Woman texts husband to tell family "I love you" as plane nosedives
As her flight home from holiday plummeted towards the ocean, Nickola Tye reached for her phone.
Moments earlier, a screeching alarm had sounded and the captain of the Jet2 plane told passengers to "prepare for an emergency descent", The Sun reported.
Tye said "all hell broke loose" as the plane – en route from Ibiza to Leeds, England – nosedived and passengers put on the oxygen masks that dropped from the ceiling.
"Because we were getting lower I was able to write a text to my husband. I said, 'The plane is dropping and the oxygen masks have dropped down. If anything happens, I love you'."
The 39-year-old mum from Sheffield thought it was her last chance to tell her family how she felt about them.
"I didn't have my two young children or husband with me and all I could think was I'm not going to see them again," she said.
The plane – carrying about 180 people – levelled out and was diverted to Barcelona airport, where Tye said the full force of what had happened hit home.
"That's when people stated crying. There was a woman at the front who could not be consoled."
Fellow passenger John Hatfield said he and his girlfriend panicked when their oxygen masks failed to drop down.
"Everyone's masks came down apart from the one on our row," the 33-year-old said.
"My girlfriend was really upset and crying."
The couple called for help but the flight crew had already sat down and put their own masks on, he added.
"Eventually we managed to get the masks on but it was quite terrifying."
Tom Miller, another passenger aboard the plane, which was about 30 minutes into the flight when the incident occurred, said he sent a message to his wife saying, "I love you babe," as the plane dropped.
After four hours in Barcelona, passengers were flown to Leeds on a replacement aircraft, but many were too afraid to board.
Jet2, a low-cost British airline, attributed the incident, which occurred on July 16, to a "minor technical issue".
First appeared on Stuff.co.nz. Image credit: Nickola Tye via Facebook.