AirAsia Perth to Bali flight plummeted at rate of 11 metres per second
An AirAsia flight that plunged 20,000 feet (6096 metres) during a flight from Perth to Bali was plummeting to the ground at a rate of 11 metres a second, an investigation has revealed.
On October 15, staff on board Flight QZ535 were filmed screaming “get down, get down” as the plane dropped to just 10,000 feet and the cabin depressurised 25 minutes into the journey.
The plane, which had six crew and 146 passengers on board, was forced to return to Perth.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau on Wednesday released a report, where it was proven the flight crew noticed a pressurisation system fault during their ascent.
"The flight crew informed the cabin crew manager that they were going to conduct an emergency descent, donned their emergency oxygen masks and started the descent," the ATSB report read.
"Shortly after, the cabin crew manager reported to the flight crew that the emergency oxygen masks in the cabin were not deployed and the flight crew then manually deployed them."
AirAsia flight to Bali makes emergency Perth landing after plunging 20,000 feet
Passengers slam 'screaming' AirAsia staff for 'hysterical' response to mid-air plunge
The document stated that the cabin crew “secured the cabin and instructed the passengers in accordance with their emergency descent procedures."
After the terrifying mid-air plunge, passengers claimed their own panic was escalated by the "hysterical" behaviour of cabin staff.
"We looked to them (crew) for reassurance and we didn't get any," Clare Askew told 7 News shortly after landing back at Perth Airport.
"We were more worried because of how panicked they were."
Mark Bailey said he wasn’t particularly worried until seeing how the staff reacted to the incident.
“They’ve started screaming emergency emergency, they just went hysterical, there was no real panic before that but everyone panicked after that,” he said at the time.
Post-flight maintenance tests eventually determined the cabin pressure controller was faulty.
No passengers or crew were injured during the incident and the aircraft suffered no damage.
