Delta pilot forced to make emergency landing after cabin pressure drops rapidly mid-air

Monday, September 17, 2018

A Delta pilot was forced to make an emergency landing without being able to see, because the lenses on his oxygen mask were faulty.

 
Cabin pressure rapidly dropped inside the Heathrow flight to Atlanta, meaning the pilot had to conduct an emergency landing.

 
During the landing he pulled on his oxygen mask for the descent, however the lenses were broken meaning he was not able to see properly.

 
While making the decent two passenger masks also failed to deploy to supply oxygen to those on board. A report into the incident which happened in August 2017, found that a rapid drop in pressure sparked an emergency in the air over London.

 
One flyer fainted as the flight was deliberately plunged into a dramatic descent, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch report said.

 
The report added that the commander reported that the lenses in his oxygen mask were in poor condition, which affected his visibility, whereas the lenses in the masks of the co-pilot and relief pilot were clear.

 
During the emergency, the cabin crew informed the flight crew that all but two of the passenger oxygen masks had automatically deployed and that a passenger had fainted and was being attended by a passenger with a medical background.

 
The fuel-laden flight, containing 219 passengers and crew, made its emergency landing at Heathrow despite being ten tonnes overweight.

 
The cause of the cabin pressure loss could not be identified.

 
The report added that the aircraft manufacturer was unaware of any other occasions when the masks had failed to deploy on a Boeing 767 aircraft.

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