Eurowings Discover Flight to Frankfurt Performs Emergency Descent

A scary aviation incident happened above the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, when the pilots of an Airbus A330 were forced to perform an emergency descent because of a loss of cabin pressure. An emergency landing followed. Luckily, nobody was injured.

Berlin, July 18th, 2022 (The Berlin Spectator) — In spite of the ongoing Corona crisis, aviation is back in business. Germans are traveling to tourist destinations all over the world, including the Dominican Republic. The passengers on an aircraft owned by Lufthansa Group’s new airline Eurowings Discover went through shocking moments earlier this week, when their pilots performed an emergency descent above the Atlantic Ocrean. T-Online’s news publication reported about the incident first.

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No Choice

It happened on Sunday in the early morning. Eurowings Discover flight no. 4Y007 was en route from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic to Frankfurt. The twin-engine Airbus A330 had nearly reached Ireland when the crew noticed a loss of cabin pressure at an altitude of 12,000 meters (39,370 feet). In this situation, the pilots did not have a choice. They released the oxygen masks for the passengers and performed an emergency descent manoeuvre.

This kind of approach in a situation like this one is required. It is about saving lives by making sure the passengers and crew can breathe on board the aircraft. In this case, the crew took the Airbus down to 3,000 feet within six minutes. At this kind of altitude, humans can breathe normally.

No Reason

The airline confirmed the incident to the T-Online German-language news website. According to an official statement, the cockpit crew reacted immediately. They had left their cruising altitude and planned an emergency landing, it said. None of the 179 passengers had been harmed. The A330 was rerouted to Düsseldorf Airport. At the low and safe altitude the crew brought it to, flight no. 4Y007 easily made it there.

At this stage, there is no information about the reason for the loss of cabin pressure. A leak is one of the possibilities. A similar incident was reported in June, when the crew of a Boeing 737-800 owned by the Turkish airline Corendon noticed this kind of issue on the way from Nuremberg to Palma de Mallorca. They performed an emergency landing in Basel.

No Takeoff

Yesterday’s incident brings back sad memories of Birgenair flight no. 301. It February of 1996, it was supposed to take German tourists from Puerto Plata to Frankfurt when it crashed in the sea. All 189 persons on board died. It happened because of a problem with the plane’s pilot tubes. They are devices that measure the latitude.

Another aviation incident, but a far more harmless one, took place at Munich airport earlier this week. As the Avaition Herald reports, an Airbus A320 owned by Lufthansa was stopped by its pilots when its takeoff run had already begun. This kind of manoeuvre is known as rejected takeoff. It was performed because of “disagreeing airspeeds”, meaning the cockpit instruments showed different speeds. This flight was supposed to take its passengers to Berlin. After a 2-hour delay, they boarded a replacement aircraft and got to their destination.

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