Around 130 people were on board the jet that had left New York’s JFK airport for the five-hour trip to the West Coast.
But the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Salina, Kansas, after the pilot received warnings of a potential smoke alert.
“Some passengers did report hearing a loud bang,” passenger Seth Odell told the NBC affiliate KNSD.
FlightAware maps showed the plane’s rapid descent around two hours and 50 minutes into the journey.
It plunged more than 30,000 feet in less than 10 minutes – dropping from an altitude of more than 10,000 meters.
Odell revealed that some passengers started to “freak out” while others cried.
“It was a little bit intense for a few minutes,” he said.
Fire crews charged down the tarmac as the Airbus A320 plane made its emergency landing.
It turned out that the smoke alert was a false alarm.
“JetBlue flight 1189 diverted to Salina, Kansas, when the pilots received an alert that there might be smoke in the cargo hold, descending safely and landing without incident,” a spokesperson told The U.S. Sun.
“Upon inspection, we determined the smoke indication presented to our pilots was a false indication.”
Another passenger on the plane posted on Reddit that the pilot didn’t know if there was any smoke.
They hailed local airport workers who reportedly ordered pizzas for stranded passengers.
Federal Aviation Administration bosses have confirmed there will be an investigation, but fire chiefs said they didn’t find any major issue with the aircraft.
It was a little bit intense for a few minutes
Last week, some passengers on a Delta plane were left with bloody noses after a jet experienced a pressurization issue.
The plane was en route to Portland, Oregon, when problems started to arise on the jet.
Travelers complained that they felt stinging in their ears.
“I heard some air come out and then it started bubbling,” Jaci Purser told CNN.
Meanwhile, other passengers experienced nose bleeds.
A Delta spokesperson told The U.S. Sun that oxygen masks didn’t deploy.
The jet was carrying 140 passengers and 10 people needed medical treatment.
Earlier this month, two jets collided at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport.
A taxiing Delta aircraft hit a smaller jet that was heading to Louisiana.