A PILOT was forced to emergency land after passengers on a Boeing jet started bleeding from their ears and mouths.
The Delta Air Lines Flight 1203 spun into chaos when the Boeing 737-900 aircraft dramatically dipped, according to passengers.
The aircraft was flying from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Portland, Oregon, before the pilot was forced to turn around mid air after a sudden issue occurred.
Passenger on the flight Caryn Allen said it didn’t take long before fellow passengers noticed something was wrong – which later was confirmed to be pressurisation.
She told KSL-TV: “I looked over at my husband, and he had both of his hands over his ears, you know, kind of leaning forward.
“I looked about a row behind me, over on the other side of the aisle, and there was a gentleman that clearly had a very bad bloody nose, and people were trying to help him.”
Another passenger Jaci Purser said the horrific sensation from the pressure felt like someone was stabbing her in the ear.
She told of how her ear popped from the pressure in the cabin – then bubbled.
Jaci said: “I grabbed my ear, and I pulled my hand back, and there was blood on it.”
Delta Airlines told The Sun that the aircraft was unable to pressurise above 10,000 and that oxygen masks didn’t deploy.
They also said that medical personnel met the flight at the gate and identified 10 people as needing evaluation or treatment.
The Boeing aircraft had 140 passengers onboard but no serious injuries were reported.
It has not been made clear what caused the pressurisation issue but Delta technicians were reportedly able to fix it.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate.
A Delta Airlines spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologize to our customers for their experience on flight 1203 on Sept. 15.
“The flight crew followed procedures to return to SLC where our teams on the ground supported our customers with their immediate needs.”
It comes a month after Boeing was forced to ground its whole fleet of 777X test planes after cracks were found in the structure.
Workers reportedly found a concerning fracture on three out of four of the aircraft which had caused damage to a crucial engine component.
The initial test plane to be inspected was found to have a crack in it after it landed in Hawaii with an impaired structure over the weekend.
Two more planes were then checked once they touched down and found to have cracks in the crucial part of the assembly as well.
According to two sources close to Boeing, the issue led to the engine’s “thrust link” onboard being severed.
Thrust links are responsible for transferring the huge thrust of an engine to the structure of the jet through a titanium link sat beneath the wings.
A statement from Boeing to news outlet The Air Current said: “During scheduled maintenance, we identified a component that did not perform as designed.
“Our team is replacing the part and capturing any learnings from the component and will resume flight testing when ready.
“We are keeping the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) fully informed on the issue and have shared information with our customers.”
Boeing has previously labelled the 777X as one of their most state-of-the-art aircraft after years of development.
BOEING’S RECENT BLUNDERS
BOEING has faced scrutiny in 2024 after a series of concerning malfunctions.
Here’s a list of some of the biggest incidents regarding the aircraft maker:
- April 2018- Woman dies after being partially sucked out of window on Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 flight
- October 2018 – Boeing 737 MAX 8 Indonesia Lion Air fatal crash leaves 189 dead
- March 2019 – Boeing 737 MAX 8 Ethiopia Airlines fatal crash leaves 157 dead
- January 2024 – Boeing 747 Delta Airlines plane loses front tyre
- January 2024 – Boeing Alaska Airlines ripped window leaving gaping hole in the plane
- March 2024 – Wheel falls off Boeing 777 United Airlines plane smashing cars below
- March 2024 – Boeing 787 LATAM LA800 took a “sudden nose-dive” leaving 50 injured
- April 2024- Boeing 737 engine cover ripped off mid-air
- April 2024 – Wheel falls off and smoke billows from Boeing 737 FlySafair FA212 in South Africa
- April 2024- Boeing 747 Lufthansa Airlines seen bouncing along the runway in another huge safety blunder.
- May 2024 – Boeing 767 FedEx plane nosedives on runway due to front landing gear failure
- May 2024- A 737 with 50 passengers on board was forced into an emergency landing in Japan just minutes after take-off
- June 2024- Boeing 737-800 makes a heartstopping botched takeoff from Turkey leaving Brits fearing for their lives
- July 2024- A 737’s wheel blew out on a US runway forcing the passenger jet’s pilot to ditch the takeoff at 150mph
- July 2024- A packed Boeing 777 jet scrapes tail along Milan runway leaving a trail of smoke and debris behind
- September 2024: A Boeing 737-900 aircraft has intense pressurisation issues that leads to passengers bleeding from the ears and mouth