Seven injured on Qantas after turbulence

[Greg McDonald]

From NEWS.COM.AU:

Seven people have been injured after a Qantas plane hit severe turbulence on a flight from Hong Kong to Perth.

Qantas corporate affairs manager David Epstein said the Airbus A330 hit the turbulence over Borneo, about four hours from Hong Kong.

"About four hours out of Hong Kong while it was flying over Borneo, it hit some very severe turbulence which the captain unfortunately didn't get a lot of notice about and as a result six passengers and one crew member sustained minor injuries," Mr Epstein told Fairfax Radio.

"Fortunately they were able to be treated on board and after receiving medical advice from our service provider ... the captain made the decision to fly on to Perth."

Mr Epstein said the plane carrying more than 200 passengers and 13 crew was operating normally.

He said there was nothing to link the incident to the aircraft type.

"It was a severe meteorological incident," Mr Epstein said.

Minor damage to two overhead panels in the cabin was also sustained in the incident and two oxygen masks were dislodged.

One of the 206 passengers on the plane, John said there was a loud bang followed by a sudden drop in altitude.

"As the plane was flying we got the normal turbulence but what happened this time was a sudden drop in altitude," he told Fairfax Radio.

"I was sitting at the exit door and I had this lady, (who) was waiting at the restroom and she flew up and hit the ceiling and came crashing down to the floor," he said.

"It was just a matter of a few seconds but it (the turbulence) was really sudden and things went flying..."

John said the elderly woman who hit the ceiling was shaken.

"She was on the floor and she was just traumatised..." he said.

[Tim C]

A/C was QPI.

[Ash W]

The Canberra times (a Fairfax paper) has a News Limited style story on it. Including reports that the radar wasn't working and the plane going into a total freefall. Now I wonder how far it really did fall?

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news...r/1547072.aspx

[Matt_L]

Saw that article- its appearing on all news limited sites now.

What a joke- can't they ever report factually and not rely on stupid passengers who say "it fell a reasonable distance" etc




Whilst this message board plays host, to allow members to freely and openly voice their own opinion, the so called "stupid passengers" you mention also have an opinion, and are free to say the aircraft fell a "reasonable distance" should they choose.
Let's just keep the media bashing out of this thread Thank you - mod

[Gareth Forwood]

Just out of curiosity, in 'normal turbulence' that aircraft commonly encounter, how far is the aircraft actually moving vertically?

[Michael Atkin]

Exactly Matt.....it all would have happened so quickly and they say that most of the passengers were in shock, how would they know if the plane fell 200ft, 500ft or 1000ft unless they were someone like a pilot or something but even then u wouldnt know unless you had the instruments in front of you.

[Laurent Sanhard]

channel 7 just interviewed one passanger who said : quote: now I know how the passengers on air france felt . ... what a total load of garbage , as well as disrespect to the poor passengers on air France 447.
Have'nt these people heard of c.a.t before !

[Michael Atkin]

Well, my personal opinion is that those passengers would have no idea about how the passengers on that AF flight felt, thats my personal opinion though.

[NickN]

And if they did know how the AF pax felt they wouldn't be around to talk about it.

[Marty H]

Simply when seated keep your seat belt on.