A passenger dies after severe turbulence on a private jet

The Injuries of 11 Hawaiian Airlines Passengers During a Severe Turbulence Driven Flight from Phoenix to Honolulu

HONOLULU — Severe turbulence rocked a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu Sunday, seriously injuring 11 people in what an Hawaiian Airlines official called an isolated and unusual event.

Jon Snook, the airline’s chief operating officer, said that the airline hasn’t experienced an incident like this in recent history. The flight was full, carrying 278 passengers and 10 crew members, he said during an afternoon news conference.

Jim Ireland, director of Honolulu Emergency Medical Services, said 36 people received treatment, including those with nausea or minor injuries. He said 20 people were taken to hospitals, including 11 people deemed to be in serious condition.

“We are also very happy and we feel fortunate that there were not any deaths or other critical injuries. And we’re also very hopeful that all will recover and make a full recovery,” Ireland said.

Passenger Kaylee Reyes told Hawaii News Now that her mother had just sat down when the turbulence hit and did not have a chance to buckle her safety belt.

A report by the National Transportation Safety Board said that the majority of passengers who were injured in turbulence weren’t wearing their seatbelts because they were walking up or down the aisle. People can get injured when bags fall out of overhead bins, people can be thrown into seats or eaten by food carts, or if they hit the head.

An Airbus A330-200 Pilot Killed in Turbulent Severe Turbulence on a Business Jet at the Bradley International Airport

There had been a weather advisory for severe storms that included Oahu and areas that would include the flight path at the time of the incident.

One of the most dangerous types of turbulence is what is known as “clear-air turbulence”, where you don’t see a warning and it happens when pilots don’t have a seatbelt sign on.

He didn’t know how much altitude the plane lost during the turbulence, saying that would be part of an investigation involving the National Transportation Safety Board. The details from the flight data recorder would be provided.

The Airbus A330-200 began its descent immediately after the turbulence and crew declared an emergency due to the number of injuries on board, he said. The flight was given priority to land.

The investigation will examine what other measures were taken, aside from turning on the fasten seatbelt sign, to ensure passengers were buckled in, he said.

aviation officials said one person died due to the turbulence on the private business jet that made an emergency landing at the Bradley International Airport.

A Bombardier CL30 jet departing from Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene, New Hampshire, heading to Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia was diverted to the Connecticut airport around 4 p.m. on Friday after “encountering severe turbulence,” the Federal Aviation Administration wrote in a statement to CNN.

Private Jet Safety Equipment and Turbulence on a Part 91 Carrier: A Fatal Airborne Event on Friday in Washington Dulles

The passengers and crew on the private jet were all wearing safety gear according to the statement to CNN. There are no facts on the conditions of other people.

The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was to conduct an autopsy Saturday on the passenger who died, a spokesperson told CNN. The person who died has not been publicly identified and no other information has been provided about them.

The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have been taken away by investigators, according to the statement from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Turbulence is the term for air movement that can give an airplane a sudden jolt and can be particularly dangerous to people not wearing a seat belt, according to the FAA.

To be sure, injuries from turbulence are rare. At cruising altitudes, only 3% of the atmosphere has light turbulence, 1% has moderate turbulence, and a few tenths of a percent have severe turbulence at any given time.

The private jet involved in Friday’s fatal incident is classified as a Part 91 carrier, which is an aviation category that includes a wide range of private planes.

Flight attendants pushing 300-pound carts were the most vulnerable to injury, according to Sara Nelson, the Association of Flight Attendants president and a United flight attendant.

The flight attendants who were thrown into the ceiling have broken limbs. She said there were people in the aisle who lost their toes or got injured and couldn’t work who had been off work for years.

There was clear-air turbulence that caused a Lufthansa flight from Texas to Germany to drop 1,000 feet. The sudden turbulence occurred during meal service, when crew and passengers were moving around the cabin. The plane was diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport, and seven people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The FAA defines serious injuries as those that require hospitalization for more than 48 hours, or result in fractured bones, severe muscle or tendon damage, harm to internal organs or second- or third-degree burns. Airlines don’t have to report more minor injuries because the total number of injuries is under reported.

The NTSB has not said whether the passenger who died on a business jet flight from New Hampshire to Virginia on Friday was wearing a seatbelt. The AP was told that deaths related to turbulence are extremely rare.

The Turbulence of Flight: How to Avoid Getting Isolated in the Presence of More Winds and More Instability

Climate change is causing more instability in the jet streams and making wind speeds faster, which will cause more turbulence when the skies appear clear. Williams’ research shows that by 2050 pilots can expect to see at least twice as much severe turbulence.

“It’s completely invisible to the naked eye, to the radar, to satellites,” Williams, the weather researcher, says. “The only information we have about it, really, is when a plane goes through it.”

Regardless of what kind of turbulence a flight may be experiencing, experts say the best thing for passengers to do to avoid injury is to keep their seatbelts buckled, follow carry-on restrictions and listen to instructions from pilots and flight attendants.

In all, about 65,000 flights encounter moderate turbulence every year, and about 5,500 encounter severe turbulence, according to the National Center for Atmospheric Research.