supacoo

Well, quite the flight this morning from ORD to FRA on 944. About 10 minutes before landing with flight attendants still doing the cabin check, there's a sudden loud burst and air rushing through the cabin. I was in 17 A/B with my mom and I looked back and there was debris EVERYWHERE in the lights. A loud blowing noise, like when you're on the highway with the windows down, and breeze through the cabin completed the picture.

The flight attendant came on the loudspeaker, panicked sounding, and said "Ladies and gentleman, fasten your seatbelts NOW." Nothing further. My mom, who was on the second flight of her life was like "Is this normal?" Looking back about ten rows from our seats I could see STUFF all over the floor (thought it looked like insulation fibers, and turned out it was) and some pax AND the FAs were covered with the stuff. My first thought was that some nut job tried to whip open the emergency exit door mid-flight.

Before long, everyone in the cabin is coughing and our lungs are burning. It was miserable. After a successful landing (with plenty of applause), the captain came on and announced that a pneumatic line had ruptured near the mid/back emergency exit and we'd all been breathing fiberglass insulation. Yummy. You could pick the fellow pax out as we proceeded through the airport as we were all the ones coughing.

I've never heard of a pneumatic line rupture and wasn't able to discover anything more about this kind of "incident" online. Anyone had this kind of "fun" on a flight before? I'm a really calm flyer and this was the first time that I had that "It's all over" feeling.

SFflyer123

That is crazy scary! I'd be freaked out. What kind of plane were you on?

fly22much

oh my goodness. i'm so glad you guys made it safely to the ground. that sounds frightening.

doesn't fiberglass in your lungs stay there forever? are they giving you guys medical treatment or anything? i hope you get some compensation!

drummingcraig

A) So glad to hear that the plane landed safely without further incident.

B) What's UA doing from their end with regards to medical follow-up? Hopefully more than an offer of some miles or a cert. Breathing that stuff can't possibly be good.

C) I'm wondering how the captain knew that it was a pneumatic line? Did he/she come out an take a look at the damage before making the announcement?

D) Lastly, I am guessing that a pneumatic line is something that has to do with the cabin pressurization system and/or air conditioning.

HJsimpson

that is just crazy. I am glad you guys are ok. If that fiberglass does stick around, I hope UA gets you best medical attn possible. Wouldn t you trade that with several hundred K miles and comp SWUs. No compensation is bigger than your health

ual744777sta

Glad you are okay. I hope UA treated you well.

tony2x

I found this link, it says that it shouldn't be serious, especially if it is a one-off...

http://www.aecom.yu.edu/ehs/Industri...s_Fibergls.htm

SeattleFlyerGuy

Holy crap! That's nuts! I'm glad that everyone landed and is ok! I would be pretty freaked out if that happened on my flight, not to mention being concerned about the fiberglass issue (heck, I don't even like before push back when the air in the cabin smells a little chemical/oily, if you know what I mean).

One question though: When something like this happens, why wasn't the oxygen masks activated? To me, it would seem like if something goes wrong in the cabin with the air, that would be the first thing to pull once it was clear that the plane was still in control.

Of course, if I was the pilot I could EASILY see how it might not happen given the emergency situation...

LilZeppelin

Thanks for sharing that! I liked your mum's reaction!!!

RI2KH2SU

Me too! A true case of "ignorance is bliss". Not to say that your mom is ignorant, I'm sure you understand.

TonySCV

Unreal. Glad everyone is safe.

Keep an eye out here for updates on this incident:

http://avherald.com/

They tend to post incidents about 3-10 days after they occur.

blueone

Glad to hear everyone was okay.

Am surprised not to see any mention in the mainstream media yet, as the incident seems pretty serious.

TT-Jones

So what services were provided from United's side after that incident?

Did everyone undergo a health check? Or did they just deboard and that's it?

jcasner

+1

I guess that the oxygen masks didn't drop? I suppose we shouldn't have expected them to since it doesn't sound like cabin pressure changed, but I'm still somewhat surprised that there isn't a contaminant level monitor that would cause them to drop if the air quality gets too bad.

I saw one post saying that there shouldn't be much cause for concern for your health, and I sincerely hope that's true!!

supacoo

Sorry, I've been sleeping - there wasn't much of that on the flight!

To answer some questions:
1) Some people (especially an older couple and a family) stayed on for medical attention. I think everyone else (us included) was just happy to get off and get fresh air.

2) No oxygen masks. I was waiting for them, as I suspected it was a de-pressurization issue of some sort (which I guess it was). But even as far as air quality, they were needed. I had my sleeve over my mouth and some people closer to the door had cloths over theirs.

3) United didn't offer anything to us specifically, but I'm guessing the people more in the direct spray got compensated greatly because the experience was pretty bad. I'll probably be writing them a letter of my own.

4) Thanks for the news about no long term harm I feel like I can still TASTE the fiberglass in the back of my throat, but that's probably all in my mind.

5) I had on Channel 9 the whole time and it went silent for a few minutes during the chaos. I thought that was bad news, but then I heard our pilot back on and he didn't mention anything on the radio. Of course, what was I expecting, a "Mayday" call? I don't know. But still, I was reassured when normal communications resumed. The pilot didn't go back to inspect the damage, he just made an announcement, and I just assumed he knew from some kind of readout up front.