Passenger’s first-hand account of Pegasus emergency descent

Mick Berry, business development manager for SunHotels, was on the Pegasus flight back from Bodrum which went into an emergency descent on Monday with Advantage Conference delegates on board.

He also experienced a similar incident on an easyJet flight a few years ago. Here, he gives his account and explains why he thinks easyJet dealt with the situation considerably better.

"We boarded plane as normal with a high percentage of the passengers delegates from the conference. Passengers were quite spread out due to not being full, with a higher number towards the front. I was in row 26, nearer the back.

Turbulence was increasing and seat belt sign came on. At the start of the situation I noticed the aircraft had started to descend quite rapidly and the engine noise increased. I also noticed other passengers were looking around and starting to look concerned. Then the captain announced, quite out of the blue, (as the cabin crew had not walked the aircraft at any time to make sure seat belt were all fastened), "EMERGENCY DESCENT . . . . . BRACE!!!!".

This caused some passengers to become emotional. Due to being a calm person, and having experienced this previously, I was more concerned with the people around me.

There was a family with a 9-month-old baby and the father looked calm and was reassuring his wife and baby. A young lady was my main concern as she was showing panic, asking questions and generally thinking the worst. I tried to calm her by reassuring her all will be fine and to deep breathe to reduce the panic etc. think it helped her a great deal.

Other passengers around me were looking worried and experiencing various emotions. As for the other passengers towards the front of the aircraft, I could see and hear various movements and noise, indicating strong emotions.

During this time the Pegasus cabin crew did not come down the aisle to check passengers or assist at all, and only shouted to passengers to get their heads down on a few occasions. After a period of time, maybe five or 10 minutes or so, the aircraft levelled out to the required 12,000 feet and the seat belt sign remained on, cabin crew again not assisting.

The captain announced that due to cabin pressure, the aircraft had to descend to the required altitude and that it was being diverted Istanbul. After a while the seat belt sign was removed and passengers were able to move about the cabin, use the toilets and speak to each other.

I was concerned for the passengers around me initially, especially the young lady, who I found out had a 7-month-old baby. All seemed to be shaken but OK, taking into consideration what had happened. I made my way down the cabin to the front to see how other passengers and delegates of the conference were and it was very mixed indeed. Panic, scared, unsure, calm, uninformed, thinking it was the end. Slowly there was a growing calm and the seat belt sign was shown.

The flight landed into Izmir not Istanbul, for what ever reason, where we landed as normal, disembarked the plane, got the bus to terminal and waited in the small arrival area to be informed that we had to wait for more information, but there was an aircraft on its way from Istanbul. During this time there was no aircraft or airport staff checking that the passengers were OK or offering refreshments.

Within an hour we moved to the departure area of the new aircraft, where I spoke to two of the ground staff and suggested they inform the captain and cabin crew to maybe offer complementary refreshments due to the situation. They replied to me that it was ‘only’ a technical problem, which I did laugh at and then said: "If you think having the captain announcing, "EMERGENCY DESCENT . . . . . BRACE!!!!", is a technical problem, then . . . . . . !!!!" I then told them there were passengers with a mix of emotions, so it would be good to show some empathy and goodwill.

We boarded the flight and passengers sat in same seats, I think. The flight took off as normal with the same cabin crew, but I’m not sure about pilots though. An announcement was made apologising for the delay and nothing else. The second plane was arranged very quickly, which of course is a positive.

But then came the refreshments and, yes, you’ve guessed it, they all had to be paid for. The flight was fine from then on and we landed in Gatwick.

As mentioned, this was not my first experience of this kind of situation and the difference in approach, service and overall control of the two events couldn’t be more different, with EasyJet coming out thousands of time better in every way. This could of course be due to Pegasus procedures in these types of situations, but surely cabin crew should be trained to make sure all passengers are fine and assisting in every way.

My thoughts and questions, now having had time to reflect, are:

Why did the captain make that announcement? Surely it would have been better to reduce the altitude and then make an announcement, so to keep passengers as calm as possible?

Why were the cabin crew not assisting or at least going down the aisle during the event?

Why was there no assistance, especially for the more emotional passengers?

Communication at the airport seemed to be minimal, even to the degree of a airport staff person asking a passenger to complete a questionnaire on how their holiday was in Izmir.

Why were they no refreshments offered on the second flight, especially as it was the same cabin crew?

As mentioned, easyJet ticked all the boxes in my opinion from my other experience and feel that Pegasus Airways needs to learn from this situation. I will be contacting their management so they are fully aware, especially when you think that on board were travel-related passengers all of which book, travel and recommend travel products and that this event will not put Pegasus in the best of lights."