Passengers shaken up on two scary flights
(CNS): Passengers on a flight from Grand Cayman to London at the end of May were shaken up on the first leg of the journey to Nassau, Bahamas, when the British Airways jet ran into an electrical storm. And just a few days later, a Cayman Airways Boeing 737-300 from Miami, FL, en route to Grand Cayman last week was forced to make a rapid descent when the primary cabin pressure controller suffered a malfunction about halfway into the flight. No one was harmed on either flight.
On Friday 29 May Flight BA252 Cayman to London (via Nassau) was, according to British Airways, diverted to Miami due to bad weather. “We apologize to customers for the disruption to their journeys. Thunderstorms cancause delays and disruption around airports since aircraft are required to fly around them,” a spokesperson said via email. “The aircraft refuelled before completing the journey to Nassau. Safety is our number one priority and we took the decision to divert as a precaution. “
However, one passenger recalled the journey as terrifying. Julie Price said that when the evening flight left Grand Cayman the sun was shining. “When we got closer to Nassau we were caught in a powerful storm; there were lightning bolts going off outside the plane and it was raining extremely heavily and the wind was very powerful. It was too strong a storm to enable the plane to fly through it,” she recalled.
“I have never been so terrified in my life, the plane was jolting up and down and was extremely rocky, at one point it felt like the plane plummeted downwards and the force of the drop made everyone get thrown out of their seats." However, passengers were kept from falling by their seatbelts.
"Some passengers were crying and a few even screamed, personally I was absolutely terrified, I didn’t cry but had a slight panic attack (pains in my chest and finding it hard to breathe). In the end we had to make an emergency landing in Miami,” she said.
Price had no complaints about the captain, however. “Once the plane had landed the captain walked around the aircraft and was very nice – he tried to calm people down and reassure them. He said that planes are built like tanks and are extremely strong and would hold up to a lot; he also said that 99 per cent of the time a flight is smooth and our type of journey was very rare.” The captain told the passengers that pilots go through vigorous training, such as simulators, and that his training had been extremely useful in flying through the storm.
“He promised us that we would not fly back to Nassau until it had been confirmed that the weather was better. All the passengers were extremely shaken (although some of the men seemed to enjoy the experience, go figure!).” When Price told him how frightened she had been when the plane appeared to drop, he said that if this story was in the news it would say that a plane plummeted, when in reality, he said, “We only fell fifty feet or so, which isn’t a lot considering the height we are in the air.”
Price went on, “We had to wait quite a while before being told we were flying back to Nassau, when we got there it was still raining but the bad storm had gone so the ride was only a little bumpy. The rest of the flight to London was fine.” However, she said, “To top it all, when the plane landed in Nassau and the cabin crew changed over, the new airhostess merrily walked along the length of the aircraft and opened the overhead cupboards, she opened the one above me and promptly dropped a heavy bag on my head. As a result I’ve got a really sore neck and shoulders.”
Price, a former resident of Grand Cayman, who was visiting friends said, “That flight was the worst one I have ever taken in my life and not an experience I wish to repeat. Our captain assured us our flight was nothing to worry about and was completely safe. I believe him, but obviously I am not used to flight experiences like that and it has made me extremely nervous about flying every again.”
A few days later, a Cayman Airways flight was forced to descend due to pressure problem. According to local reports from passengers and a report on the Aviation Herald website, a Cayman Airways Boeing 737-300 from Miami, FL, en route to Grand Cayman last week was forced to make a rapid descent when the primary cabin pressure controller suffered a malfunction about halfway into the flight.
According to the website report the crew decided to descend to 10,000 feet and continued to Grand Cayman, where the airplane landed safely about 40 minutes later. One passenger who was on the 3 JuneKX 107 flight told CNS that it felt like an emergency descent as the plane went down so fast but the airline told Aviation Herald, a website which tracks incidents an aviation news around the world, that it was a normal descent as result of the anomaly. The passenger stated that the oxygen masks did not come down because the captain told them he was going to descend quickly to a level where they would be safe without them. CNS has now contacted CAL for a statement regarding what happened on the flight and is awaiting a response.
