Question for pilots, flight attendants or anyone in that field?

Question

what causes a flight an hour into it to lose cabin pressure... we were on a flight today and the oxygen masks fell , we had to put them on and make an emergency landing... i am already scared to death to fly and now im even more terrified after this experience.. needless to say i am making my husband drive me home from new orleans to milwaukee. please if you are not sure dont answer i am really wanting actuall answers

Answer 1

There's no way to tell you what exactly happened to your aircraft without having a look at the plane and diagnosing the bleed and pressurization systems. Either the pressurization system wasn't getting air fed to it,   (Bleed air not getting supplied for some reason)   The Pneumatic Air Conditoning Kits (PACKS) may have failed, or the outflow valve or its controller failed such that the valve would stay open. It could be any number of things.

Pilots have been occasionally known to climb out with the packs or bleeds off. That's extremely rare but still a possibility. They'll never admit to it either!

On the other hand, the pressurization may have been just fine, but there may have been a glitch in the controller that senses a high cabin altitude.