Passengers on a United Airlines flight got the scare of their lives when their plane plunged regarding 430 meters (1,400 feet) into the ocean in 21 seconds.
Flight 1722, a Boeing 777, left Hawaii on December 18, according to CNN.
Just over a minute following takeoff, the plane, a Boeing 777, began to dive until it was 235 meters (775 feet) above sea level, FlightRadar24 data viewed by CNN.
A passenger who was on board the aircraft with his family also tells the American media regarding the terrifying moments they experienced.
Rod Williams II explains that the takeoff seemed normal, until the plane began to climb “at an alarming rate” for a few seconds.
The aircraft then tilted forward and dived for several seconds, before climbing once more steeply, then returning to normal.
A moving experience for passengers.
“When the plane began its dive, several cries were heard at this time,” recalls the father.
“You do your best to keep calm, because there are children on the plane, but no one really knows what’s going on, and at the same time, you worry. You don’t know if there’s a problem, but it’s absolutely not ordinary”, adds Rod Williams II.
The man says that he and his wife looked at each other silently during the descent.
“There’s tension in the air, you don’t really get a chance to speak or find the words, you just grab the seat and pray in silence,” he told CNN.
Rod Williams II says he asked his wife a little later what she thought. She would have confessed to him that she was praying for a miracle because she had the impression that “it was the end”.
No one was reportedly injured in the incident, according to United Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The two organizations conducted an investigation into the event in conjunction with the pilots’ union “which led to additional training for the pilots”.
The pilots had a total of 25,000 combined flight hours, according to CNN.
