Incident on VA20 This morning

[Kieran Wells]

Just seen it headline Channel 9 morning news, and now found it on news.com.au. VH-VPH was the plane involved.
From: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/ambulance-crews-on-way-to-airport-to-treat-turbulence-related-injuries/story-e6frfq80-1225997833759


A MOTHER-of-three was forced to hold her children down in their seats to stop them flying around the cabin of a Melbourne- bound V Australia flight when it hit turbulence.

Ambulance crews were called to attend the arrival of flight VA20 fro Phuket in Thailand as it landed at Tullamarine at 7.40am, with a number of passengers suffering injuries.

Michelle Baghdassarian, who was travelling with her three small children, said it was the scariest flight she had been on.

"They may try and say it was turbulence but something was wrong," Ms Baghdassarian said.

"We weren't just going down. The plane was nosediving."

Ms Baghdassarian said she was forced to hold her children in their seats to stop them flying out.

"My daughter said: 'are we landing now mummy', that's what it felt like."

Ms Baghdassarian's father, Garo, said passengers were held on the plane for about 20 minutes while medical checks were carried out onboard.

Passenger Shelley Read said the horror turbulence struck about two hours into the flight.

She said stewards were serving food when one thrown about one foot into the air.

"The trolleys fell on top of the air host, he was pouring my drink and it went everywhere," she said.

"The plane was covered with food. I started thinking had a volcano erupted. It was scary for a minute and then it calmed down.

"I was a little tense for the rest of the flight but luckily it was quite smooth."

Ms Read said at the time of the turbulence the seatbelt sign was turned off so many passengers were caught by surprise.

She said the cabin crew remained seated for about 45 minutes and then normal services resumed.

"I don't want to go through anything like that again," she said.

Ms Read, who was travelling with partner Graeme Ogden, said she was glad the two had landed safely but the experience wouldn't deter her from flying again.

Paramedic team manager Jerome Peyton said a combination of food poisoning and turbulence made some passengers unwell.

"One passenger was suffering food poisoning and was vomiting as a result," Mr Peyton said.

"Others nearby also began to feel ill.

"At about the same time there was reportedly some turbulence experienced during the flight.

"Two flight crew suffered minor injuries as a result. We are told one struck their head, the other fell over and an airline trolley landed on them."

Arriving passengers reported cabin crew members hitting the floor amid screams and flying crockery as turbulence hit.

Ambulance spokesman Paul Bentley said paramedics are still assessing passengers and crew but nobody has yet required hospital treatment.

V Australia spokesman Colin Lippiatt said the flight had experienced "moderate turbulence" north of Jakarta and that a number of people had received "minor" injuries.

[Matt_L]

"We weren't just going down. The plane was nosediving"

Right- so a passenger in the cabin with no idea of flying- can make a comment like that without having an AH or Altimeter in their view.. Incredible.

[Jack B]

I know right? Sounds like severe clear air turbulence, nothing more.

Which reg was the aircraft on the flight?

[Nigel C]

Re-read the very first line of the first post Jack...there's a hint there ;)

[Jayden Laing]

"They may try and say it was turbulence but something was wrong," Ms Baghdassarian said.


What a load of s**t. Someone obviously hasn't flown before & experienced turbulence or even flown in a turboprop.:D

[Dave Dale]

Just seen it headline Channel 9 morning news, and now found it on news.com.au. VH-VPH was the plane involved.
From: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/ambulance-crews-on-way-to-airport-to-treat-turbulence-related-injuries/story-e6frfq80-1225997833759

"We weren't just going down. The plane was nosediving."



Sounds like those old war movies... :D

[steve k]

what a classic, FOOD POISONING!!! yeah right, try motion sickness, might be closer to reality. Food poisoning is extremely rare in the Airline Catering Game, I know the stringent regime having come from the industry, what other crap comments can they come up with to glorify a severe turbulence issue!!???

[Andrew P]

good to see the Virgin lovers are out in force

[Dan Collins]

"They may try and say it was turbulence but something was wrong," Ms Baghdassarian said.


That has to be the most obnoxious line to come from a passenger who was obviously more involved with holding down her three children than knowing what was happening in the cockpit. I'd assume she would've had an aisle seat if she had to look after all those, and possibly sitting in the middle of the aircraft with a very limited view outside!

At least it wasn't a Qantas plane this time! :D

Dan

[Kelvin R]

Perhaps CASA should legislate that seatbelts must be loosely fastened at all times PAX are seated? I would hate for AU based airlines to start getting like US airlines who leave the seatbelt sign on all the time just in case of turbulance.

[Jayden Laing]

Most pilots & cabin crew do advise that pax should have their seatbelts loosely fastened.

[Sarah C]

Kelvin - you can't legisilate against stupidity. A basic safety rule is repeatly said to passengers and it is said on every single flight. If people choose to ignore it, they are taking a risk. The only people I feel sympathy for are those who were standing up at the time.

[Brock Little]

A comment on the article...

I hear they do offshore maintenance on their aircraft. Mmmmm....I wonder if thats got anything to do with this? And whats Qantas got to say for themselves? Surely they had an aircraft in the area, and why haven't we seen reports of Qantas passengers being injured? Is it a cover up? Quite possibly I suspect, Qantas does do maintenance offshore I hear. Mmmmmm. Its good to stay informed on these matters, I always read the newspaper and feel it's only appropriate that I comment on these matters. After all, I do read the newspaper.

