Hawaiian Airlines flight hits extreme turbulence; 7 injured

HONOLULU — A Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to Sydney hit extreme turbulence, injuring seven folks on board.

The airplane was carrying 163 passengers and 12 crew members on Thursday when it “encountered unexpected severe turbulence approximately five hours into the flight,” stated an announcement from the airline.

“The plane just dropped,” passenger Sultan Baskonyali advised ABC News. “We weren’t prepared.”

She described one man going upward, hitting his head on the ceiling and dropping again down.

Airport medics assessed and launched three injured passengers when the flight landed in Sydney, the airline stated. One passenger and three flight attendants have been referred to hospitals for analysis. The flights attendants have since been launched, the airline stated Monday, however added that it was ready to listen to from the passenger.

“I haven’t heard from the airline at all even though both my children who were on the flight sustained minor injuries,” one other passenger, Tara Goodall, advised The Associated Press Monday.

They have been returning dwelling to Sydney after visiting Hawaii — the primary abroad journey for her two sons. It was troublesome, she stated in textual content messages, “seeing your kids being thrown around the plane cabin” and being unable to make them really feel secure.

She stated she wasn’t but prepared to debate the turbulence in additional element as a result of she was nonetheless upset and emotional about it.

“Our immediate priority is to continue to care for our passengers and crew affected by this turbulence events, and we thank Sydney airport first responders for their swift assistance,” the airline stated.

Last 12 months, extreme turbulence injured 25 folks on board a Hawaiian Airlines flight. Four passengers and two crew members have been significantly damage. The airplane sustained minor harm.

The captain of the Dec. 18 flight from Phoenix to Honolulu advised investigators that situations have been clean with clear skies when a cloud shot up in entrance of the airplane, and that there was no time to vary course, in response to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Hawaiian Airlines Chief Operating Officer Jon Snook stated on the time that such turbulence is uncommon, noting that the airline had not skilled something prefer it in current historical past. The signal to lock seat belts was on on the time, although a number of the folks injured weren’t carrying them, he stated.