Let’s skip to the punchline: 25 passengers were taken to the hospital. This is not a Hollywood thriller—it really happened, onboard a Delta flight that experienced significant turbulence that caused some serious problems- food trays flew, passengers screamed and the plane rapidly dropped altitude.
It Was Supposed to Be a Typical Flight to Amsterdam
So far, so good, but smooth skies? Not really. About 90 minutes later, the calm quickly turned into chaos- or that is what passenger Joseph Carbone told Fox Salt Lake City.
Carbone described the chaos like this- the first jolt was sudden. One minute, he was eating his meal. The next, flight attendants were tumbling about, trays were flying and passengers clutched armrests with disbelief.
Free-fall? Maybe not that drastic
Flightradar24 tracking data showed the Airbus A330-900 flight dropped quickly non-stop from over 38,000 feet to a low of around 35,775 feet in a time span of about 90 seconds. This is not your typical descent but more like a unwanted roller coaster ride.
Turbulence as you can image did not stop there, Carbone said there were at least two more strong jolts and each was worse than the last.
A Rapid Decision and a Rapid Land
The captain acted promptly. He diverted flight operations to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. Medical teams were already staged at the airport when the aircraft touched down.
It could have been worse for the passengers, as there were 275 passengers and 13 crew members on board, however, 25 passengers did have to be hospitalized. According to airport spokesman Jeff Lea, emergency personnel took care of the injured passengers and then escorted the passengers off of the airplane. Lea stated passenger injuries went from minor injuries to more serious injuries.
So, What Happened?
The type of turbulence is still being reviewed. Delta has yet to confirm if the plane encountered clear air turbulence, potential jet stream issues or something completely different.
We are working directly with passengers through our Care Team to support them.”
Not the Only Occurrence This Week
This harrowing flight follows a number of recent aviation-related events around the world. While flying is still one of the safest modalities of travel, wild and extreme events like this remind us that Mother Nature decides when she will follow the flight plan.
One Flight Sky’s Lesson
Turbulence is not just an inconvenient bump in your soda, it can be immediate, violent and dangerous. While crews complete extensive training and practice when confronted with these days, fatigue, experience level and many other factors can affect the proficiency of our crews. After all, they aren’t always the ones that pilot the turbulence. The instructors of this incident were flying, for essentially, the longest segment of their careers. Remember – buckle up signs are there for a reason! This experience made that very clear.
