Delta Flight Blows Out Passengers' Eardrums After Cabin Fails To Pressurize

Photo: Charly Triballeau / AFP (Getty Images)

A Delta Air Lines flight on Sunday from Salt Lake City to Portland, Oregon immediately returned to Utah’s capital when the flight crew realized the Boeing 737-900 was suffering cabin pressurization issues. The 140 passengers onboard were met by paramedics at the gate when the plane landed and 10 people were either evaluated or treated for bloody noses or ruptured eardrums.

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Delta Flight 1203 seemed like a typical service until the aircraft rose above 10,000 feet. That’s when it became apparent that the cabin wasn’t pressurizing for the higher altitude. However, the oxygen masks didn’t fall from overheads as they would in an emergency. Passenger Jaci Purser described the experience to KSL-TV, “it felt like somebody was stabbing her in the ear. She felt her ear pop from the pressure in the cabin, then bubble.” The pilots declared an emergency to air traffic control and descended to 10,000 feet before returning. The plane was only in the air for roughly 40 minutes. Delta Air Lines said in a statement:

We sincerely apologize to our customers for their experience on Flight 1203 on September 15. The flight crew followed procedures to return to SLC where our teams on the ground supported our customers with their immediate needs. Medical personnel met the flight at the gate and identified 10 individuals as needing evaluation or treatment. Delta offered to cover transportation for these customers to medical facilities. Delta technicians worked the pressurization issue on the aircraft successfully. It was taken out of service on the morning of Sept. 15 and went back into service on September 16.

It is unclear precisely why the cabin pressurization issue happened and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. Sudden depressurization is a far more common, albeit still rare, occurrence compared to the cabin not pressurizing at all. As in this incident, pilots will get the plane down to a safe altitude as quickly as possible. Not many things are complementary with airlines these days; the rideshare to the hospital, thankfully, was in this case.