HANOVER TWP., LEHIGH COUNTY, Pa. — A United Airlines-branded flight from Allentown to Chicago lost cabin pressure Sunday morning and diverted to Detroit.
United flight 4166, a Bombardier CRJ-550 regional jet operated by regional carrier GoJet on behalf of United Express, was 40,000 feet above northern Ohio when it lost pressurization. There were 43 passengers and three crew on board.
Shortly before 7:45 a.m., the flight’s pilot told air traffic controllers that he saw warning lights indicating the aircraft’s cabin pressure had dropped suddenly. He then began an emergency descent to 10,000 feet, he said.
A passenger on the flight told LehighValleyNews.com that the plane experienced a “rapid decompression,” and that its emergency oxygen masks dropped from the cabin ceiling. The passenger did not want to be named.
He said the crew did not say what caused the loss of pressure.
The aircraft made its 30,000-foot descent in about seven minutes, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware, at times dropping as quickly as 5,400 feet per minute.
By the time the aircraft approached Detroit, the cabin crew told air traffic controllers that the situation was under control. The plane landed normally at Detroit Metropolitan-Wayne County Airport around 8:20 a.m. and passengers deplaned through an airport jet bridge.
In a statement, GoJet spokesperson Liz Dray wrote that the flight "was safely diverted to Detroit to address a possible cabin pressure issue."
The flight departed Detroit for Chicago at 1:40 p.m. local time Sunday, she wrote.
Representatives for United Airlines did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
