Plane Ceiling Collapses Mid-Flight as Passengers Hold It Up with Their Hands Before Fixing It on Their Own
Witschy and other passengers held up the panel that had fallen off for an estimated 30 to 45 minutes before they fixed it with tape
'A man ahead of us offered bright yellow scotch tape he happened to have,' Witschy says of where the tape came from
Passengers on a recent Delta plane were forced to hold up a ceiling panel after it collapsed above them during their flight.
Tom Witschy, a 35-year-old Chicago resident seated in 19B, explained to PEOPLE what happened on Delta Flight 2417 after it took off from Atlanta toward Chicago on April 14. It eventually turned back around to Atlanta.
'During takeoff myself and the passenger next to me heard a sound above us that we assumed was a bag banging against the overhead bin,' Witschy recalls. 'Shortly after takeoff there was a loud banging sound and the panel of the roof of the plane came off, crashing down, nearly hitting an older woman seated in the aisle seat in the row ahead of me in 18B.'
The panel appeared to be hanging on from only the front right corner.
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'I grabbed the corner closest to me to keep it from colliding against our row as we were still ascending, and the men across from me and diagonally across did the same,' he adds, alluding to the flight crew being unable to assist because everyone was seated for the ascent.
'The three of us kept on holding it for 10 to 15 minutes until the flight attendants could come up from their seats and investigate,' Witschy explains. 'We kept holding it as they alerted the pilots and searched their inventory for tape. This went on for another 30 minutes or so.'
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At this point, a fellow passenger, whom Witschy said was an engineer, stood and balanced on an armrest to investigate the ceiling panel.
'My neighbor determined there was a missing screw/bolt holding the corner of the panel directly above the woman ahead of me and the panel and it wouldn't stay in place absent us taping it up,' Witschy shares. 'One of the flight attendants scoured the plane until a man ahead of us offered bright yellow scotch tape he happened to have, and that's what she and several other people used to tape it up.'
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Witschy estimated that they held up the panel with their hands for 30 to 45 minutes before the tape arrived to somewhat remedy the situation.
'The flight attendants were mostly very nice and kept offering us free drinks for holding it up in the flight but everyone was like, 'It's 10 a.m., we're okay,' ' he says, adding that the flight returned to Atlanta 'even though we were closer to Chicago Midway.'
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'What should have been a quick one-hour-and-change flight ended up being an all-day ordeal,' Witschy adds. 'For our trouble, the flight attendants offered those of us seated around the panel 10,000 miles each for holding it up and helping. I still filed a refund request because it cost me a day of work, but haven't heard back from Delta.'
'People were mostly shocked that it happened at all, that we were holding it as long as we were and exasperated that we were returning to Atlanta after all that,' Witschy concludes.
In a statement to PEOPLE, a Delta spokesperson said, 'Delta thanks our customers for their patience and cooperation. We apologize for the delay in their travels.' The airline added that the plane was a Boeing 717 aircraft that returned to Atlanta 'due to cabin maintenance' and the 'flight continued with about a two-hour delay on another aircraft.' There were no injuries.
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