THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A sudden drop in cabin pressure on board the Air Arabia flight bound for Sharjah from Kozhikode caused panic situation on Thursday forcing the pilots to return to the Calicut International Airport soon after the take-off. However, no passenger suffered health issues in the incident. There were 177 passengers, including crew, on board the flight, which departed at 3.30 am.
According to sources, the drop in cabin pressure was noticed when the flight reached an altitude of 7,000 feet.
The pilots of the Airbus 320 then made an emergency descend and safely landed by 4.10 am. Later, the aircraft took off from the airport after rectifying the technical snag by 8 am, said an airport official.
Normally, the passengers on board used to feel pain, bleeding from nose and ear, shortness of breath or headache when the pressure is not stablised.
The cabin pressure is used to balance the loss of oxygen that naturally happens when a plane reaches high altitudes during the flight.
In this case, the warning light was noticed when the aircraft reached 7,000 ft, which is considered a safe altitude considering the pressure difference at an altitude of 15,000 ft.
Passenger flights fly at an altitude of 35,000 feet, said officials.