A FlySafair flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town had to turn back on Sunday night after a drop in cabin pressure.
FlySafair flight 103 had reached 32 000 feet when the problem surfaced...
'Smoke in the plane, absolute panic, urgent descent and no communication until five minutes from landing.
'Most oxygen masks were detached, none had flowing oxygen in them.'
A FlySafair spokesperson told MailOnline Travel: 'Ms Cardarelli's comments were noted by the airline and we immediately had one of our Vice Presidents contact her to speak about her experience and help in any way that we could.
'Mostly this just required explanation around the fact that as normal operating procedure, oxygen masks do not necessarily inflate and that the smoke she noticed was actually steam rising off of the oxygen generators that become quite hot during operations.
'Analysis on the aircraft by maintenance has indicated that all systems were working as they should be.'
The airline say that the only way oxygen would not have been deployed from the masks is if the passenger had not 'pulled the masks toward them to release the pin that starts the flow of oxygen. This is something that we cover in our standard safety briefing (requirement on the aircraft type) and something that the crew of course assist with,' the spokesperson added.
After being contacted by Safair, Cardarelli took to Twitter to thank them for 'clarifying and acknowledging mistakes.'
The Daily Mail quotes the spokesperson as saying: 'FlySafair would like to extend a sincere apology to the customers on flight FA103, who had to return to Johannesburg, and experienced an extended delay to their departure to Cape Town.
'As the aircraft reached approximately 32,000 feet, Captain Lawrence Banda and first officer Charles Peck noted that the air pressure wasn't stabilizing as it should and that the aircraft was experiencing a very gradual loss of pressure.
'The team decided to act cautiously and began safety procedures and a return to Johannesburg. These procedures included reducing speed, lowering altitude and releasing the passenger oxygen masks manually as a precautionary measure.
'Captain Banda and his crew safely landed FA103 at OR Tambo (Johannesburg) just after 21.30, where FlySafair ground-teams met passengers.'
A similar incident occurred on Friday morning where flight FA202, also from Johannesburg to Cape Town, returned to Johannesburg, with a gradual loss of cabin pressure.
FlySafair's technical teams are investigating the source of the latest issue, but say that early indications are that the two issues are not related, the Daily Mail reports.
http://www.iol.co.za/travel/travel-news ... ht-1975959
