What Happens Before You Go to Vote on an Aviation Safety Bill

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 5:43pm

Flight Carrying Former GOP Candidate Makes Emergency Landing

POSTED: 8:25 pm EDT July 22, 2008
UPDATED: 10:23 pm EDT July 22, 2008

NEW ORLEANS -- A Washington-bound flight carrying former presidential candidate Ron Paul and six other members of Congress made an emergency landing in New Orleans after a loss in cabin pressure.The seven congressmen, all from Texas, were trying to get back in time for a Tuesday night vote on an aviation safety bill when the flight landed without incident, a spokesman for one of the representatives said. No injuries were reported among the 128 crew and passengers.FAA spokeswoman Lynn Tierney said Flight 458 from Houston initiated a rapid descent to bring the plane to an altitude below where adding oxygen was necessary and was given priority to land at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.Trevor Kincaid, a spokesman for passenger and Rep. Nick Lampson, said his boss told him "there was absolutely no panic on the plane." Lampson told Kincaid the plane's oxygen masks dropped down."Continental Airline's personnel and staff were exceptional; executing what seemed to me a textbook performance in emergency procedure. I was very impressed," Lampson said in a release.Airline spokeswoman Julie King said the airline was working to get customers from Flight 458 from Houston to Washington, D.C. on other flights.A spokesman for Rep. Nick Lampson said the members of Congress on board were Lampson, Paul, Ted Poe, John Carter, Solomon P. Ortiz, Ciro Rodriguez, and Henry Cuellar. All are from Texas.News4's spoke to several Congressmen aboard the flight, who said the incident was little more than an inconvenience.Texas Congressman John Carter, speaking from Chicago late Tuesday, said it happened as the in-flight movie was about to begin."The oxygen masks came down," he said. That was the first sign for many that anything was amiss.The 737 made a hasty descent to a level where oxygen and cabin pressurization were no longer needed.Lampson, who sits on the committee that oversees FAA and other aspects of civil aviation, said he was impressed with the way the crew handled the situation.But he said he was troubled by the lack of information given to passengers aboard the flight.The congressmen caught another flight and were expected to land at Reagan National Airport by midnight.