Investigations are underway after a Singapore Airlines plane dropped 13,000 just outside Hong Kong when both engines failed.
Flight SQ836 encountered bad weather – the same storm that caused widespread cancellations at Hong Kong’s International Airport – around three-and-a-half hours into the flight from Singapore to Shanghai on Saturday.
The aircraft, carrying 194 passengers and crew, dropped from 39,000 feet to 26,000 over 30 minutes as both Rolls Royce engines failed.
The no-doubt frantic pilot managed to regain full control as the engines chugged back to life, and landed uneventfully (apart from the state of his pants) in Shanghai just before 11pm.
A spokesman for Singapore Airlines said, “The engines were thoroughly inspected and tested upon arrival in Shanghai with no anomalies detected. We are reviewing the incident with Rolls-Royce and Airbus.”
According to the SCMP, the descent would have felt similar to that felt in a landing.
