More than two dozen passengers and crew members of a Delta flight received medical care after heavy turbulence over southern Wyoming on Wednesday forced their plane to make an emergency landing in Minnesota.
Several have been treated and released, Delta said Thursday.
Late Wednesday, Delta flight DL56 from Salt Lake City, destined for Amsterdam, diverted to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after the flight “encountered significant turbulence,” Delta said in a statement.
The Airbus A330-900 was carrying 275 passengers and 13 crew members. Upon landing safely, Delta officials said 25 people onboard were taken to local hospitals for treatment and evaluation.
On Thursday, the airline reported all seven of the crew members attended to by medical personnel had been released as had some passengers. The airline didn’t disclose how many passengers were still receiving treatment because of medical confidentiality laws.
“All customers who were evaluated at the hospital and willing to share their status with Delta have also been released,” the airline said. “Delta is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board on an investigation.”
Rocky Ride Over Cowboy State
According to Flight Radar 24, a global flight tracking service, Flight 56 left Salt Lake City at 4:45 p.m. MT and climbed to 35,000 feet. About a half hour later, the plane climbed another 1,000 feet, where it hit a powerful patch of turbulence.
That was over Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said the flight likely ran smack into several storms.
“There were a lot of thunderstorms over southcentral Wyoming, especially from near Laramie west to Rock Springs,” Day said. “And then there was a lot of activity around Casper. There was a plethora of thunderstorms and some were quite strong.”
Day said the storms can cause some “really strong updrafts and downdrafts” that can suddenly spring up on pilots.
“They can make some maneuvers to get around these thunderstorms, but they’re almost impossible to predict,” Day said. “Flying in the afternoon in the Rockies can be sporty.”
Heads Hit The Ceiling
Passengers described feeling as if the plane had taken a nosedive. Beverage carts and people were flying in the aisles. A number of passengers hit the ceiling, injuring their heads, according to one passenger, while others suffered broken bones.
“For a moment, I really thought we were going to die,” passenger Joseph Carbone told KUTV, Salt Lake City’s CBS affiliate. “All of a sudden, we hit the most severe turbulence I’ve ever experienced, and we fly quite a bit.
“To me, it felt like we were flying through the eye of a storm like through a tornado. There was hail, the pilot said, and it was so severe, I really thought the plane was going to come apart.”
All passengers were being assisted by Delta’s Care Team, connecting them to other flights, the airline said.
Delta planned to operate a special flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Amsterdam on Thursday evening to help Flight 56 passengers reach their original destination.
Justin George can be reached at justin@cowboystatedaily.com.
