A Southwest Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Dallas Love Field Saturday night after it lost cabin pressure a month after a woman lost her life on one of its jets after an engine explosion, KTVT reported.
Southwest Flight 861 was flying from Denver to Dallas when the oxygen masks in the cabin came down about 9 p.m. and passengers were instructed to put them on because of the loss of pressure, the television station reported.
"I had no idea what was going on or what the outcome was going to be," passenger Glen Eichelberger told KTVT. "I reached over and grabbed Josh (Trimberger, passenger) by the arm because I didn't know if we were going to make it or not. There was no communication what so ever from the flight attendants or from the cockpit as far whether we were in mortal danger."
Saturday's emergency landing is just the latest safety scare for Southwest Airlines, KTVT wrote. In April, bank executive Jennifer Riordan died after an engine exploded about 20 minutes into Southwest Flight 1380 from New York City to Dallas, eventually landing in Philadelphia, People magazine reported.
Riordan was critically injured as she was partially sucked out the window while other passengers were able to pull her back into the aircraft, but she later died when she could not be revive, the magazine wrote.
KTVT reported that a few weeks later, a cracked window prompted another Southwest Airlines' emergency landing.
"The crew of Flight 861 traveling from Denver to Dallas Saturday night radioed ahead for paramedics to meet the aircraft after a pressurization issue in flight," Southwest said in a statement about Saturday's incident, according to CBS News.
"Following an uneventful landing, initial reports indicate four of the 120 customers onboard requested a check from paramedics to assess ear pain. All of the customers were ending their journey with us in Dallas, as was the aircraft," the statement continued, adding that the plane would get a maintenance review.
Following the incident involving Riordan, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered that airlines inspect all of their jets with similar engines to that of the Southwest flight, known as the CFM56-7B, according to NBC News. The FAA stated that blades in those engines that failed inspection must be replaced, the network added.
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