Originally Posted by
Carl Spackler
First of all, nice job of documenting the incident with the internet links etc.
Your experience is EXTREMELY uncommon. I've been flying large jets for 31 years, and I've had far more than my share of inflight problems. Engine failures, electrical fires, etc. In those 31 years, I have never had a pressurization leak - a fast one or a slow one. They are EXTREMELY rare.
[snip]
Sounds like they did everything right. Even IF the cabin leak was slow, they couldn't take the chance that it could turn into a rapid leak. The decision to initiate an emergency descent is exactly what I would have done.
The airline's PR department pretending that nothing happened is also no surprise.
Hope this was helpful.
Carl
Thanks, again very helpful. The descent was an experience out of the ordinary, very interesting. If the wings were tilted on the plane I'm sure people would have started shrieking. However, every motion was very well controlled, and the pilot was extremely professional and reassuring when updating us about the whole thing.
In all honesty, if he had not come on and shared any information with us, taking the airline PR approach, I'm sure everybody would have been terrified, angry, and suspicious. I have full confidence in the pilot and their actions, but am still confused about the lack of NTSB reporting. I would have liked to see this incident appear in the database; if it appeared I would have never contacted US Airways.