KUALA LUMPUR: A passenger on board AirAsia X flight D7237, which was forced to turn back to Perth due to technical issue, has asked the public to stop criticising the low-cost carrier and the pilot.
The passenger by the name of Madeline Wright, had posted her grievances towards the public's condemnation in her Facebook account on Monday.
In her post, she wrote: “It disgusts me that people are criticising our captain for telling us to pray and are trying to get him fired.
"The full context was, 'Everything is under control in the cockpit. If you want to say a prayer that might help too.'
"His statement was made in such a way to make us feel better and if it helped that was an individual thing.
"He was professional. He was human. He was a reassuring voice during this event and gave us hope, he is the reason I am still alive and I cannot thank him enough.
"For those of you criticising AirAsia, our pilot and those on board, please stop. The bravery of our crew and captain should be praised not criticised, they did the best they could for us, and everyone is safe," she wrote.
Wright also pointed out that the public should not blame AirAsia for the technical problems and opined that it (technical problems) happens all the time even on expensive flights.
"A technical problem like this could happen on any plane and cheaper flights are not to blame.
"The aircraft was checked thoroughly before departure like all planes are and was regulated by the same air safety organisations. People should not be criticising AirAsia for missing anything – technical problems happen all the time, even on more expensive flights," she added.
Yesterday, DAP member Datuk Zaid Ibrahim had criticised the pilot who had urged the passengers to pray during the incident, in a series of Twitter postings.
He had tweeted that the low-cost aircraft should not endorse such actions by the pilot.
Meanwhile, Wright's post has since garnered more than 7,000 shares on Facebook, receiving positive response from the public.
The D7237 flight, with 359 passengers on board, was forced to turn back one-and-a-half hours into the trip due to a technical issue.
The Airbus 330 that took off just before 7am (AWST) landed back in Perth approximately 10am and investigation into the cause of the incident is on-going.