Four flight attendants were injured Wednesday night when a United Airlines flight from Hawaii encountered severe turbulence during its descent into Los Angeles International Airport, reportedly leaving two with neck and back injuries.
One of the injured attendants aboard United Flight 1157 was hospitalized, United confirmed to The Independent, but declined to provide further updates Thursday.
There were 190 passengers and 10 crew members aboard the Boeing 777, which landed safely at LAX. No passengers were injured, United said, although one told ABC7 they saw a flight attendant with blood on her head and leg.
Flight data reviewed by The New York Post shows the plane plunged nearly 3,700 feet in one minute before dropping from 22,800 feet to 14,000 feet in about two and a half minutes.
“I was watching a movie, and all of a sudden we just drop,” passenger Marly Wadlington, of San Diego, told ABC7. “And it felt like we dropped pretty far. It started shaking; everyone was yelling. We were all super scared.”
Another passenger, Coral Pena, recalled hearing a loud bang during the incident.
“We just started falling, and I was like, 'Oh, my God,'” she said.
A pilot described the turbulence as brief during a radio call to air traffic control.
“It only lasted a couple of seconds; it felt like wake turbulence, but we're smooth now,” the pilot said, per The Post.
Wake turbulence occurs when a plane encounters swirling air currents generated by another plane. However, it was not immediately clear what caused the turbulence on Flight 1157.
After the plane landed, it remained on the tarmac for at least 30 minutes while the injured flight attendants stayed onboard and the plane waited to reach a gate, according to ABC7.
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