Even for frequent flyers, few things are as terrifying as the feeling of having a plane descend quickly.
While a sudden drop can be caused by anything from turbulence to a change in aircraft pressure but are almost never an indication that the plane is going to fall, even the thought of experiencing such a situation is enough to push some away from flying entirely.
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A particularly large in-air drop recently occurred on a United Airlines (UAL) -) flight from Newark to Rome's main Fiumicino Airport. Plane tracking site FlightAware showed that the plane was flying at 37,000 feet at 10:07 p.m. but head reached 9,000 feet by 10:15 p.m.
'Pressurization issue' causes plane to drop 28,000 feet in the air
A Boeing 777 (BA) -) carrying 270 passengers and 14 airline crew had left Newark at 8:37 p.m. on Sept. 13 and, as a United spokesperson later confirmed, turned back around "to address a possible loss of cabin pressure."
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Cabin pressure refers to adjusted air that is pumped into the plane to regulate the atmosphere within the plane when flying at high altitudes — a sudden change in pressure can indicate a crack in a window or a technical issue with the plane and pilots need to act fast when it is suspected.
Turning around from where it was flying over Canada's Nova Scotia, UA510 landed back at Newark at 12:25 a.m. the following Thursday.
"The flight landed safely and there was never any loss of cabin pressure," the spokesperson confirmed after an investigation from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Here are a few of the sudden plane drops to happen lately
While a drop of more than 28,000 feet must have surely sowed some panic among the passengers, traveler videos and reactions have yet to surface on social media. United also confirmed that the same route took place the following morning so the passengers all got to their destination without having to be rebooked.
One of the scariest incidents to happen lately occurred when a Delta (DAL) -) flight from Milan to Atlanta ran into turbulence that led to 11 people getting injured. Social media footage from the flight showed oxygen masks coming out amid a drop in air pressure and several passengers and flight attendants being taken out of the plane on stretchers by first responders upon landing.
"Folks including myself went flying up out their seats," traveler Ayo Suber wrote on Meta (META) -)'s Instagram. "One woman hit the overhead bin and cracked it."
Another such incident occurred when the pilot of an Allegiant Air flight going from Kentucky to Florida "received an automated alert about another aircraft at the same altitude" and had to take a sudden swerve to avoid an in-air collision.
"It honestly felt like a roller coaster, like when you come down from the highest point, and then you take a big hill," one of the passengers aboard the flight described on social media.
Later investigation showed that the air traffic control wires got crossed at some point and a private Gulfstream jet accidentally ended up in the same airspace as the Allegiant plane.
