Unlike the name suggests, FlySafair has now experienced two double emergency landings operating on the route between Johannesburg and Cape Town. The latest incident occurred on Sunday when the plane experienced a rapid descent which resulted in oxygen masks being deployed.

Obviously, experiencing something like this would make one feel extremely unsafe as you’re 1000s of feet in the air and have absolutely no control of the situation. One traveller, Travis Talmarks, explained his experience:

Like many of the passengers on board, I said what I thought would be my last prayers for my friends and family and prepared for the worst.

Some of the comments directed towards the pilots and crew is that there was a lack of communication. There were 153 passengers on board, that leaves each flight attend to see to the needs (and questions) of around 30 people. It’s impossible for them to communicate to everyone on an individual basis. I for one, am glad that the pilot did not immediately communicate to us during the incident, because I would want the one man who was responsible for getting us home safely, to have his full attention on the matter at hand.

I feel that Captain Banda and Charles Peck deserve recognition for remaining calm and in control of the situation, and for getting us all home safely. Once we were headed back to OR Tambo Captain Banda did in fact make an announcement to all of the passengers. He made his announcement once the situation was under control and we were headed back to OR Tambo.

In the brief video clip I managed to get (once it was confirmed that we were fine) and from what I saw, all the seats had masks securely attached. We only removed the masks once we were below 10 000 ft and it was announced that we could remove them as it was no longer necessary.

Once back at OR Thambo, the passengers were given the choice to fly with another airline – all expenses paid – although most felt safe and opted to take the 11pm flight to Cape Town.

I was one of those who chose to fly home with them on the 11pm flight. I also don’t see an issue in flying with them again.

Great chap, that Travis.

But as airlines go, the lack of communication is a procedure that is practiced throughout the world. Many incidents before have left passengers feeling unsure of what’s happening due to the lack of communication, but pilots are required to first Aviate, Navigate and then Communicate. Spokesperson for FlySafair said:

A common concern from passengers is that the pilot didn’t say anything when the safety actions were taken.  ‘Rapid descent’ indicates the course of action to the crew so that they know what to do. It’s then up to the pilot to steer the aircraft onto a safe course, before addressing the passengers – depending on the situation this can be 10 – 15min later – as soon as the flight path is stabilised.

[source: traveller24]