Twenty-five people were taken to hospital after an Amsterdam-bound Delta flight from Salt Lake City hit 'significant' turbulence. Photo / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Twenty-five people were taken to hospital after an Amsterdam-bound Delta flight from Salt Lake City hit 'significant' turbulence. Photo / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Twenty-five people were taken to hospitals after an Amsterdam-bound Delta flight from Salt Lake City hit “significant” turbulence and diverted to Minneapolis.
It wasn’t clear on Thursday morning (local time) how serious the injuries were. Delta did not answer questions about whether the injured passengers were wearing seat belts whenthe Airbus A330 encountered rough air over Wyoming or what was happening on the plane at the time.
At noon Thursday, the airline said in a statement that the seven crew members who had been taken to hospitals had been treated and released by the morning.
“All customers who were evaluated at the hospital and willing to share their status with Delta have also been released,” the statement said.
Delta Air Lines flight #DL56 from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam experienced “significant turbulence” and diverted to Minneapolis. Delta says 25 people on board were taken to local hospitals. https://t.co/6steCqXXYTpic.twitter.com/awql7kVqhA
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating; an FAA statement says the Delta crew reported “severe turbulence”. Delta said it was also co-operating with an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Flight 56 took off from Salt Lake City at 4.45pm, according to flight-tracking site FlightRadar24. Less than an hour later, after reaching an altitude of 37,000 feet, the plane ran into turbulence. According to analysis from the site, it reached a maximum altitude of about 38,000ft before dropping to an altitude as low as 35,775ft over about the next minute-and-a-half.
25 people onboard Delta flight 56 were taken to hospital after the flight experienced what the airline is calling “significant turbulence” and diverted to Minneapolis. Details and data: https://t.co/MXMV7CHQl8pic.twitter.com/4WZ9ccRusZ
The plane landed safely at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport roughly two hours after it took off. The airport’s fire department and paramedics responded to the gate “to provide initial medical attention to passengers in need”, Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Jeff Lea said in an email.
Delta said it would operate a dedicated flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on Thursday night so travellers could continue their trip. The plane was carrying 13 crew members and 275 passengers.
The FAA does not track general reports of turbulence, but it does compile information on some injuries. Last year, 23 people – most of them crew members – suffered serious injuries because of turbulence, the highest number of any year provided in the data.
Hannah Sampson is a staff writer at The Washington Post for By The Way, where she reports on travel news.
