The United Airlines passengers were accommodated on another plane.
A United Airlines flight plunged 25,000 feet in 10 minutes and changed course to return to New Jersey, according to a report in New York Post. Flight 510 was en route from Newark to Rome on Wednesday when it encountered a problem with cabin pressure. A United spokesperson told the Post that there were 270 passengers and 14 crew members on the Boeing 777 plane. This comes months after another United Airlines flight suddenly dropped altitude shortly after taking off from Maui.
Citing FlightAware data, New York Post said in its report that the Newark to Rome flight took off from Newark Liberty International Airport at 8:37 p.m. (local time) and landed back at the airport at 12:27 p.m.
The airline issued a statement saying the plane was returning to Newark “to accommodate a possible loss of cabin pressure.”
“The flight landed safely and there was never any loss of cabin pressure,” the airline spokesman said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also acknowledged the “pressure maintenance problem,” adding that it caused the pilot to change course.
But by the time the switch took place, the plane fell some 28,000 feet in just 10 minutes.
The passengers were transferred to another plane and reached their destination, United Airlines said.
Last December, United Airlines Flight UA1722 took off from Kahului Airport in Maui en route to San Francisco when it ran into trouble just 2,000 feet above sea level.
The independent said that after reaching that altitude, the Boeing 777-200 entered a deep dive at a speed of 2,000 meters per minute, descending to just 230 meters above sea level.
