Geoff Boyle
Here's an interesting piece of info that may supplement another thread that has just been posted. Experiencing moderate turbulence in-flight isn't uncommon, though airline accidents and injuries resulting from severe turbulence are pretty rare. Especially back to back incidents within a 5-day time frame.
- On February 23, an American Airlines flight approaching LAX experienced severe turbulence. The aircraft involved allegedly had to make an emergency decent due to light damage resulting from the turbulence. The plane landed safely.
- On February 27, a Virgin Atlantic flight VS043 encountered severe turbulence on route from Gatwick to Las Vegas. Apparently one of the stewardesses started screaming "We're going to crash!" which freaked out some of the passengers. One man reportedly hit his head on a luggage bin. A couple of other passengers happened to be in the lavatories at the time and ended up being stuck there for a while.
- On February 28, an hour out of Honolulu, JALways flight 71 encountered severe turbulence on route to Tokyo. Unfortunately, the passengers weren't wearing their seat belts at the time. Two passengers suffered minor injuries and were treated in Japan after the plane landed.
I guess these events have to do with the unusually strong winds in the atmosphere.
More can be found here:
http://stormtrack.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10319
- On February 23, an American Airlines flight approaching LAX experienced severe turbulence. The aircraft involved allegedly had to make an emergency decent due to light damage resulting from the turbulence. The plane landed safely.
- On February 27, a Virgin Atlantic flight VS043 encountered severe turbulence on route from Gatwick to Las Vegas. Apparently one of the stewardesses started screaming "We're going to crash!" which freaked out some of the passengers. One man reportedly hit his head on a luggage bin. A couple of other passengers happened to be in the lavatories at the time and ended up being stuck there for a while.
- On February 28, an hour out of Honolulu, JALways flight 71 encountered severe turbulence on route to Tokyo. Unfortunately, the passengers weren't wearing their seat belts at the time. Two passengers suffered minor injuries and were treated in Japan after the plane landed.
I guess these events have to do with the unusually strong winds in the atmosphere.
More can be found here:
http://stormtrack.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10319