Before a Hawaiian Airlines aircraft last month encountered significant turmoil, and 25 passengers were hurt, a cloud rose vertically like a plume of smoke in a couple of seconds, according to a preliminary assessment released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
According to the report, the flight pilot from Phoenix to Honolulu on December 18 told investigators that the skies were clear and the plane was flying smoothly until a cloud suddenly appeared in front of it, leaving no time to alter course.
He warned the chief flight attendant that there might be turbulence by phone. According to the report, the plane “encountered extreme turbulence” within one to three seconds.
The lead flight attendant informed the crew shortly after that there were numerous injuries in the cabin.
25 of the 291 passengers and crew members on board were hurt, the report states, with four passengers and two crew members suffering severe injuries. The plane incurred little damage.
One of the passengers brought to a hospital, Tiffany Reyes, claimed the next day that she had just returned from the bathroom and was about to fasten her seatbelt when the plane dropped.
Reyes claimed that she was lying on the aisle floor in a split second and looked up at collapsed ceiling panels and a hanging, damaged bathroom sign.
“I enquired of everyone nearby, “Was that me? Reyes remarked.
“They stated I had flown into the ceiling and slammed into the ground.”
Reyes claimed that because she had never experienced anything so violent on a trip, she immediately believed that something had hit the plane and that it was about to crash.
She also claimed that she temporarily thought that they were going to perish.
Reyes declared that it was the most horrifying event she had ever had in her 40 years of life.
Such turbulence is exceptional, according to Hawaiian Airlines Chief Operating Officer Jon Snook, who noted that the airline had not recently encountered anything like this.
Even though some of the injured weren’t wearing seatbelts then, he claimed the fasten seatbelts sign he was on.
According to the report, it occurred around 40 minutes before arriving in Honolulu.
The report contains factual data but no indication of probable cause.
The final information, which could take a year or two to complete, usually includes it.
Due to the ongoing NTSB investigation, an airline spokeswoman declined to respond to questions regarding the article on Friday.
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