It’s something that airlines warn passengers about at the beginning of every flight, but few people ever experience. A Newfoundland woman on board a recent Porter flight to Halifax thought she was having a heart attack only to learn that the cabin had depressurized.
Retired nurse Gilda Howell departed St. Johns to visit her daughter in Halifax on June 1, when a half-hour into the flight, she felt a cold draft come through the plane. She began to feel light-headed, a tightness on her chest, and shortness of breath.
Howell initially thought she was having a heart attack until she noticed the woman next to her was experiencing the same symptoms. It turned out to be an issue with pressure in the cabin.
She says before she had a chance to call the flight attendant, she was already there to provide oxygen. As the plane did not have drop-down masks, the crewmember provided them with portable tanks.
Meanwhile, Porter says the cause of the pressure issue was a windshield crack in the flight deck, during which the captain followed procedure by initiating a slow cabin depressurization and descending to a lower altitude.
They say the plane operates at below 25,000 feet, so it is not required to have drop-down oxygen masks in accordance with Transport Canada and FAA regulations.