US Flight to Rome Turns Around After Dropping 28,000 Feet Due to Cabin Pressure Issues

Less than an hour into the flight, a United Airlines plane bound for Rome made a U-turn and descended quickly following what the company described as a suspected loss of cabin pressure. According to the airline, the aircraft made a safe return to Newark, New Jersey, and arrived there early on Thursday.

The oxygen masks of the passengers did not drop, according to United, but the pilots were unable to confirm this. The Boeing 777 fell from 37,000 feet to fewer than 9,000 feet in eight minutes, according to monitoring site FlightAware data.

Pilots are taught to descend to an altitude where passengers may breathe without oxygen masks in the event of a loss of cabin pressure. According to the airline, there were 14 staff members and 270 passengers on the shorter trip.

United claimed to have located a replacement aircraft, which departed Newark at about 3:30 a.m. and arrived in Rome around 5 p.m. local time, arriving roughly six hours later than expected.