The Hawaiian Airlines Flight X-Ray Trauma Injured in Severe Turbulence, with Twenty-Six Onboard Emergency Rooms

Thirty-six people on a Hawaiian Airlines flight were injured, with twenty of them going to emergency rooms after their plane encountered severe turbulence, authorities said.

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

Thirty-six people received treatment from Honolulu Emergency Medical Services, including people with nausea or minor injuries. He said that 19 people were taken to hospitals, with 11 of them being 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.

Snook said there was some internal damage to the aircraft during the turbulence. The sign on the car was on at the time of the accident and some of the injured weren’t wearing their seatbelts.

Thomas Vaughan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu, said there had been a weather advisory for thunderstorms that included Oahu and areas that would have included the flight path at the time of the incident.

A private jet that was diverted to Bradley Locks, Connecticut, on Friday. Investigation of the clear-air turbulence in A330-200

One of the most dangerous kinds of turbulence is what’s known as clear-air turbulence, which gives no visible warning and often occurs when pilots don’t have the fasten seatbelt sign turned 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 plane’s flight data recorder would provide those details, he said.

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. Air traffic controllers gave the flight priority to land.

He said the investigation will look at what measures were taken to make sure passengers were buckled in.

According to aviation officials, one person died on a private business plane that was diverted to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut on Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration told CNN that a plane was diverted to the Connecticut airport on Friday because of severe turbulence.

The private jet was carrying five people, including three passengers and two crew members. The conditions of the other people aren’t known.

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.

“Investigators have removed the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder and are continuing to gather information from the flight crew, operator and other passengers,” the NTSB wrote in its statement.

The Private Jet Involved in Friday’s Flying Death: Associated with a Turbulence-Driven Flight from New Hampshire to Virginia

Last week, seven people were taken to hospitals after turbulence aboard a Lufthansa flight traveling from Texas to Germany, an airport spokesperson said. A passenger said the plane moved like a roller coaster.

Injuries from turbulence are rare, to be sure. At flight cruising levels only a tiny percentage of the atmosphere has light turbulence, moderate turbulence or severe turbulence at any given time says Paul Williams, a professor of atmospheric science.

However, the private jet involved in Friday’s fatal incident is considered a Part 91 carrier, a general aviation category that includes a wide range of private planes, NTSB spokesperson Sarah Taylor Sulick told CNN.

Sara Nelson, a United flight attendant and the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, a union representing 50,000 flight attendants across 20 airlines, told CNN last year flight attendants pushing around 300-pound carts were most likely to get hurt.

The report found that crew members who are most injured when preparing the cabin for landing or cabin service are those who serve food or drinks.

“During dinner service, there suddenly was a wind shear, the plane increased altitude, then we fell 1,000 feet,” passenger Susan Zimmerman said. “It was like unexpectedly free-falling for five seconds off the top of a roller coaster, plates and glassware were up at the ceiling, and my purse from the floor flew behind me to the right.”

Serious injuries include those that require hospitalization for more than 48 hours and can include bones, muscles, organs or burns. The total number of injuries is under reported because airlines don’t have to report more minor injuries.

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 agency is still investigating what happened, but told the AP that turbulence-related deaths remain extremely rare.

Turbulence prone flights: What can you do if you’re going to a turbulent airplane? A research by Williams and the National Center for Atmospheric Research

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. By 2050, pilots around the world can expect to encounter at least twice as much severe clear-air turbulence, Williams found in his research.

“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.”

The best way to avoid injury on a turbulence prone flight is to follow all the instructions from the pilots and flight attendants and to wear your seatbelts.

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.