A couple of weeks ago, Aegean Flight 560 left Thessaloniki bound for Barcelona and all of a sudden began to lose altitude. Fortunately, they landed safely and everyone was ok.
Aegean Flight Descended 20,000 Feet in 4 Minutes
Aegean flight 560 departed and hit its cruising altitude of 36,000 feet enroute to Barcelona from Thessaloniki. However, after about 30 minutes, the plane suddenly began to drop, descending to 10,000 feet before it stabilized a little and made an unschedules landing in Naples, Italy.
People onboard this plane (one was a friend of a friend) said that plane had started rattling and the angle was steep as the plane began losing altitude. Some of the passengers began to call family members or send messages to say goodbye, thinking the plane was going to crash.
One passenger onboard, Chesney Hawkes, said that even the crew were “terrified and in tears” and the captain made an announcement that said it was an “emergency descent – brace”. The oxygen masks came out.
Thanku 2 all that kept their heads cool, especially #captainfantastic for landing our plane safely 2day.
This was not what we expected 2day, but it’s made us appreciate life and those we love just that little bit morehttps://t.co/DBgKkwDRpn
#Aegean #livelife #heroes #scary pic.twitter.com/qAfO4AK48L
— chesneyhawkes (@ChesneyHawkes) July 3, 2023
The pilots were eventually able to even it out and they made the landing in Naples. Aegean issued this statement:
“AEGEAN would like to inform that flight A3 560, departing from Thessaloniki to Barcelona, with 156 passengers and 6 crew members, was diverted to Naples airport following a gradual decompression during cruise. The captain following procedures requested to divert into the nearest airport and all passengers were safely disembarked. Another aircraft has already been dispatched to ensure passengers can continue their journey to their final destination.”
I have flown out of Thessaloniki hundreds of times and even flew this route before. I cannot imagine the panic that the passengers must have felt. I have had flights that made sudden drops in elevation before but nothing like this. In situations like and that severe turbulence, I always look to the flight attendants to see how they are handling it as they are the ones that would know if this is something typical or not.
In this case, even the cabin crew were nervous. No update on what the cause was of this but I am very glad that all were ok.
