’Terrifying’: American Airlines flight drops 15,000 feet within three minutes, passenger shares photos

Passengers of a Florida-bound American Airlines flight were left 'terrified' on Thursday as the aircraft dropped thousands of feet within a couple of minutes. The incident took place halfway through the 1.5 hour trip, with passengers recalling a ‘loud bang’ and ‘burning smell’ wafting through the cabin.

“Something failed midflight and depressurized the cabin. The burning smell can apparently be attributed to using the oxygen canisters. The wing flaps came out to immediately lower our altitude so there would be more oxygen. It was terrifying…there was about 10 minutes of really not good…but it turned out ok,” tweeted University of Florida professor Harrison Hove.

Taking to X (née Twitter) the American Airlines passenger also lauded the cabin crew and pilots for their handling of the situation.

“They (the crew) were cool under pressure. The FA in the cabin was exceptional today. There were at least 4 crew members deadheading as well and one pilot in 15B kept those of us in the back informed and calm,” he told American Airlines.

Hove also recalled a pilot seated across the aisle from him providing details about the situation.

“He wouldn’t talk because he told us to focus on breathing but he typed out the explanation for the smell on his notes app on his cell phone,” the academician explained in response to a social media comment.

As per flight data shared by tracking platform FlightAware, the aircraft descended almost 20,000 feet within 11 minutes. This included a dip of 18,600 feet in less than six minutes after 43 minutes into the journey. Reports cite a “possible pressurisation issue” with Hove adding that the “wing flaps came out to immediately lower our altitude so there would be more oxygen”.

“American Eagle flight 5916 landed safely in Gainesville on August 10. While in flight, the crew received an indication of a possible pressurisation issue and immediately and safely descended to a lower altitude,” a spokesperson for the airline told Fox News.