An Alaska Airlines headed from California to Seattle was forced to make an emergency landing after the plane’s cabin lost pressure.
Passenger Roslyn Richardson told ABC News that all the babies on the flight started crying at the same time. Then adult passengers felt their ears painfully popping.
Examiner.com reports the pilots called in the emergency citing “catastrophic electrical failure with loss of some flight controls and cabin pressure.” The plan was diverted to San Jose, CA where it landed safely. Passengers made it to Seattle approximately eight hours later.
Preliminary inspections revealed that it wasn’t an electrical problem but a sensor on the landing gear that malfunctioned. The sensor identified the plane as being on the ground instead of in flight and turned off the automatic flight controls and cabin pressure.
The Boeing 737-400 has been grounded and is being inspected by Alaska Airlines maintenance crews, according to Flight Global News.
The following clip from ABC News explains what happened.
