Rapid loss of cabin pressurization can be deadly. In 2005, a Helios Airways flight from Cyprus to Greece crashed into hills outside Athens, killing all 121 people on board. A loss of cabin pressurization had incapacitated the crew, leaving the Boeing 737 flying on autopilot until it ran out of fuel.
Air China, the country’s flag carrier, said Wednesday it would “adopt a zero-tolerance attitude and seriously punish those found responsible” by CAAC.
In a video obtained by the Beijing News, a flight attendant is seen walking down the aisle to check on passengers, some of who are putting on oxygen masks in response to a pre-recorded announcement in Chinese and English asking them to do so.
Hoby Sun, the passenger who provided CNN with the flight altitude data, said everyone was calm when the oxygen masks dropped.
“I didn’t think too much of it at the time — we didn’t know what was going on, nor did the flight attendants it seemed,” he told CNN on Thursday.
“I’m not physically hurt, but the psychological impact lingers. When I close my eyes, I see the oxygen masks dangling in front of me,” Sun added.
Air China, headquartered in Beijing and a member of the Star Alliance global network, has a fleet of more than 600 planes. Last year, the airline and its subsidiaries carried 102 million passengers across six continents, according to company statistics.
Its last and only fatal accident was in 2002 when a Boeing 767 jetliner crashed into a hill in bad weather near Busan, South Korea, killing 129 of the 166 people on board.
