Flight to Portland turns around and lands in Salt Lake City after experiencing “pressure issues”

SALT LAKE CITY — A flight en route to Portland turned around and landed shortly after takeoff from Salt Lake City International Airport on Sunday.

Two passengers on board told television station KSL that shortly after takeoff they heard strange noises that they believed came from the engine and that they felt the plane sink.

“It felt like the plane, like the engine had almost stopped, just went silent,” said passenger Jaclyn Blain. “The plane dropped in altitude, then the engine seemed to start again, and then we climbed again.”

Blain said their ears started to crack and they noticed the plane circling over the Great Salt Lake.

“We were all kind of sticking our fingers in our ears and holding our noses and trying to clean our ears,” she said. “We looked around and thought, 'Wow, everyone is doing this. It's not just one or two people.'”

Felt like being stabbed

KSL TV spoke by phone with one of Blain's co-workers, who said it felt like someone had pierced her ear.

“There was a baby in first grade, the poor little thing was screaming like crazy,” Blain said.

Delta Air Lines said the plane could not be pressurized above 10,000 feet.

Blain said passengers were not told what was happening during the flight.

“The flight attendants said, 'Hey, we're going back to Salt Lake, that's at the captain's discretion.' No, really, explanation, nothing. Then a few more minutes went by and then the captain came and said, 'Okay, we're going back to Salt Lake, we're having trouble stabilizing the cabin pressure.'”

The airline also issued the following statement about the flight:

“Delta flight 1203 from SLC to PDX experienced an in-flight pressure issue that resulted in a repatriation to SLC. Customers were relocated to an alternate aircraft. We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay to their travels. The safety of our customers and employees remains Delta's highest priority.”

The airline also said that the oxygen masks had not been deployed. There were 140 passengers on board the flight.

“My colleague had blood pouring out of her ears,” Blain said. “It ended up with a ruptured eardrum. One of my other colleagues also had a ruptured eardrum, and one of my colleagues had a bloody nose and a bloody eardrum.”

First responders met flight

An airline spokesman said some passengers were picked up by paramedics after landing in Salt Lake City and referred any questions to local emergency services.

Blain estimates that 11 to 15 people were hospitalized with related injuries.

Her colleague told KSL TV that she was given antibiotics and instructed to see an ENT doctor while her ruptured eardrum healed.

“I think something obviously went wrong this morning and a checkpoint was missed or something else happened,” Blain said. “I think they could have communicated better with us on the plane so that there weren't a whole bunch of people wondering what was going on and why we were making all these weird movements and noises and on, off, up, down, up, down, on, off, everywhere. They could have just let us know, 'Hey, don't panic, we're taking care of it.'”