WASHINGTON -- A Houston man aboard a Continental Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing in New Orleans on Tuesday said prior to takeoff he had a feeling the plane would crash. Luckily, it did not, but a sudden loss of cabin pressure provided a scare for him, as well as the seven members of Congress who were also aboard the plane.

Eric Treadway was one of 128 passengers aboard Continental Flight 458 that was en route from Houston to Washington. After about an hour delay due to “maintenance issues,” the flight eventually took off for Reagan National Airport. Less than an hour into the flight, the plane suddenly descended and was diverted to New Orleans, where it made an emergency landing.

Before getting on the flight, “I had a terrible feeling we were going to crash,” said Treadway. After putting that out of his mind, Treadway was fine until, “I felt the plane drop a bit and the (air) masks fell down.

“I was really scared.”

Treadway said the plane’s captain came on the loudspeaker to tell passengers everything would be OK. A few minutes later, he informed those aboard the plane was going to have to make an emergency landing.

Also onboard the flight were Texas Congressmen Ted Poe, Nick Lampson, Ron Paul, John Carter, Ciro Rodriguez, Solomon Ortiz and Henry Cuellar. Ironically, the seven U.S. representatives were headed back to D.C. for a vote on an aviation safety bill.

While the airline and the congressmen described the plane’s descent as gradual, Treadway described a steep nosedive.

Initially, a spokeswoman for one of the congressmen said the plane took a nosedive before being diverted to New Orleans. However, after 11 News first reported the incident, the U.S. representatives and their spokespeople were cautious not to use the term nosedive, and instead described the incident as “a sudden loss of cabin pressure.”

Treadway and the congressman alike had praise for the Continental crew, who were quick to act and make sure passengers were safe. Treadway said one flight attendant in particular went row by row, making sure passengers were all right.

“You’re thinking of everything, of course. You’re thinking of all the possibilities,” Poe told 11 News. “But the pilots did a great job of getting us down. And when we got down we saw all the fire trucks on the runway, just like in the movies.”

11 News photo

Eric Treadway

The FAA on Thursday began investigating what caused the plane to suddenly lose cabin pressure. The emergency landing was the third time in two days a plane was diverted over cabin pressure issues. A US Airways flight and a Northwest Airlines flight were diverted to airports in Kentucky and Wisconsin on Monday.

FAA spokesman Les Dorr said the agency routinely reviews such incidents and that it made no difference that seven national lawmakers were aboard.

The aircraft and its maintenance records are being reviewed to see “if there was any kind of possible correlation,” Dorr said. He said that there could have been a number of reasons why the plane made the emergency landing.

A Boeing spokeswoman said if the FAA or the airline requested information, the manufacturer would join in the probe.