# SkyWest Embraer E170 drops 7000 feet/minute, lands safely **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 22, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320 "2015-04-22T22:11:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/1 "2015-04-22T22:11:01Z")
[But wouldn’t a descent be a “decline”](http://7online.com/news/skywest-flight-lands-in-buffalo-after-emergency;-1-loses-consciousness/676497/)? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/2 "2015-04-22T23:13:30Z")
Well, ISTM strictly speaking the “incline” can be positive (climb) or negative (dive) and still be an incline. And this is what you do when you have what may be a serious emergency and you cannot handle it onboard. Point that sucker at the nearest airport AND pretend you are peeling off for a strafing run. Even better in these no-food days, you can disregard that the passenger’s stomachs are now in the overhead bin. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/3 "2015-04-23T00:31:46Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [But wouldn’t a descent be a “decline”](http://7online.com/news/skywest-flight-lands-in-buffalo-after-emergency;-1-loses-consciousness/676497/)? No. “Decline” is not a word that describes a literal downward slope. > **[Google](https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C5CHFA_enAU503AU503&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=decline)** > > Search the world's information, including webpages, images, videos and more. Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you're looking for. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/4 "2015-04-23T01:40:48Z")
That article is an embarrassment. They had an ill passenger and so they landed expeditiously at a nearby airport. And the article sounds breathless that somehow they survived making a descent and making a normal landing at a standard airliner airport, albeit not the ones the passengers had booked travel to. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/5 "2015-04-24T00:26:43Z")
OK, now reports are that there were more than problems with the one single passenger. Not that [the Daily News article](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/skywest-flight-dives-20-000-ft-minutes-3-people-pass-article-1.2195660)is any great example of a well written piece, either (if “a door had flown open” at cruise altitude, **everyone would notice immediately** , you would not suspect it from some people getting respiratory distress). ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/6 "2015-04-24T03:44:45Z")
Unfortunately the mix of unreliable lay-witnesses and media means that it is pretty much impossible to gain any useful information out of the news articles. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/7 "2015-04-24T04:11:21Z")
So what, that’s on a plane, can cause 3 people to lose consciousness and not require hospitalization? They say initial evaluation is negative for a pressure leak. Inert gasses, random chance, hmm? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/8 "2015-04-24T05:01:03Z")
WAG: One person has a legitimate health problem, the others panic and hyperventilate. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/9 "2015-04-24T06:49:46Z")
I happened to have the TV on when this story broke on CNN. All Wolf Blitzer knew was that one passenger had passed out, and that the plane may have lost a door. Blitzer went on and on, about whether one passenger had passed out, or two, or more. Meanwhile I was screaming at the TV: “You stupid cunt! The passenger passing out is not the story! Losing a fucking door is the story!” He didn’t listen to me. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skywest-embraer-e170-drops-7000-feet-minute-lands-safely/718320/10 "2015-04-24T18:14:29Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > WAG: One person has a legitimate health problem, the others panic and hyperventilate. Exactly. We certainly are seeing the media hyperventilating here over (probably) nothing. Once the authorities release some sort of fact-based information I wonder how breathlessly they’ll be offering an apology for their earlier scare-mongering.