A true nightmare at more than 10,000 meters high. This Wednesday night, a flight from Texas bound for Frankfurt, Germany, had to make an emergency landing, where at least seven people were injured. The plane, which took off from Austin, was flying over Tennessee when it experienced “severe turbulence,” according to people on board.
It was Lufthansa Flight 469, which experienced turbulence before leaving US airspace. In view of the circumstances, the pilot was forced to make the decision to deviate from the route and emergency landing at Dulles International Airport in Washington DCat 9.12 p.m.
According to FlightAware, the trip to Frankfurt should last, on average, between ten and ten and a half hours. On the contrary, the journey in the air was three hours and 18 minutes. On that same specialized website it was observed that it is a flight that Lufthansa carries out constantly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Through social networks, a user shared information about how the turbulence was experienced, since his wife was on that flight. In this sense, the woman told him that the violent movement of the plane occurred from one moment to the next and that most of the injured were not wearing seat belts, as stated New York Post.
“People who were not wearing seat belts were hurt primarily because the event was a surprise, and the seat belt sign did not come on”expressed the man through a message on his Twitter account.
According to the American newspaper, the turbulence occurred during dinner time, at which time the flight attendants distributed food and drinks to the passengers. However, the scene was even worse, with blood spattering down the corridors of the plane, a traveler had to go down in a wheelchair after being seriously injured.
In the photographs on Twitter, it was possible to see how trays, plates, glasses, aluminum foil covers and even some food were lying on the floor of the plane. In another of the images, from his seat, a passenger tried to lift some things from the ground. In another additional postcard taken from the plane’s restroom area, a stewardess -although with her back to the camera lens-, collected some waste with a bag in her hands.
For its part, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the incident and reported that it would launch an investigationin accordance with a statement obtained by a journalist from CBS News.
“Lufthansa Flight 469 diverted to Dulles International Airport and landed without incident at around 9:10 pm, after the crew reported severe turbulence at 11,000 meters above Tennessee. The Airbus 330 was flying from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany. The FAA will investigate the case,” part of the statement read.
THE NATION