TWO teenagers have relived the horror moment the plane they were on plunged 20,000ft before making an emergency landing.
Fourteen-year-old Aidan Markay and his sister Hannah, 17, feared the aircraft was about to crash as the captain cried ‘Mayday, Mayday,’ and the plane started to descend rapidly over the Alps.
They were flying alone for the first time after visiting friends in Italy, when the Ryanair flight from Milan to East Midlands airport suddenly lost cabin pressure.
Aidan, a pupil at Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School, said: “The captain shouted ‘Mayday, Mayday,’ and we were going down so quickly. I thought we were going to crash.
“I was really scared, a lot more than my sister, I was crying.”
Hannah, a student in Sheffield, added: “I was asleep when I woke to a bang, a rush of cold air and the masks dropping.
“Babies were crying because the pressure was hurting their ears, other people were making the sign of the cross.”
But the pair, of Holmesdale Road, Dronfield, said there was also a ‘community’ spirit on board, despite the chaos, with people helping each other.
The plane levelled out once it reached an altitude of about 10,000ft and landed safely at Frankfurt Hahn airport in Germany. Passengers were checked medically, with an audiologist making sure they were safe to fly, before a different plane took them back to East Midlands.
The youngsters contacted their parents once they had landed last Wednesday to share the news of the emergency landing.
Mum Kristin, aged 48, said: “As a parent you wish you had been there.
“The last thing you want to hear on a flight is ‘Mayday’. We think they were both really brave.”
Ryanair said no passengers were injured during the depressurisation incident.
The firm said: “Flight FR1703, Milan to East Midlands, diverted to Frankfurt Hahn after the captain identified a pressurisation warning, deployed the oxygen masks, and descended to 10,000ft as recommended.
“‘The aircraft landed at noon, local time, and passengers disembarked normally, to be provided with refreshments.
“Ryanair apologises sincerely to all passengers affected by this diversion and delay.”
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