The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has opened an investigation into a cabin crew incapacitation event involving a Virgin Australia Regional Fokker F100.
The jet, VH-FNU (c/n 11373), was operating flight 1896 between Newman Airport and Perth in Western Australia on December 27, 2021, with five crew members and seven passengers.
During the cruise at 34,000ft, a cabin crew member began to feel unwell and was treated with portable oxygen. The pilots subsequently climbed to 35,000ft.
According to investigators, a few minutes later the remaining two cabin crew also felt unwell and reported to the flight crew that they suspected possible hypoxia.
The first officer later reported that they had also felt light-headed and experienced slight nausea.
As a precaution, the pilots donned oxygen masks, manually deployed the passenger oxygen masks and conducted an emergency descent to 10,000ft.
The 1991 vintage jet landed safely at its intended destination and one cabin crew member was taken to hospital for assessment.
