American Airlines plane drops 15,000 feet in 3 minutes: ‘I’ve flown a lot. This was scary’

Fifty passengers and three crew members on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Gainesville, Fla., got quite the scare last week, when the aircraft lost 15,000 feet of altitude in just three minutes.

Airline officials say the crew reported a possible issue with pressurization. The plane landed safely with no reported injuries.

One passenger, a University of Florida professor, however, wrote on Twitter that tensions were high on board as the plane dipped and oxygen masks fell.

"I’ve flown a lot. This was scary," wrote Harrison Hove. "Kudos to our amazing flight crew- cabin staff and pilots on @AmericanAir 5916. The photos cannot capture the burning smell, loud bang or ear pops.”

Other passengers also praised the flight crew, but did urge the airline to improve its communications with passengers in future events.

“Crew was great, but please, @AmericanAir, put in your protocol that a message from the captain (or delegate) be issued quickly,” wrote David Cuillier in a Tweet. In another post, he added, “What was interesting was the pilot gave no info for at least 20 minutes. And passengers craved info. They wanted to know what was up. Were we going to crash? What was the smoke? Do the air masks work? Some were in tears."

Data from Flight Aware shows the problems began roughly 40 minutes into the flight. The big altitude drop took place between the 42^nd and 45^th minutes of the flight. Over the course of less than six minutes, the plane descended 18,000 feet, ultimately moving from flying at 30,000 feet to a level closer to 10,000 feet. It also cut its speed by 170 mph before beginning its landing procedure.

“American Eagle flight 5916, operated by Piedmont Airlines, from Charlotte (CLT) to Gainesville, Florida (GNV) landed safely in GNV on Thursday, August 10,” American Airlines said in a statement. “While inflight, the crew received an indication of a possible pressurization issue and immediately and safely descended to a lower altitude. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and thank our team for their professionalism.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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