A Delta Air Lines flight halfway through its trip from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale plummeted 30,000 feet after what the airline said was an incident of irregular “cabin pressurization,” causing mass panic throughout the flight.
Flight 2353 from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale “diverted to Tampa out of an abundance of caution and landed without incident following a cabin pressurization irregularity en route,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement obtained by WFTS.
Worried passengers immediately reached out to their loved ones as oxygen masks descended from inside the cabin.
“I immediately reached out to my girlfriend, my family and let them know some scary stuff is going on right now on the plane. The oxygen masks dropped, let them know I loved them. In hindsight, we turned out alright,” passenger Harris DeWoskin told WFTS. “Just my intuition, reach out to my family and to the people I know what’s going on I love them.”
Despite the less than ideal circumstances, the pilot was able to “make a controlled landing,” the Miami Herald reported. No injuries had been reported as a result of the loss in cabin pressure.
Delta announced that the passengers deplaned in Atlanta without further difficulties:
We apologize to our customers on flight 2353 from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, which diverted to Tampa out of an abundance of caution and landed without incident following a cabin pressurization irregularity en route.
A spokesperson for Tampa International Airport said the plane landed around 5 p.m. Wednesday. Because of the controlled landing, it was not treated as an emergency.