Tato Lovere, a Jersey City artist, was on the American Airlines flight to Rome as part of her birthday celebrations and incident was so scary that she texted her daughter to tell her she loved herAn airline passenger was convinced she was going to die after the plane she was on plummeted a terrifying 28,000 feet.
Tato Lovere, an artist from Jersey City, was on board the United Airlines (UA) Flight 510 from Newark to Rome on Wednesday evening. However, the Boeing 777 never made it to its destination after it was forced to drop almost 30,000 feet in 10 minutes due to a potential issue with cabin pressure – before reversing course.
The 47-year-old was with her boyfriend at the time when the plane started to drop suddenly, which created a sense of panic among everyone. She recalled a ‘sick feeling’ inside her as they started to nosedive as passengers looked around at each other unsure of what was happening.United Airlines Flight 510 took off from Newark at 8:37pm on Wednesday heading to Rome (
Image:
FOX News)
“You saw people’s heads turning, you had people looking at each other, you had people looking for answers without screaming. You literally thought you’re going to die”, she told the New York Post.
The aircraft, which was carrying 270 passengers and 14 crew members, departed at 8.37pm for Rome–Fiumicino International Airport but returned to Newark Liberty International Airport a few hours later at 12.27am. Tato was travelling to celebrate her birthday and also meet gallerists in the Italian capital.
Promoted StoriesShe described how the captain and stewardesses alerted passengers about possible issues with the plane through repeated messages over the flight’s intercom. Tato even texted her daughter to let her know how much she loved her but without trying to worry her.
She said: “I tried the best I could first to text message my daughter without causing fear, of letting her know I love her very much and I am proud of her.” Unbeknownst to Tato, her daughter was in fact tracking the flight online and could see it tracing circles over HalifaxThis prompted her to anxiously call the airline to find out what was happening and was told that everything was ‘fine’. Amid the chaotic scene, Tato also recounted how a stewardess speaking with passengers sounded ‘helpless’ and as if she had been crying .
Eventually, the captain told everyone on board that the plane might be making an emergency landing in Halifax. It was then announced that it had started to dump fuel and was heading back to Newark.
A UA spokesperson said the plane returned back to its departure airport “to address a possible loss of cabin pressure,” and that “the flight landed safely and there was never any loss of cabin pressure.” Tato and her boyfriend were booked on the next UA flight to Rome a few hours later but she admitted that the nerve-racking experience has left her ‘on edge’ for any future flights.