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Chaos ensued on a recent United Airlines flight following an automated emergency announcement that instructed passengers to put on their oxygen masks, which inadvertently deployed in spite of no danger present.
The unusual incident occurred on a Boeing 777-200 from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., last Wednesday.
While passengers were instructed to wear the oxygen masks, only a few were actually deployed.
Parker Pitman, a passenger on United flight 914, told aviation news site Simple Flying that the panic even caused some people to try to force open the ceiling compartments in order to access the oxygen masks that had not come down.
A United Airlines Boeing 777-200 airplane inadvertently deployed a few oxygen masks during a flight from Paris to Virginia. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg / Getty Images)
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAL | UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC. | 49.58 | -0.78 | -1.55% |
"One person had a panic attack and ran to the aircraft door, presumably to open it," Pitman shared. "None of the flight crew nor cabin crew had ever heard the announcement before, and it was a very odd situation."
According to another travel news site, Paddle Your Own Kanoo, flight attendants also struggled to contact the pilots through the interphone system.
However, there was no apparent danger on the transatlantic flight.
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The Boeing 777-200 aircraft landed safely at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC., and customers were able to deplane normally. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post / Getty Images)
"A small number of oxygen masks inadvertently deployed," United Airlines said in a statement to Gxstocks. The company said that the cabin air pressure was normal the entire flight, the aircraft landed safely as scheduled and customers were able to deplane normally.
Boeing has been under scrutiny after a door plug blew out mid-flight on one of Alaska Airlines' 737 Max 9 jets in early January.
Customers wait to pass through security checkpoints at Dulles International Airport in 2022. Passengers were sent into a panic on June 12 when a United Airlines plane inadvertently deployed a few oxygen masks while no danger was present. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post / Getty Images)
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BA | THE BOEING CO. | 174.99 | -3.40 | -1.91% |
In March, a United Airlines flight traveling from Houston to Fort Myers, Florida, had to turn around for an emergency landing after the Boeing 737-900 experienced an engine issue.
Back in April, an Alaska Airlines flight from Honolulu to Anchorage, Alaska, had to turn around after a malfunctioning bathroom sink flooded the cabin of the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet.
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Tuesday afternoon, a Senate subcommittee held a hearing titled, "Boeing's Broken Safety Culture," featuring testimony from company CEO Dave Calhoun. Calhoun began by addressing the families of passengers who died in Boeing plane crashes in 2018 and 2019.
"I want to personally apologize, on behalf of everyone at Boeing," Calhoun told the victims' loved ones, who were holding signs with pictures of the victims' faces. "We are deeply sorry for your losses. Nothing is more important than the safety of the people who step on board our airplanes. Every day we seek to honor the memory of those lost through a steadfast commitment to safety and quality."
Gxstocks' Bonny Chu and Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
