On the afternoon of 02/04/2009, the flight CA4405 (from Chengdu to Lhasa,Tibet) returned to the Chengdu Shuangliu airport because of a mechanical issue. Mrs He received a short message from her husband : “Our plane met a mechanical problem in the midair and now we have to go back to Chengdu.” Mrs He was very nervous when receiving this message and called her husband immediately. She was finally released when she heard her husband’s voice. ” I was really scared, it is very dangerous when my husband’s plane met a mechanical problem in the midair.”, Mrs He said.
On 9:00 PM 02/04/2009, we contacted Mrs He’s husband (Mr Wu). He then described the situation there in the plane.
“Our flight CA4405 took off on 5:10 PM from the Chengdu Shuangliu airport. I heard from the broadcast that this plane would return to Chengdu after it arrived at Lhasa,Tibet in the night. After one hour’s flight, we heard some strange noise from the plane. It sounds like “Ga Ga Ga”. The plane then began to hover in the midair. Some passengers asked the air hostess and the answer is “We have added too much gas to the plane and we will need to hover in the midair to consume some gas.” Most passengers didn’t believe this explanation and they were getting more and more nervous. I got the feeling that it was not that simple too because the air hostess stopped smiling and was a little bit nervous too. She then began to provide drinks to the nervous passengers and try to calm them. Finally we got the message from the broadcast that the plane met a mechanical problem but it is in a very stable situion now and we will have to go back to Chengdu. The flight back to Chengdu is smooth and the passengers started to calm down. I have the acrophobia and this unexpected event really scared me. It is very dangerous to meet mechanical problem in the midair. But I am glad that we all get back to Chengdu safely.”
Mr Wu also told us that China Air provided accommodation and food to all the passengers of flight CA4405 and will arrange another plane for them to fly to Lhasa, Tibet on the next morning (02/05/2009).