Passengers Pray And Swig Whisky As Boeing 737 Suffers Engine Failure Flying To Florida

A Swift Air Boeing 737-400, registration N420US, declared an air emergency about 30 minutes after takeoff from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Oct. 22 after engine failure was detected. The pilots made a quick decision to return to Santo Domingo and safely landed the plane 40 minutes later, reported The Aviation Herald.

While it’s still to be determined what exactly happened to one of the plane’s engines, we ask several questions: Did it completely shut off? Was there reduced engine power? As far as incident reports, we cannot find one.

On Monday, a 27-second video filmed by one of the passengers during the air emergency surfaced on YouTube. The contents of the video are truly terrifying as the plane, clearly under reduced power, is in a steep decline. Passengers are seen holding hands and reciting prayers as their fate remained uncertain. Some passengers were seen swigging whiskey as they wanted to numb the emotional pain that their final moments could be on a shitty Boeing plane. 

The incident occurred one week before Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg is set to explain to US lawmakers and the American people why two 737 Max planes have crashed within the last 12 months. 

Muilenburg will address two key US House and Senate panels this week as the aerospace giant attempts to restore confidence in its planes and get the 737 Max back up in the air by early 2020.  

Muilenburg’s meeting with lawmakers Tuesday comes after the Indonesian transportation safety board on Oct. 25 found significant design flaws in the 737 Max that led to the Lion Air crash on Oct. 29, 2018. Authorities have blamed the Boeing Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) as one of the main reasons behind the crash. 

The second crash was Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on Mar. 10, 2019. Authorities have also blamed MCAS for this crash. 

Global aviation officials have grounded the 737 Max for nearly eight-months. 

At this point, President Trump is right, Boeing needs to rebrand — it should seriously consider a name change after the 737 Max crisis.