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Turbulence injures passengers, attendants during Billings-to-Denver flight

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Several passengers and flight attendants were injured Monday during a bumpy flight from Denver to Billings. United Airlines Flight 1676 ran into turbulence while descending into Billings, said United spokeswoman Christen David. "The flight encountered severe turbulence upon descent into Billings, Montana," she wrote in a news release. "Three crew members and a number of passengers were injured." (billingsgazette.com) עוד...

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preacher1
preacher1 14
Why were we on descent and seat belts unbuckled? Oh I forgot, some pax know everything and have flown enough to know you really don't need them; then if something does happen, we can sue the airline. hotdang. This also makes a good case for a separate seat/carrier for infants.
CaptainFreedom
CaptainFreedom 4
They are the turbulence gurus.They know when, al what altitude, and how severe it will be.....kind of like how The Fonz was able to fix the jukebox simply by hitting it.
allench1
allench1 2
ya gotta love the the Fonz.:)
PhotoFinish
PhotoFinish 1
Parents should bring their own infant carrier. They'll need one at both ends of the flight. (infants don't usually walk to/from the airport.)

Most parents (even when they can easily afford a seat for the child) don't consider to bring an infant carrier/ car seat for safe carriage of the infant inflight.
wopri
Wolfgang Prigge 1
Didn't you know buckling in is for sissies?
allench1
allench1 1
Good one Preach
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 4
Am I the only one who keeps his belt buckled the entire flight? I losen it to be more comfortable, but there is never more than an inch or two of slack. If the plane hits clear air turbulence, at least I will stay in my seat.
wopri
Wolfgang Prigge 4
No, you're not the only one Torsten!
Whendogsfly
Whendogsfly 2
I wonder if the people who choose not to wear their seat belts loosely during a flight are the same people who purposely look away or read a magazine during the emergency video of the aircraft shown at the beginning of a flight. I don't mean someone who flies that same aircraft all the time & really knows it. But there are always some people who you can tell don't want to be "caught" watching it as though it's a sign of confidence if you feel you can do without the information. No matter how much I fly, I watch the videos because it never hurts to be reminded. But I sometimes look around to see all the people not watching the video who are "preoccupied" doing other things.
ExCalbr
Victor Engel 1
I've never watched an emergency video. The instruction has always been by flight attendants gesticulating with equipment at the front to a recording or to someone announcing over the PA system. I think I've only been on 2 planes that even had a video system. On the first such case, it took a while for someone in my group to figure out how to turn it off. None of us was interested in watching any in-flight entertainment. The better entertainment was out the window.
ExCalbr
Victor Engel 2
Anyone have a map of 34000 winds at the time? I found a map with current conditions that seems to show a narrow band of 120 knot winds over the SW corner of Montana. But that's not that unusual. I suppose there's not really any data available that's precise enough to show relatively small features in the jet stream currents and eddies it creates. If there is, I'd like to see it.
tlglenn
Ted Glenn 2
"...a baby was propelled out of a parent's arms and landed in a seat nearby, but the infant didn't appear to be hurt."

If you can afford it please buy a seat for your baby and use a proper child restraint system.
ExCalbr
Victor Engel 1
The baby was not propelled out of the parent's arms. Either the parent propelled the baby, perhaps after being propelled, or the parent was propelled away from the baby. The problem was likely that the baby was NOT propelled and should have been.
preacher1
preacher1 1
Don't want to argue with you but that was what the story said, so idk:
"He said a baby was propelled out of a parent's arms and landed in a seat nearby, but the infant didn't appear to be hurt.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/turbulence-injures-passengers-attendants-during-denver-to-billings-flight/article_33cf4eb1-e72c-5414-ae87-a113e5dfc49a.html#ixzz2thmvXL9X
ExCalbr
Victor Engel 1
I know. I wasn't arguing with you.
preacher1
preacher1 1
JENNYJET
JENNIFER JORDAN 1
Babies have soft skulls and as such are unlikely to suffer serious damage but the parent will have a hard skull and will need a hydraulic drill to deliver some sense into the dubious brains therein.

