Watch a Troubled Flight Shake Like a ‘Washing Machine’
How this flight touched down safely is a miracle.
An AirAsia flight from Perth, Australia to Kuala Lumpur had to turn around mid-flight on Sunday after it experienced engine trouble that resulted in the aircraft violently shaking.
A passenger captured the stunning scene on camera. "[Crew] said 'I hope you all say a prayer, I'll be saying a prayer too, and let's hope that we all get back home safely," said another person onboard.
"It was essentially the engine seized up I think, that's what they told us anyway," passenger Brenton Atkinson said. "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 shaken on the wing. Once we landed we realized one of the blades had actually come off the turbine."
It's not like the plane had just taken off, either. It reportedly headed back to Perth about 90 minutes after taking off.
And in a time when we are inundated with stories and video of airlines mistreating passenger, Atkinson said the crew remained on the ball during the entire ordeal. "No-one was freaking out too much. It was a bit nervy. [The crew] handled it really well," he said.
The airline would not confirm what went wrong, citing only a technical problem. There were no reports of injuries.