MAS Boeing flight 'dives', passengers 'float' in their seats

[KaptainRob]

 

SEPANG — Several passengers 'floated' in their seats, as a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight to Tawau suddenly "dove" 7,000ft (2.13km).

The incident last Sunday (April 2), involving Flight MH2664 to the Sabah coastal town, resulted in the flight turning back to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), after what the airline termed as having encountered 'technical issues' during inclement weather.

One of the passengers onboard Ms Halimah Nasoha in her Facebook posting said the Boeing 737-800 that took off from KLIA at 2.30pm flight took a 'sharp dive', about 30 minutes after take-off.

She said the flight that was cruising at 31,000ft, dropped to 24,000ft in a matter of seconds, based on her checks on the Flight Radar application.

Ms Halimah recounted how she 'floated' (owing to anti-gravitational force) out of her seat because her seat belt was unfastened as the seat belt signs were turned off at that point.

Story here > https://www.todayonline.com/world/mas-boeing-flight-dives-passengers-float-their-seats-1865591

 

[Guest1]

A 737-800, same bird as the one in China, the "technical issue" was already some days ago, but still no further details about it? That is interesting.

[Noble_Design]

1 hour ago, KaptainRob said:

She said the flight that was cruising at 31,000ft, dropped to 24,000ft in a matter of seconds, based on her checks on the Flight Radar application.

Not really, the dip on Flight Radar's online data shows a 1,625 ft dip.

https://mothership.sg/2022/04/malaysian-airlines-flight-dive/

 

Nevertheless, it is still scary to lose almost 2,000 ft of altitude in a few seconds.

[Benroon]

I was flying back from the Maldives once and the plane just dropped for about 5 or 6 seconds, which doesn't sound a lot but if you look at your watch for that amount of time it's an eternity for a plane to be dropping. You could distinctly feel it going down. It was a bizarre, fill your nappy moment. Drinks and food went everywhere, staff went flying and then as if it never happened, it was back to normal. Everyone was just looking at each other wondering a) what happened and b) if it would happen again. Flown hundreds of times and never experienced that before and never want to again.

The pilot said absolutely nothing, not at the time or after. No reassuring words or nothing. Some hours later when we got to Heathrow, he apologised for the incident and said it was due to 'clear air turbulence' as if it was a mere inconvenience! I'm sure the cabin staff appreciated it as they were still cleaning up the mess the drop caused.

[vlad]

Nasa uses a stripped out plane nicknamed the Vomit Comet basically the pilot puts the plane inverted and for 10-20 seconds you are weightless.

[Rookiescot]

10 minutes ago, Benroon said:

I was flying back from the Maldives once and the plane just dropped for about 5 or 6 seconds, which doesn't sound a lot but if you look at your watch for that amount of time it's an eternity for a plane to be dropping. You could distinctly feel it going down. It was a bizarre, fill your nappy moment. Drinks and food went everywhere, staff went flying and then as if it never happened, it was back to normal. Everyone was just looking at each other wondering a) what happened and b) if it would happen again. Flown hundreds of times and never experienced that before and never want to again.

The pilot said absolutely nothing, not at the time or after. No reassuring words or nothing. Some hours later when we got to Heathrow, he apologised for the incident and said it was due to 'clear air turbulence' as if it was a mere inconvenience! I'm sure the cabin staff appreciated it as they were still cleaning up the mess the drop caused.

Was sitting in the back of a Hercules once and the thing turned into an elevator to hell for what seemed like an eternity. Was probably only 4 or 5 seconds but it was a lot longer than that for me.

The airforce crew started laughing and joking about it as soon as it stopped. 

[WilliamG]

12 hours ago, vlad said:

Nasa uses a stripped out plane nicknamed the Vomit Comet basically the pilot puts the plane inverted and for 10-20 seconds you are weightless.

They do not INVERT the plane, it simply does a sudden drop and it all goes weightless.

[Mamachigawa]

A miracle no injuries came from this plunge

[Foolish_Farang]

Media hype.  Yes it would have been disconcerting for passengers, especially having regards to Malay pilots inability to deal with abnormal situations previously, but a 1600ft dip is hardly life threatening.

Nothing to see here - move along.