Category: Headline News
I was on the British Airways flight and it was reasonably bad, but not certainly the worst experience i’ve ever had. The crew were very good during the flight but i did question why the pilot felt the need to try and land for a second time at Nassau only 10 minutes after the first failed attempt, as it was clear the weather hadn’t drastically improved.
At the end of day, the pilots are well trainined and certianly put their own lifes on the line during all incidents so you have to trust in their judgement. It was me who at one point was laughing, because if you can’t laugh in the face of a tough situation, which you have no control over, then it will just eat you up later. Laugh whenever you can, that’s my motto!
"But what was very interesting was on landing after the plane had made a complete stop and the lights and the the ‘unfasten seat belt’ signs came on, the plane seemed to have lost power completely. The lights went completely out and the plane was silent. Passengers were left in the dark for about 4 to 5 minutes then the lights would flicker on and cut back outagain. This happened 3 or 4 times before they were able to stay on and we were able to exit the plane."
The pilot was stalling the engines, and needed a portable power unit for a boost. Happens when you pop the clutch.
Its because of all the spying America is doing on Cuba.
WHEN MY FEET CANT TOUCH THE GROUND
I am never happy when my feet cant touch the ground, even on my bed, and I believe many others share these same feelings. However lightening storms are nothing we have controll of, but in my view an ounce of prevention is much better than a pound of cure. Meaning if the pilots are told that there will be bad weather(which I am quite sure they are told) They should consider safety first instead of the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ It is not a good feeling, I have been there, and trust me if you aint got good faith you will loose your will on the plane.
I would never fly any other airline except Cayman Airways, because they have some of the best pilots there is. Now my advise to the the Cayman Airways Company is do not cut corners with people’s lives. Three departments I feel there should be no if,s and but,s about giving the best, no matter how much it cost. They are The police department, The Hospital and Cayman Airways. There should be no consideration whatsoever in ensuring that these three departments are getting the best of everything. After all our lives are in their hands.
I LOVE CAYMAN AIRWAYS, GOD BLESS EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE.
Let’s see if CAL is going to respond at all. They will likely lie again like when they said a few days ago that the "two pilots were cleared of wrong doing". We found out otherwise the next day. There needs to be a real shake up or eliminations at the highest levels at CAL!
What did we find out the next day? What wrong-doing? I read re-instated and quote "
The CAACI stated: “The investigation confirmed that the aircraft was operated below the minimum altitude prescribed and identified deficiencies in Cayman Airways’ flight operations authorisation procedures, and air traffic control procedures at the Cayman Islands Airports Authority. " unquote
Lets be careful of the stones we throw
In response to "What did we find out next", You conveniently forgot to quote the rest of what the media said which read "the licenses of the pilots concerned were reinstated following their compliance with requisite CAACI directives". Obviously they had to comply with some conditions in order to get reinstated so they obviously did something wrong or they would not have been suspended. They got cocky and decided to be cowboys and they got their earls pulled. Just be happy that they didn’t get the book thrown at them or that they didn’t crash the airplane into George Town. It is likely nobody wants to hurt these pilots but please don’t try to hide things. It isinsulting to the Cayman people’s intelligence.
I was on a Cayman Airways flight from Miami to Grand Cayman that left on May 18 that flew threw an electric storm. It was completely terrifying with the plane shaking violently, and lighting and heavy rains outside. The captain told passengers of the weather and reassured us that the crew would do everything to make the ride pleasant but it would be a rough ride for about 60 miles when it cleared the bad weather system.
As promised the weather got better and it was a smooth flight into the most beautiful welcoming site of the Cayman to my battered nerves. But what was very interesting was on landing after the plane had made a complete stop and the lights and the the ‘unfasten seat belt’ signs came on, the plane seemed to have lost power completely. The lights went completely out and the plane was silent. Passengers were left in the dark for about 4 to 5 minutes then the lights would flicker on and cut back out again. This happened 3 or 4 times before they were able to stay on and we were able to exit the plane.
I trust in the skills of CAL pilots, but are these planes safe? Maybe they need to be grounded again like before and inspected.