WASHINGTON- Chicago-based carrier United Airlines (UA) passengers on a flight from Paris (CDG) to Washington Dulles (IAD) experienced panic when an automated emergency decompression announcement played falsely, and a few oxygen masks dropped from the overhead panels.
The emergency announcement instructed passengers to grab their nearest oxygen mask and place it over their nose and mouth before assisting others. However, most passengers on the crowded Boeing 777 aircraft had no oxygen masks available.
United False Depressurization Warning
On June 12, a passenger on Flight UA914 reported that the situation worsened when flight attendants announced that they were having difficulty contacting the pilots via the interphone system.
Luckily, the 777 was not experiencing decompression, and passengers did not need to use oxygen masks to prevent unconsciousness.
In a statement to PYOK, a spokesperson for United Airlines confirmed that several oxygen masks “inadvertently” deployed during the eight-hour transatlantic flight from Europe, although the airline has not yet explained the system malfunction.
“On June 12th, a small number of oxygen masks inadvertently deployed on United flight 914 from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Dulles International Airport,” the airline stated in an email to PYOK.
Spokeperson further said, “The cabin air pressure was normal for the entire flight, the aircraft landed safely as scheduled, and customers deplaned normally.”
One More in Series of Incidents
While flight flew across the Atlantic at a maximum altitude of 36,000 feet, the cabin on older Boeing 777s is pressurized to around 8,000 feet.
If the aircraft’s pressurization starts to rise, pilots are alerted by onboard sensors and flight attendants receive indications when the pressurization reaches 10,000 feet.
At 14,000 feet, oxygen masks automatically drop, and a pre-recorded announcement typically plays.
The aircraft involved in Wednesday’s incident was taken out of service for a day but returned to commercial service on June 14, operating a 13-hour flight between Dulles and Tokyo Haneda (HND).
This incident is the latest in a series of mishaps for United Airlines, which is currently under an FAA investigation into its safety culture. Earlier this year, the FAA barred United from launching new routes while the investigation was underway.
The carrier postponed its annual investor day, initially scheduled for May 1, to later this year, as holding it during the investigation would have sent the “wrong message.”
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The post United Airlines Paris to Washington Flight Experienced False Depressurization Warning appeared first on Aviation A2Z.