Londoner PROPOSED to girlfriend on board AirAsia plane which plummeted 20,000ft in minutes

A London lawyer proposed to his girlfriend when their plane began plummeting to the ground during a mid-air emergency.

Chris Jeanes, 27, was on an AirAsia flight to Bali when the plane suddenly lost pressure and dropped out of the sky.

As cabin crew screamed “emergency, brace, crash positions”, and with potentially only minutes to live, he decided to ask his 28-year-old girlfriend Casey Kinchella to marry him.

Mr Jeanes, from Highbury, said: “Luckily she said yes, we both reconfirmed with each other when we were on the ground.”

The couple had been in Perth for two weeks with Ms Kinchella’s family in Perth and were planning a couple of days in Bali before flying home.

The lawyer for American firm O’Melveny and Myers had already planned to propose on the Indonesian volcanic tropical island.

But on their way to Bali, the Air Asia Airbus A320 started experiencing difficulties.

It is understood to have lost over 20,000ft in a matter of minutes due to a technical fault last Sunday.

Terrified passengers were weeping and in hysterics as cabin crew shouted out unintelligible instructions in Thai.

Mr Jeanes had spent a few months planning the proposal, but was forced into action early as the couple feared for their lives.

Pulling off his oxygen mask, he asked his terrified girlfriend if she would marry him - and she said “yes”.

A source said: “When they were on the ground, she asked him if he still meant it, and he said yes. He then asked her if she still wanted to go through with it - and she did.

“At some point, no doubt, it will fade into anecdote but at the moment it is still a very raw experience.”

The on-board terror is understood to have lasted around half an hour.

One traveller said: “No-one told us anything. We thought the plane was going to be ripped apart at any second.

“Everyone thought ‘This is it’. People were shouting ‘I don’t want to die’..it was chaos.”

Passenger Glenyce Regan said: “I thought we were gone. I really thought we were gone, my life flashed in front of me.

“I instantly grabbed my rosary beads and put them around my neck.”

Another passenger called Leah told 9News: “I actually picked up my phone and sent a text message to my family, just hoping that they would get it.

“We were all pretty much saying goodbye to each other. It was really upsetting.”

In a statement Air Asia said: “The safety of our guests is our utmost priority.

“Air Asia Indonesia apologises for any inconvenience caused.”

It comes just four months after another Air Asia flight was reportedly forced to return to Perth following an engine failure.

FlightRadar24, a live air tracking service, says the aircraft lost two thirds of its altitude in just nine minutes.