Sudden drop in cabin pressure leaves passengers with bleeding eardrums and noses mid-flight

Passengers were left with bleeding eardrums, headaches and bloody noses after a Delta Air Lines flight suffered cabin pressure issues.

The flight was travelling from Salt Lake City to Portland, Oregon, on Sunday when the pilots of the five-year-old Boeing 737-900ER aircraft noticed a pressurization problem and made an emergency landing back in Utah’s capital, according to the flight log.

The incident is now being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Passengers told television station KSL they noticed people bleeding as the plane decreased in elevation over the Great Salt Lake. Pilots announced they were returning to the airport but did not explain why, passenger Caryn Allen said. Oxygen masks did not deploy.

Ms Allen described watching her husband cover his ears in pain while other passengers tried to help a man on the other side of the aisle who had an uncontrollable bloody nose.

Another passenger, Jaci Purser, told KSL it felt like someone was stabbing her inner ear.

“I grabbed my ear, and I pulled my hand back, and there was blood on it,” she said.

Paramedics met passengers at the gate and identified at least 10 people out of the 140 on the flight who required medical attention. They recommended that anyone who was bleeding go to the hospital for further evaluation, and Delta offered to cover those transportation costs, the airline said.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers for their experience on flight 1203 on Sept. 15,” Delta said in a statement. “The flight crew followed procedures to return to SLC where our teams on the ground supported our customers with their immediate needs.”

The airline said the plane was taken out of service on Sunday and went back into service the next day after technicians resolved an issue that had made the plane unable to pressurize above 10,000 feet, Delta said.

High-profile incidents

Boeing is in the midst of one of the biggest crises in its history following a number of high-profile incidents involving its planes.

The company agreed to pay out billions in damages and criminal penalties earlier this year after its short-haul 737 Max jet was involved in two crashes – one in Indonesia in 2018 and the other in Ethiopia in 2019 – that left 346 people dead.

The plane was later grounded for 20 months after investigators discovered the incidents were linked to a new flight stabilisation feature Boeing had installed.

In January, the company made headlines when the door plug of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines fell off at 16,000 feet.

Passengers saw their bags and possessions sucked out of the plane as the cabin rapidly depressurised. Many of those on board claimed they had suffered trauma with three people filing a lawsuit requesting $1 billion in damages.

Just a week later, a 737 flying between the Japanese cities of Sapporo and Toyama was forced to land when a crack was discovered on a cockpit window. The following week, a 747-8 was forced to make an emergency landing in Miami after it was reported to be on fire in mid-air.

The incidents preceded reports of a 737 Max that slid off a runway while landing in Houston, a 737-900 that was forced to land after flames were spotted coming out of its engine and a tyre that fell off a 777 in San Francisco.

More recently, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner nose-dived during a flight from Sydney to Auckland, injuring dozens of passengers, while there were reports of a 737-800 that arrived at Portland International Airport with part of an underside panel missing.

Following the January plane door incident, Dave Calhoun, president and CEO of Boeing, released a statement saying that the company has taken a “hard look” at its operations to ensure safety.

“After the Jan. 5 accident involving a 737 airplane, we took immediate containment and mitigation actions to ensure airplane safety,” he said. “We also made the decision to slow production as we took a hard look across every facet of our operations.”

The company has since released an 11-page summary of its “Product Safety and Quality Plan,” which described steps the company is taking, including increased inspections and tighter controls over suppliers. The document also outlines how Boeing will measure its improvement.