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.
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.
