SIA flight to Paris turns back after drop in cabin pressure
A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight that left Changi Airport early yesterday made a U-turn less than an hour after take-off due to a drop in cabin pressure.
It is not known what caused this to happen on the Boeing 777-300ER, but sources told The Straits Times that passengers at the back, near the cargo door, heard a thumping.
According to tracker FlightRadar24, SQ336 bound for Paris had climbed to 7,315m and was over Malaysia when it turned back to Singapore.
Oxygen masks were deployed and the aircraft descended to 1,829m. The plane had to circle for about an hour to dump fuel, to reduce the weight of the aircraft for a safe landing.
Confirming the incident, an SIA spokesman said there were 234 passengers and 17 crew members on board.
No injuries were reported.
At Changi Airport, emergency vehicles were standing by to receive the flight, which touched down at 2.30am.
Following an aircraft change, the flight departed Singapore at 6am and arrived in Paris just after noon (7pm, Singapore time).
Flight SQ336 was originally scheduled to arrive in the French capital at 7.15am yesterday, Paris time.
A traveller who posted photos on Twitter of the inside of the plane said some passengers had been transferred to the SIA flight after an Air France service they were initially booked on was cancelled due to technical issues.
A loss of cabin pressure during flight can have serious consequences, safety experts said.
At an altitude of 12,000m, people have as little as 18 seconds of useful consciousness if they are starved of oxygen.
In 2005, a Helios Airways plane en route from Cyprus to Athens flew on and crashed into a mountain after a loss of cabin pressure, killing all 115 passengers and six crew on board.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
