At least 22 customers and two crew members were taken to a hospital for evaluation after a JetBlue flight experienced rough turbulence Thursday evening, a spokeswoman for the airline said.
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Passengers flew out of their seats, with several of them hitting their heads into the ceiling and overhead compartments as the plane dropped violently. In an email to the Globe, Dr. Alan H. Lee, an orthopedic surgeon on Flight 429, said his laptop almost hit the ceiling when the turbulence caused a sudden drop in altitude. She said at one point, she thought she was going to die.
“People were floating”, Rhonda Lynam, a passenger from Pebble Beach, Calif., told ABC News.
Dozens of passengers have been hospitalised after severe turbulence hit a domestic flight in the US. “It was dropping 25, 50 storeys, like an out of control elevator”.
In a statement, JetBlue said: ‘The flight diverted to Rapid City, South Dakota, and arrived safely at the gate at approximately 7:30 p.m. local time.
This item has been corrected to show that the plane was carrying 146 passengers, not 145.
Derek Lindahl told CNN that he saw a woman who wasn’t wearing a seat belt rise two feet out of her seat.
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The remaining passengers are expected to be flown in on a replacement aircraft. JetBlue said 122 of the passengers completed their trip Friday morning, landing in Sacramento more than seven hours after their scheduled arrival.