A forward thinking airline may consider a mother and baby cabin equipped for all eventualities crewed by specialist cabin personnel.
pthomas745
Pa Thomas 2
There were several PIREPS for turbulence in that area and time period from the surface to FL470. Mountain wave, too.

There were quite a lot more during the rest of the day. This is probably the 737's report from Salt Lake Center:

GCC UUA /OV CZI245027/TM 2036/FL380/TP B737/TB SEV 380-340/ZLC

Here is a complete list of PIREPs for the past 30 hours centered on KBIL.....from the top of the list this report is about 7 or 8 down from the top.

http://aviationweather.gov/popups/pireps?stationList=kbil&distance=200&SWLAT=&SWLON=&XNELAT=&XNELON=&NHOURS=24&HAZARD=ALL&NULLREP=NEG&MAXREP=SEV&chk_display=text&text=text
preacher1
preacher1 1
I wonder, with these kinds of PIREPS that another story here on FA is saying things came like a total surprise and no crew warning, that it seemed as if it caught them too. One may not can avoid some of these areas in normal flight and they may well be gone by the time you get there, but you can sure be on your guard expecting them.
tskubal
Thomas Skubal 1
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/severe-turbulence-causes-injuries-aboard-denver-to-billings-flight
tskubal
Thomas Skubal 1
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL1676/history/20140217/1815Z/KDEN/KBIL/tracklog
eater1952
Kent Thompson 1
Looks to me like they had some heavy turbulence before they started the descent into Billings (according to FlightAwares track and log graph) too, so blaming the passengers for getting their injuries for not having their seat belts during the decent may not be entirely true.
eater1952
Kent Thompson 2
seat belts ON during the desccent
mclauson
Matt Clauson 2
Not quite accurate, from other reports. It sounds like this happened 30 miles SW of the Crazy Woman (CZI) VOR. This would definitely put it the middle of cruise flight, probably a good 10 minutes from descent into BIL, given previous experience.

Location reference comes from this morning's USA Today article:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/18/united-flight-turbulence/5575375/
preacher1
preacher1 1
Well, I can't remember a being on a flight as a pax and seeing the SB sign OFF. Most all have kept it on and said LOOSEN but keep it buckled if you are in your seat. I have had my share of CAT both as a pax and in the pointy end but haven't never left the seat. Seems to me that is the reason to keep it on. Until they develop a radar or something that will show it, that is the best advice I have for somebody.
JENNYJET
JENNIFER JORDAN 1
Anyone that considers flying is better than driving should consider the injuries for not being belted in ones seat as a wake up call. Cars go forwards as a norm and upon impact, so does any soft tissue entity. Aircraft go up and down and any soft tissue entity when faced with the impact of the atmosphere upon the aircraft when it hits a downdraft or a weather event should expect injury or worse if not secured in his/her seat.

I once was a passenger on a Sri Lankan A340 overflying Pakistan when we encountered some very severe storms that were raging below us. We could see on our seatback screens the storm cloud tops 'above us' and we were at FL390 and lightning told us trouble was ahead of us. We then had a sudden drop following a significant bang caused by lightning hitting the aircraft and a downdraft and anyone not secured in their seat suddenly knew what gravity was about! They were warned ten minutes in advance of the event and the crew were told to secure ( cease all cabin activity ) and fasten belts.

As was to be expected, several passengers injured others because they knew their 'rights' and chose to ignore instructions. I was one of the injured secured passengers since another landed on my lap with hot coffee splashing upon my face because he knew best!

Such people should be identified by aircrew and arrested upon landing for risking the safety of the flight and the passengers and crew without reasonable cause, prosecuted for such inept behavior and then banned for life from boarding a passenger flight.

It should be international aviation law that once on an aircraft one should be belted throughout the flight with the only exception being comfort breaks. Ones life and that of others may depend upon it.
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 0
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Baby Sent Flying, 5 Hurt When Plane Hits Turbulence

The turbulence happened as the Boeing 737 en route from Denver to Billings, Mont., was starting to descend before 1:30 p.m. Monday, causing a startling, sudden drop. Due to the situation, the flight's captain declared an emergency.

http://gma.yahoo.com/baby-sent-flying-five-hurt-plane-hit-turbulence-125707155--abc-news-topstories.html?vp=1

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