Fort Lauderdale Bound Delta Flight Diverted To Tampa After Pressure Problem
TAMPA (CBSMiami) — A Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale made an emergency landing at Tampa International Airport after it dropped nearly 30,000 feet over an eight minute period.
Delta flight 2353 took off just before 4 p.m. Wednesday from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, appeared to turn around over the Gulf of Mexico and land just after 5 p.m. in Tampa.
Passenger Harris DeWoskin said what happened was terrifying.
"Initially it was sort of a panic, there wasn't really any forewarning, the oxygen masks dropped down then one of the flight attendants, I believe, grabbed the intercom and was just repeatedly over the intercom, stating do no panic, do not panic but obviously it's a hectic moment so the passengers around me, a lot of people, were kind of hyperventilating breathing really hard" he said.
A Delta spokesperson provided the following statement:
"We apologize to our customers on flight 2353 from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, which diverted to Tampa out of an abundance of caution and landed without incident following a cabin pressurization irregularity en route."
Tampa airport spokeswoman Emily Nipps said the plane landed briefly due to an unknown issue causing the pressurization masks to drop.