Twelve people were hospitalised on a flight from New York due to severe turbulence on EgyptAir.
The aircraft was carrying 268 passengers when, a few hours into the journey, the plane was violently rocked from side to side.
Ten passengers were injured as a result, as well as two members of cabin crew.
The EgyptAir flight from New York to Cairo was rocked by severe turbulence a few hours into the journey
The pilot took the decision to continue on to the final destination of Cairo, where the plane landed safely.
The company confirmed the 12 people were
taken to hospital once the plane had landed, and that they received
‘superficial injuries’.
Egyptian Streets reports that the
Minister of Civil Aviation, Hossam Kamal, ‘personally traveled to the
airport to ensure injured passengers received due treatment.’
The news-site described the incident as ‘severe air turbulence.’
Once landed, the injured passengers and staff were met by concerned senior officials of EgyptAir
The Boeing 777-300ER was also met by the chairman of EgyptAir Holding Company and a host of other senior aviation officials.
An inspection of the aircraft once parked up reported no damage from the incident.
Earlier this month terrified passengers
were thrown from their seats when a domestic flight was rocked by severe
turbulence in the skies over China.
The Hainan Airlines plane began to shake
violently as it approached China’s largest airport, leaving 30 people,
including crew, ‘covered in blood’, bumps or bruises, said passengers.
The turbulence was so severe that
passengers were thrown into the ceiling or neighbouring rows, and
ceiling panels within the cabin cracked or popped loose as the flight
descended into chaos.
Passengers said the mid-air drama
unfolded as flight HU7148 was nearing the end of its two-hour journey
from Chengdu to Beijing Capital International Airport.
The plane was taken on a bumpy ride as it descended and reached an altitude of 14,000ft.
A passenger named Lin told China.org.cn that many on board were not wearing their seatbelts and were tossed around the cabin.
HOW DANGEROUS IS TURBULENCE?
Talking about what happens to the aircraft during an episode of turbulence, Patrick Smith, an active airline pilot and author said: ‘During turbulence, the pilots are not fighting the controls.‘Planes are designed with what we call positive stability, meaning that when nudged from their original point in space, by their nature they wish to return there.‘The best way of handling rough air is to effectively ride it out, hands-off. (Some autopilots have a turbulence mode that desensitizes the system, to avoid over-controlling.)‘It can be uncomfortable, but the jet is not going to flip upside down.’‘For what it’s worth, thinking back over the whole history of modern commercial aviation, I cannot recall a single jetliner crash caused by turbulence, strictly speaking.‘Airplanes are engineered to withstand an extreme amount of stress, and the amount of turbulence required to, for instance, tear off a wing, is far beyond anything you’ll ever experience.’
