Panic breaks out on Indian flight after pilot gaffe
September 20, 2018
More than 30 passengers on Indian carrier Jet Airways began bleeding from their ears and noses after the plane lost cabin pressure. The airline said the pilots had simply forgotten to flick the necessary switch.
Image: Reuters/D. Siddiqui
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A Jet Airways flight travelling from Mumbai to Jaipur on Thursday was forced to turn back after the plane lost cabin pressure due to a cockpit mix-up.
More than 30 passengers began bleeding from their ears and noses and later had to receive medical treatment. Five of those travelers had to be rushed to hospital after they began suffering from mild deafness. Doctors said they would need 10 days to fully recover.
Jet Airways said the incident occurred after the pilots forgot to flick a switch regulating cabin air pressure. The flight crew "has been taken off scheduled duties pending investigation," the carrier said in a statement, adding that it would fully cooperate with India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The Boeing 737, which was carrying 166 passengers and five crew members, had climbed 11,000 feet (3,350 meters) before returning to Mumbai.
Photos and videos taken by passengers on board quickly made the rounds on social media. Footage posted by Twitter user Darshak Hathi showed travelers using oxygen masks. "Panic situation due to technical fault in @jetairways 9W 0697 going from Mumbai to Jaipur," he tweeted.
Another passenger told India's NDTV news network that the pilot did not make any announcement, except to say that the flight was returning to Mumbai. "I was in the business class and the oxygen mask came down suddenly. One passenger came running from the back asking everyone to put on the masks," he said. "All the passengers were panicking, those sitting at the back and who were unable to wear the masks started bleeding from their mouths and noses."
The incident is the latest of a string of embarrassments for Jet Airways, and comes at a time when it is both struggling to cut costs and finds itself embroiled in a pay dispute with staff.
The carrier, which is partly owned by Etihad Airways, announced this summer that it had suffered losses of around $189 million (roughly €160 million) for the quarter from April to June.
In January, two pilots were grounded after getting into a brawl and storming out of the cockpit during a New Year's Day flight from Mumbai to London.
Airline logos: Colorful, stark and striking
The large, often stylized logos on airplane tails allow you to immediately recognize the airline when you spot a plane. Many use birds in their designs, but all companies want to let you know where they are based.
Image: S. Barbour/Getty Images
Qantas
The plane tails of Australia's national airline Qantas are embellished with a stylized kangaroo, hence the nickname "the Flying Kangaroo!" Even from a far distance, it's easy to tell which continent the plane comes from. After all, kangaroos only exist in Australia. This animal has become a sort of national logo, appearing not only on planes but also on Australia's coat of arms and currency.
Image: S. Barbour/Getty Images
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
In contrast to its Australian counterpart, the logo of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is more factual. The abstract symbol of a crown in combination with the three letters KLM leaves no doubt as to which country this plane comes from. And that's what logos are all about.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/R. de Waal
Gambia Bird
The tiny West African state is a paradise for birds and their friends. More than 500 different kinds of birds live in the Gambia. Tourists don't even need to take birdwatching trips because many birds can be spotted in hotel gardens — they're just everywhere! Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Gambian national airline went for a bird as its logo when it was founded in 2012. Service ceased in 2014.
Image: flickr/Transport Pixels
Alaska Airlines
The Seattle-based airline has proved its creativity on several occasions during its 90-year-long history. The company was among the first airlines to sell tickets online and to offer online and automatic check-ins. Like its name, the logo of the airline refers to Alaska and its indigenous inhabitants, the Inuit.
Image: Reuters
Iran Air
A trade embargo and political tensions between 1980 and 2016 made it hard for Iran's state airline with headquarters at Tehran's Mehrabad airport to modernize its planes. But maybe the "homa," the mythological bird used in the logo, came to the rescue of the airline. According to Persian mythology, "homa" is believed to bring luck and joy while living its life entirely in the sky.
Image: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt
Air Tanzania
Over the years Tanzania's national airline has also had to face numerous challenges. Sometimes its fleet was in the air, sometimes not, and the airline's owners also frequently changed. It's certainly not the fault of the giraffe logo. The world's tallest animal looks so friendly and inviting on the plane;what passenger could say no to stepping onboard for a trip to Mount Kilimanjaro?
Image: flickr/stevesaviation
Takeoff into the future
A crane has served as the logo of Germany's largest airline since 1918. Some types of cranes cover enormous distances when they migrate, but others are considered pests due to their enormous appetites. Lufhansa is now flying into the future with a new logo design. The symbol will be the same, but the colors will change. Goodbye yellow and gray, hello simple white and blue!
