Turbulence Launches Passenger Above an Overhead Bin, No Really
Passengers on a recent flight from Spain to Uruguay were violently thrown around the airplane.
We already know that airplane turbulence is getting worse. And while you can try to plan for turbulence as much as possible, sometimes all you can do is grip the handles of seats hard and hope that the seat belt holds. And the importance of using the plane's seatbelts can't be overstated—just look at a recent flight from Madrid, Spain to Montevideo, Uruguay. The Air Europa flight encountered strong turbulence.
Videos captured the incident, in which over 30 passengers on the flight were injured. The plane was a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. All of the videos look terrifying, but one was particularly frightening. It showed one passenger being removed from an overhead bin, where he was seemingly launched while the plane was being tossed around.
So, how did this happen? Did it actually happen? Can air turbulence be so bad that you actually can be launched into an overhead compartment? Well, maybe not inside of an overhead bin that's closed. But as the video demonstrates, you can be launched on top of the bin, between the compartment and the aircraft's ceiling.
In a statement from AirEuropa (translated from Spanish), the airline kept the details sparse about the incident: "Our flight UX045 bound for Montevideo has been diverted to Natal airport (Brazil) due to strong turbulence. The plane has landed normally and the minor injuries that were reported are already being treated," the statement on X read.
One passenger reported to Teledoce, a Uruguayan news publication, that people were up and walking around and moving before the plane suddenly dropped in the sky, throwing people in the plane in every direction.
Another passenger, Romina Apai, claimed she was sitting beside the person thrown into the baggage compartment. "The person who was next to me flew and was stuck on top of the compartment," Apai told Teledoce. At the moment the plane stabilized, people fell, and that's when the disaster occurred. They fell on top of the seats, on top of people," Apai added.
This is the latest incident in which extreme turbulence and sudden altitude drops have injured passengers. On a recent flight from London to Singapore, one 73-year-old man died, and seven other passengers were in critical condition. While there's no way to truly avoid turbulence, it is important to stay vigilant by wearing your seatbelt as much as possible throughout the flight.
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