The "loops" were most probably circles made horizontally whilst dumping excess fuel, rather than vertical loops as in aerobatics. Probably badly written or translated from the original Thai.
As for panicking, the cockpit or under its more "polite" designation, the flight deck is where the aircrew fly the aircraft from and where all the controls and alarms are situated.
The flight crew monitor them and are trained in emergency responses. As none of them have parachutes and aircraft generally (when they do) crash nose first, it is in the pilots own self interest and that of the passengers to land it as quickly and safely as possible, which is what they did.
They must have made a "Pan" call indicating a problem that they were dealing with rather than a "Mayday" which usually start with Christian aircrews say ing "Our Father....." or Oh (deleted).
Unless there were any currently qualified aircrew on board just leave it to the driver and his mate to sort out, and DON"T PANIC.