Oxygen Masks Deployed In System Failure On Aeroflot Airbus A350

An Aeroflot Airbus A350-900 flying to Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia from Antalya International, Turkey, had its passenger oxygen masks deployed during the flight. The plane’s system detection had failed, causing this surprise on August 12th.

A midflight surprise

The Aviation Herald reports that the plane was performing flight SU2143 and was en route at FL430, approximately 170 NM south of Russia’s capital, when the masks were released and the IFE was stopped.

The widebody then descended to FL200, leveling off at FL200, approximately 18 minutes later. Subsequently, the A340 landed safely on Sheremetyevo’s runway 24C.

According to passengers on this service, flight attendants indicated that there were no issues with the cabin’s pressure. Rather, the system detection had failed. Photos taken by those on board show the masks dangling down throughout the cabin.

Aeroflot A350 oxygen masks released during a flight from Antalya due to a pressure system issue. Aircraft made a safe landing moments later in Moscow. Photos by Ptashnick https://t.co/TvtbRY9ytO pic.twitter.com/JY7wHyFk8r

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) August 13, 2021

The A350

Simple Flying was there when Aeroflot received its first A350 from Airbus in Greater Toulouse in February 2020. Over a year later, Airbus highlighted that all of Russia’s units have been in action despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Aeroflot now has six A350s in its fleet. VP-BXP, the aircraft that was involved in this week’s incident, was the latest to join the fold. According to ch-aviation, this unit arrived at the flag carrier of Russia’s facilities on June 29th this year, after conducting its first flight on May 27th.

The plane has remained on the ground since landing on Thursday, but it had been seen in the likes of Miami, Tokyo, Varadero, and Mahe Island this month before the incident.

On Aeroflot’s A350s, there are 28 private business class suites with full-flat beds and sliding doors in a 1-2-1 formation. The aircraft also has 24 Comfort Class (premium economy) seats in a 2-4-2 configuration and 264 economy class seats staggered in a 3-3-3 setup, allowing for an extra seat per row than the premium economy segment.

Aeroflot was excited to deploy its A350 aircraft to the likes of London, Dubai, New York, Miami, Osaka, and Beijing before the global health crisis. Nonetheless, it’s still being spotted across the skies in these tough times.

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No injuries reported

Thankfully, there were no actual problems with the pressure, and everyone made it to Moscow safe and sound. The passengers, nonetheless, would have been in for a fright when the masks were deployed. Undoubtedly, Aeroflot will be looking into the cause of the detection failure to prevent such incidents from occurring again.

Simple Flying reached out to Aeroflot for comment on the reports. We will update the article with any further announcements from the airline.

What are your thoughts about this system failure on the Aeroflot Airbus A350? What do you make of the overall situation? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

Source: https://simpleflying.com/aeroflot-airbus-a350-mask-deployment/