:rolleyes:

[Daniel M]

good to see the Virgin lovers are out in force

VA CAT occurrence, or QF uncontained engine failure with holes in the wing and the aircraft close to a write off?

I know which airline I'd rather be on...

[Jack B]

Obviously it's usually the Cabin Crew who come worst off in these turbulence events - such as the crew member on QF72 who had to have spinal surgery after hitting the ceiling and falling on a bar cart in the rear galley.

[Geoff W]

Sarah, Jayden.

Bingo, spot on, every pax knows better than the advice given.

I am tough, I know better than THEM attitude doesnt work all the time...

No point in sooking then.

The cabin crew would have had no chance.

Kind regards,

Geoff

[Owen H]

I do love the way this is written off by people - 4 cabin crew injured, 4 pax injured, and galley carts being airborne. Thats a fair few to hurt given that everyone was seated for the meal service at the time.

Is it V Oz's fault? Of course not.

Cabin Crew here know just how much those carts weigh - to get them airborne is no mean feat. To have one land on you... even just your foot... ouch. To need an ambulance to meet people after first aid - I'm sure it hurt!

Also - I wonder how many here have actually been through bad moderate or severe turbulence. Once you have... and I mean REAL severe turbulence, not the unpleasant bumps people usually call severe - you'd understand how petrified many of these passengers would have been. It is not pleasant at all, even for the pilots... let alone the poor passengers far down the back with no idea what is going on. The pitch manoeuvres can, and do seem very sharp - and it can feel like the aircraft has just stopped flying and is sinking. It isn't, of course - but it sure does feel like it.

SteveK - Not sure what the news you saw said, but the one I was watching explained that a passenger was suffering food poisoning before the turbulence - which means it would have been from something prior to getting on the aircraft. They certainly didn't blame the airline. The point was that it was a bit of a case of "one out all out"... a common thing when someone starts puking unfortuantely... in the context of how unpleasant it was in the cabin for the remainder of the flight. I dont' think I would have wanted to be in that cabin somehow... food, drinks, people and vomit everywhere.... ewwwwwww :D

All in all - overreported - probably. But don't underestimate just how scary these things can be for the poor people on board who don't understand what is happening.

[Anthony T]

If was all that serious the aircraft would have diverted to Jakarta, Denpasar or Darwin, as it was it continued to Melbourne, so can't have been that bad.

I had a similar event a few years ago on a United 747 midway across the Pacific in the dead of night, the seat belt sign came on and announcement was made that all passengers and crew should be seated in the first available seat, a few people didn't get to a seat and were tossed about, falling on other passengers, Me, I was trying to keep my Gin & Tonic either in the glass or my mouth. :p

[Adam J]

Owen H

Finally a voice of reason.

I get so angry at every keyboard hero that continually diminishes and ridicules passengers who were just plain bloody scared. I have mentioned on a previous post that I was a passenger on an aircraft that had a rapid decompression and air masks dropping followed by what felt like a steep dive. It was bloody scary and if a reporter had of stuck a microphone in my face when we landed, I would of told them without hesitation " yes i was bloody scared and yes i thought i was going to die".

As Owen has pointed out severe turbulence is not all that common and from what I understand from an airline pilot neighbour of mine is physically dangerous (even when belted in) and just plain frightening.

Owen, am I correct in remembering you are an airline pilot?

No excuses for passengers not wearing seatbelts at all times, but fair go if the punter on board descibes how he or she felt during the incident, so what. Rest assured 99% of passengers aren't plane enthusiasts,spotters or whatever else. Something scary and or unusual happened on their flight and they were scared. Leave them alone.

[Joe Frampton]

What... It wasn't Qantas? :eek:

[Robert S]

Most pilots & cabin crew do advise that pax should have their seatbelts loosely fastened.

It's also in the safety video... "We recommend that you fasten your seatbelt whenever you are seated" and I'm pretty sure it is reinforced by a PA when the sign is switched off.

It's a bit unclear at the moment if the sign was on or off at the time... there seems to be differing reports about that.

Just a general comment - as per the last few posts, yep, it was clearly bad enough to be genuinely terrifying to some pax, but that doesn't mean the media should not be slightly more responsible in their reporting.

This said some media is worse than others. The SMH article isn't too bad and the accompanying video provides some measure to the pax reactions.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/it-was-mayhem-injuries-as-turbulence-strikes-v-australia-flight-20110201-1abgd.html

The ABC article is also fairly moderate:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/01/3126404.htm

The News Limited article in the original post is clearly ludicrous by comparison... it just takes the most hysterical response and goes with that one alone, including her uninformed conclusions.

[Zac M]

I have experienced what I would class as major turbulence before and it is very scary. It was unexpected and two people were injured.

About two hours into the flight JO772 over Yap Island we experienced severe thankfully just after the service trolleys had been locked back into the galley. One man hit his head in the toilet when the plane suddenly dropped and one of my teachers (one I don't like :)) was struck on the head by a suitcase falling out of an overhead locker that wasn't secured properly, thankfully almost everyone was in their seats including the crew however there was no warning from the flight deck.

Since then I pretty much freak out at the slightest hint of turbulence (now starting to get over this), I will certainly never forget that flight.

I can see in this story how the pax would have been scared however I do believe that the media sensationalize things a lot, at least this shows that they don't only report the Qantas dramas!