

18 minutes ago, Kabisay-an gid said:

Amen to that! I'll stick with top-notch professional airlines - I fly EVA from LAX to Taipei to Cebu. EVA (Taiwan based) is ranked as the third safest airline in the world, and 6th best airline overall. They've never had a plane crash in all the years they've been in business.

Eva have been going since 1989 and cathay have been going since the mid fourties so ,they have some ways to go on the no crash record ....touch wood!

[Soarking 2,233]

1 hour ago, Kabisay-an gid said:

Except for apparently a couple panicked crew members screaming, the incident was barely newsworthy.

Plane dropped 23,800 ft. in 9 minutes?    Would certainly been newsworthy had the plane been flying at 23,799 ft.

[Jester 3,616]

1 hour ago, Kabisay-an gid said:

Amen to that! I'll stick with top-notch professional airlines - I fly EVA from LAX to Taipei to Cebu. EVA (Taiwan based) is ranked as the third safest airline in the world, and 6th best airline overall. They've never had a plane crash in all the years they've been in business.

Never had a crash?  Crap, waaaaaay overdue,  no way you would get me on one of their planes!