AirAsia chief defends crew in 'mid-air' emergency
Published on: Wednesday, October 18, 2017
AIRASIA group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes has defended the conduct of pilots and crew on board an AirAsia flight from Perth to Bali that was forced to turn back on Sunday."Pilots, in a controlled manner, took the aircraft down to a safe altitude where oxygen was not needed and the aircraft landed safely," he tweeted last night.Flight QZ535 had plunged 6,100m an hour into the flight, from 9,800m to 3,050m, when the plane's cabin suddenly lost pressure.
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Tony said cabin pressure loss "happens to many aircraft"."Depressurisation happens. I have been on another airline when that happened, and pilots did an excellent job and are trained for it."He slammed media outlets that "twist stories"."Crew were not screaming but telling passengers they had to sit down and belt up and get oxygen for safety reasons. "
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Passengers had accused crew members of screaming and crying during the mid-air emergency, according to reports from news.com.au and Perth Now. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
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Citing data from FlightRadar, CNBC said the plane descended 23,800 feet (7,250m) within nine minutes. – October 17, 2017.
