The National Transportation Safety Board released new details this week illustrating how a Delta Air Lines flight bound for Europe experienced turbulence strong enough to force an emergency landing and send about two dozen people to the hospital, despite the pilots’ having tried to avoid inclement weather.
Delta’s Flight 56, an Airbus A330 en route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, had been in the air for about two hours on July 30 when the plane began to pitch and roll while climbing and descending repeatedly and rapidly, according to an interim report from the board. It has yet to determine what caused the incident. The turbulence, during which the report said passengers would have experienced up to nearly twice the force of gravity, was so violent that passengers and beverage carts were thrown around the cabin and into the ceiling, one passenger previously told ABC News.
The N.T.S.B. report, released late Tuesday, suggests that while the pilots had been on the lookout for bad weather, the incident caught them off guard. The pilots had turned off the seatbelt sign after flying the plane through some moderate turbulence. It does not appear that they turned it back on when they noticed a pocket of bad weather near Creston, Wyo., which they asked air traffic control for permission to fly around, to the right.
Instead, the controller suggested they steer clear to the left, a suggestion the pilots accepted, figuring that course would keep them above any problems. But the turn appears to have sent them straight into the worst part of a storm, according to radar images in the board’s report.
As the plane flew through the danger zone, it experienced what the board called an “overspeed event” — meaning it was flying about 15 to 20 knots faster than its maximum operating speed. The plane also encountered an updraft, and the autopilot disengaged. Over the next two and a half minutes, the report stated, the plane rapidly climbed and descended about three times, as the first officer, who was flying the plane, attempted to regain control.
The crew decided to make an emergency landing at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after assessing the injuries on the plane, a task in which they were helped by a passenger who happened to be a physician assistant. Once on the ground, 24 of the 246 passengers on board were evaluated by emergency medical personnel, and 18 of them were taken to the hospital, according to the report. (An earlier statement by Delta had given the number of passengers as 275.) Two members of the 10-person cabin crew also sustained serious injuries, while five had minor ones. None of the three pilots were injured.
Karoun Demirjian is a breaking news reporter for The Times.
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