'Pray,' Airplane Pilot Tells Passengers as Jet Engine Suffers Failure in Mid-Air Scare
The pilot of a commercial airliner was compelled to ask passengers to pray when the aircraft began shaking violently about an hour after liftoff when one of its engines experienced technical difficulties.
The incident happened aboard an AirAsia X flight from Perth, Australia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday with 359 passengers onboard, CNN reported.
Footage of the incident taken from a mobile phone shows the plane vibrating and rattling. The shaking started after a loud bang, and lasted for 90 minutes, according to NBC News.
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As the plane was shaking "like a washing machine," the pilot reportedly came over the intercom twice to ask passengers to pray for their safe return.
"I hope you all say a prayer. I'll be saying a prayer, too and let's hope we all get back home safely," the pilot said, according to TravelMole.
The still unnamed pilot added: "Please listen to everything. Our survival depends on your cooperating. Hopefully everything will turn out for the best."
Observers say it's highly unusual for a pilot to ask for prayers in times of emergency.
Damien Stevens, one of the passengers, told NBC News that they heard a "huge bang" about 75 minutes into the flight.
"The rattling started straight away," he said. "It was like being in a washing machine or on a compressor. The crew were really good, although the pilot asked us to pray twice and said he was scared, too."
The aircraft landed smoothly back in Perth two hours later, passengers said. No one was hurt during the incident. After disembarking from the damaged plane, the passengers were transferred to another flight that took off safely Sunday night.
Passenger Sophie Nicolas said what happened was "terrifying."
"I could just tell by the cabin crew's reaction that it was really bad," she told ABC News Australia.
"I was crying a lot, a lot of people were crying, trying to call their mums and stuff but we couldn't really do anything just wait and trust the captain."
Nicolas praised the captain for safely landing the plane. "He delivered us home safely which is amazing, everybody burst into applause when we landed," she said.
Passenger Alia Abdul Rahim was also all praise for the pilot. "Thank God the pilot and the crew did a great job," he told NBC News.
AirAsia released a statement later Sunday, which provided little detail about the mid-air scare.
"Passengers were attended to by our ground staff upon landing and were provided with all necessary assistance," the budget airliner said in a statement.
