The plane was scheduled to fly from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Portland, Oregon, in the United States on Sunday. But the routine flight was severely disrupted when a cabin pressurization problem caused serious symptoms among passengers: bleeding ears and noses, CNN reports. At least ten people were to be examined by doctors, and the American airline, Delta Airlines, apologized.
“Our ears started to hurt really, really bad. Everyone was putting their hands to their ears, some people’s ears started bleeding, some people started bleeding from their noses,” said one of the passengers. “I heard air coming out (…) it seemed to me that my ear was bubbling. I touched my right ear and blood was coming out,” said another passenger. “I felt like someone was stabbing me in the ear.”
Another Delta customer remembers her husband, “with his hands over his ears, leaning forward a little bit. … There was a man with a bad nosebleed and people were trying to help him.” The plane eventually turned back to Salt Lake City.
Delta Airlines apologizes
According to CNN, no one was seriously injured, but ten people needed to be examined by one of the doctors. The US air force regulator (FAA) is expected to investigate the incident, CNN also reports. According to a former Delta Airlines pilot, interviewed by NBC affiliate KSLTV, these pressurization incidents are “automatic on airplanes, and we monitor them to make sure they are progressing as we want them to.” According to the former pilot, they are not related to pilot error.
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“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the experience on Flight 1203,” Delta Airlines said. “The flight crew followed proper procedures to return to Salt Lake City, where our ground crews assisted our customers to address their immediate needs.”
