When you’re on a plane, you’re supposed to wear your seatbelt even if the seatbelt sign is off. You may be free to move about the cabin, but if you’re in your seat (or the bathroom of a HondaJet), you want that seatbelt on. Yes, the pilots can predict turbulence to some degree, but you never know what’s going to happen. And as Reuters reports, at least 50 passengers on a flight from Sydney to Auckland found that out the hard way when their Boeing 787 suddenly plunged mid-flight.
The good news is that no one has died so far, but that’s about where the good news ends. At least 50 passengers were injured, and 10 of them were hospitalized with one in serious condition. Three crew members were also hospitalized. And the way one passenger described what happened to Reuters is downright horrifying:
The plane, unannounced, just dropped. I mean it dropped unlike anything I’ve ever experienced on any kind of minor turbulence, and people were thrown out of their seats, hit the top of the roof of the plane, throwing down the aisles.
Some of the roof panels were broken from people being thrown up and knocking through the plastic roof panels in the aisle ways. And there was blood coming from several people’s heads.
Thankfully, some doctors on board were able to bandage wounds and provide neck braces to those who were injured.
As for what caused the plane to dive suddenly, that’s not clear just yet. The plane was made by Boeing, so we wouldn’t be surprised if it came out that something was wrong with the plane. But as Reuters put it, “Safety experts say most airplane accidents are caused by a cocktail of factors that need to be thoroughly investigated.”
Hopefully, everyone who was injured recovers well and isn’t too traumatized to ever fly again. Still, let this be a reminder that if you’re on a plane, you should only unbuckle your seatbelt when necessary and minimize the time you’re out of your seat. Even if everything is going smoothly, disaster could strike at any moment, and at least if you’re strapped in, you give yourself a better chance of escaping unharmed.