Emergency landing on Spirit!

[QuickGold]

I just came back from a weekend trip to Florida(Not WDW, but same area) and wanted to drop some info on what happened on one of my flights as a warning or just FYI for those air travelors.

I took Spirit airlines from LaGuardia in New York City to Fort Myers in Florida. After takeoff, we experience a good amount of turbulence for around 20 minutes. We got to around 30,000 feet and while still experiencing turbulence, the masks popped out and we had to put them on. The plane lost cabin pressure and dove from 30,000 feet to 10,000 feet in around 30-45 seconds. VERY SCARY! I'm telling you, it put the fear of God back in me. We had to make an emergency landing at Atlantic City and switched planes. The rest of the ride to Florida was fine and the flight back was fine as well.

What was good as the captain informed us during the dive and after everything was going to be okay and that there was a slight cabin pressure problem. It was very scary, but things were handled very well by Spirit. After landing in Atlantic City, we got vouchers for 10% off our next flight and a free drink. The flight attendants were very nice and told all of us not to worry about the vouchers and offered an "open bar" for the entire flight. I'm just writing to let people know what happened and that things were handled very well by Spirit. Also, be sure to pay attention during the demo of the masks before you takeoff as I found myself, and many others as well, having trouble getting the mask on and working.

 

[Tinky]

Ohhh..... MY.... GOSH!!!! Did you just freak?!?!?!?!
I am so sorry you had such a time on your flight.

Ok.. just made the decision to fly to the DCL in August (big chicken girl here), and now to hear something like this... yikes!

I have to say you were very brave to get back on the next plane.. don't know that I could have pulled the trigger on that one. Kudos to you!

 

[Talky_Tina]

Wow, sorry you had such a scare. Thanks for sharing that with us.
I can't imagine how you must have felt during that sudden drop.

 

[QuickGold]

There were definetly times I was thinking, "That's it, this is the end" but once the Captain told us everything was going to be okay, I relaxed a bit. And yes, getting back on that second plane was VERY hard. It was like returning to the scene of the crime or something and when we took off, Im sure everyone else was thinking "Oh great, here we go again...". My best advice is that anyone who is scared(as I was coming back) is to just remember these things are so rare and that the chances of it happening to you are very slim. I just put on my CD player that had WDW music, closed my eyes, and relaxed

 

[denisenh]

WOW!! Thank heavens all turned out OK! I don't know what I would think if I were in a situation like that. Did the pilot dive the plane purposely? Isn't it 10,000 feet and under where there is "normal" pressure and air? Did you stay low like that and then land or did the plane ascend again and then land? Does the oxygen make any noise when it is on? Do the masks just stay down hanging there? I imagine that they would. Again, I am glad that everything was fine!!

 

[chris1gill]

Oh My Goodness!!! This must have been terrifying... Boy, good thing for the open bar, I'm sure people needed it I hope the rest of your trip went well....

 

[QuickGold]

Yes, the pilot had to put it in a dive to get to 10,000 feet so the pressure in the cabin would equalize. Unfortunately many of the passangers(including crew) had ear problems to the extent they had not been fixed until we took off again and made it back to 30,000 feet. After getting to 10,000, we went down to 7,000 and then he landed at Atlantic City. It was one of the worst landings ever because of heavy turbulence. The place litterally drifted from side to side, trying to line up with the runway. The oxygen tanks made noise, more some than others and they stayed down until we landed.

 

[chris1gill]

This is probably a silly question, but why did you guys have so much turbulance? Was it windy or stormy or anything? Was there other aircraft in the area with trouble? You never watch when they give the instructions either, I'm sure we'd all have just as much trouble putting the masks on....

 

[LtlTee]

Hey Matt,
Was this on Tuesday, 5/06? The reason I ask is because we flew out of MCO into Atlantic City on Spirit on Tuesday. As we were taking off, the pilot was doing his customary "Welcome to Spirit Airlines, Flight # whatever" and he made a comment about an earlier landing that day in Atlantic City that was a bit rough. He said something like "We had a bit of a bumpy landing earlier today and hopefully this one will be a lot smoother". I read your post and was wondering if that was your flight he was referring to.
I'm glad I didn't hear about your flight until I got (safely) home!

 

[QuickGold]

I'm not sure why there was any turbulence. It was pretty clear out and my parents flew out of Hartford that day and had no trouble. We just had a tough time finding an altitude that was turbulence free. And my flight was on Saturday May 4. The flight attendant on my flight said Atlantic City ALWAYS has bad landings because first, the plane must make a 90 degree turn and then it has to deal with the jet wash from the F-16's that train in the same airport.