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Power of Prayer (and Great Piloting Skills) Save AirAsia X Flight

Shaken passengers on an AirAsia X flight were asked to “say a prayer” when their plane suffered engine seizure due to a technical fault.

Travelers on a recent Kuala Lumpur-bound AirAsia X flight were left terrified when the plane’s captain asked them to “say a prayer” after a technical fault resulted in an engine shutdown.

AirAsia X Flight D7237, which had originated in Perth, Australia, was just over an hour into its journey early Sunday morning when its left engine seized, making the Airbus A330 shake violently, the Telegraph reports.

The plane was carrying 359 passengers at the time of the incident, during which a small explosion was also heard by some of those on the flight. Passenger Sophie Nicolas told WA Today that, “He [the flight captain] said ‘I hope you all say a prayer; I will be saying a prayer too and let’s hope we all get back home safely.’”

“I was crying a lot, a lot of people were crying, trying to call their mums and stuff but we couldn’t really do anything just wait and trust the captain,” Nicolas added. She also praised the captain of the flight for his landing skills, saying, “He delivered us home safely which is amazing, everybody burst into applause when we landed.”

Passenger Brenton Atkinson described the moment the plane began to shake to ABC News, saying, “It was literally like you were sitting on top of a washing machine. The whole thing was going. We could see the engine out the window which was really shaking on the wing. Once we landed we realized one of the blades had actually come off the turbine.”

Many passengers on the flight were left shaken by the incident. Traveler Rasool Zareie told the ABC that, “My daughter was so scared. We went through a difficult situation, it was so intense.”

Passenger Samantha Fox echoed Zareie’s sentiments, saying, “I’m going to […] Hawaii instead. It’s the unease about that particular route and the airline.”

The carrier said that the seizure was due to a technical issue on the plane while the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has said that it is investigating the matter.

[Photo: Shutterstock]

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4 Comments
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Bretteee June 27, 2017

I would never fly Air Asia. Still remember that awful crash over Indonesia.

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twb3 June 27, 2017

The real miracle, if Flyertalk's picture is to be believed, is stuffing 359 pax on an A-320!

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deadinabsentia June 27, 2017

Can we not publish this nonsense? FT 'Articles' rival Fox news or 'The Daily Mirror" in sensationalism.. Single engine landings are a basic skill. I can promise at no point in the Airbus 'one engine inoperitive' checklist, prayer is suggested. What you have with Air Asia is a organisation with average maintenance and less than average pilots. Write ups such as this only perpetuate a lowering of safety and common sense.

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rick253 June 27, 2017

The copy doesn't make any mention of the "Great Piloting Skills" that are referred to in the Headline. General comment in Australia from pilots and aviation experts is that they are surprised about the shaking of the airplane, and question why the plane wasn't landed at the nearest airport of Learmonth rather than Perth. Asking for people to pray is regarded as very unprofessional. No one here is attributing "Great Piloting Skills" to the pilot!