Precautionary landing after several occupants experience sickness, Boeing 767-300ER, N644UA, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
At 10:37 hours local time (09:37 UTC), the aeroplane departed Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on a scheduled commercial flight to Newark Liberty International Airport, United States. On board were 199 passengers, three flight crew and eight cabin crew. An hour into the flight,
while flying straight and level at FL320 over Scotland, a growing number of the aeroplane’s occupants indicated they were not feeling well. Eventually all cabin crew and fifteen passengers (most of them from rows 27 through 30) were reporting similar symptoms. These included blurred vision, sensations of the aeroplane banking to the right and climbing, nausea and a general feeling of drowsiness.
While cabin pressure altitude was confirmed to be normal at around 8,000 feet, pulse oximeter readings with the cabin crew indicated low blood oxygen saturation levels. Administering oxygen and medication against motion sickness did not lead to structural improvements. Two
hours into the flight, the captain instructed the cabin crew to stop their duties and decided to return to Schiphol for a precautionary landing.
The full analysis of this serious incident can be found in the Quarterly Aviation Report over the 2nd quarter of 2020.
