More than 35 people have reportedly sustained injuries after their flight to Honolulu faced severe turbulence half an hour before landing. Many were seriously injured and were taken to the emergency room. Hawaiian Airlines, the carrier involved in the incident, is said to be monitoring the situation.

Severe turbulence

On December 18th, a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu encountered severe turbulence around 30 minutes before landing. According to reports, more than 35 people were treated by emergency responders after the plane landed, and several (20 according to reports) were injured enough to be taken to the hospital.

The injuries sustained by the affected passengers include a serious head injury, laceration, bruising, and a loss of consciousness. The youngest of those who had to be rushed to the emergency room was around 14 months old.

The airline issued a statement on Twitter about monitoring the situation and will likely hold a conference detailing the incident.

Chaos

According to the airline, the aircraft was carrying 278 passengers and 10 crew members. The incident happened towards the end of the long flight, about half an hour before landing. The aircraft touched down in Honolulu a little before 11:00 local time.

According to one passenger, her mother had just taken her seat when the plane encountered turbulence. She did not get the chance to buckle her seat belt and was flung up and hit the aircraft ceiling.

Images and videos circulating on social media show the damage sustained to the plane and the oxygen masks that were deployed as well.

About the flight

Hawaiian Airlines flight HA35 is a daily scheduled service between Phoenix (PHX) and Honolulu (HNL). It has a scheduled departure time of 07:00 and an arrival time of 10:50. The flight takes more than six hours to reach its destination.

The carrier deploys its Airbus A330 aircraft on the route, and on Sunday, it was operated by the plane with the registration N393HA. According to ch-aviation, it is 9.5 years old and was delivered to Hawaiian in June 2013. As of September 2022, N393HA has accrued more than 36,000 flight hours across 5,831 cycles.

Turbulence

While aircraft are designed to withstand turbulence, severe cases can be traumatic for passengers. Abrupt changes in the plane’s altitude and attitude can be dangerous for any unfastened passenger, as evident from the latest incident.

There are also different kinds of turbulence, such as clear air turbulence, which occurs in cloudless regions, causing violent buffeting of the plane. There’s also convective turbulence which occurs with a rising column of warm air.

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Wake vortex turbulence is encountered when an aircraft follows or crosses behind another aircraft. Then there’s mechanical turbulence that occurs when there is friction between the air and the ground. Found at low altitudes, this is often the result of irregular terrain and man-made objects. Those interested in finding out more can read Simple Flying’s detailed write-up on turbulence.

Have you encountered turbulence during a flight? Please share your experience in the comment section.

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  Hawaiian Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  HA/HAL

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Honolulu International Airport, Kahului Airport

  Year Founded:

  1929

  CEO:

  Peter Ingram

  Country:

  United States