Summary: After hitting a patch of unexpected air turbulence, passengers on an Aeroflot flight from Russia to Thailand received injuries, some major.
An Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Bangkok with over 300 passengers experienced numerous injuries after hitting a patch of severe turbulence. The Russian embassy in Bangkok reported that 24 Russians and 3 Thais were injured, some severely, after Flight SU270 went through an “air hole” on approach to the Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The embassy stated, “Some injured passengers were not wearing seat belts. All victims were taken to a local hospital with various injuries, mostly factures and bruises. Some require surgery. Fifteen people remain hospitalized.”
The press release from the Airport Authority of Thailand said that 30 passengers were injured with 27 being transferred to the Samitivej Srinakarin hospital in Bangkok and the remaining three electing to seek their own treatment. The Boeing 777 was carrying 318 passengers plus 14 crew members when it hit the turbulence over Myanmar shortly after midnight.
Passenger reports from the plane described a chaotic scene with blood on the ceiling. Rostik Rusev told CNN that people were thrown from their seats. Rusev said, “It lasted for about ten seconds, the plane was being thrown everywhere.” Rusev is from Ukraine but now lives in Hackensack, New Jersey. Rusev continued, “There was blood on the ceiling, people with broken noses, babies who were hurt, it was horrible. It came out of nowhere it was like driving a car and a tire suddenly burst. The aircraft personnel couldn’t have been more professional and courageous. They were heroes in everything they were doing.”
CNN airline and aviation correspondent Richard Quest explained that the airplane flew through an “air hole,” which is an area of low pressure where the differential causes the plane to drop. This type of turbulence can also be from shifting air currents, storms in the area, or crossing the jet stream. Quest emphasized that “air holes” are not dangerous to airplanes, only to those not wearing seatbelts when the plane hits that kind of turbulence.
Another passenger named Yevgenia told Rossiya 24 in a phone interview, “We were hurled up into the roof of the plane, it was practically impossible to hold. It felt like the shaking wouldn’t stop, that we would just crash.”
Aeroflot released a statement explaining the circumstances leading up to the incident about 40 minutes before landing. The “air hole” is known as “clear sky turbulence.” It is hard to detect because it occurs in “clear skies with good visibility” compared to the usual kind in cloudy weather. The flight operator was not able to warn passengers to return to their seats because there are not telltale cloud patterns or radar presence for pilots to be warned from. They claim that around 750 cases of “clear sky turbulence” occurs each year around the world.
Aeroflot has a strong safety record since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The latest notable tragedy that the airline has suffered was when 88 passengers and crew were killed when the plane crashed when preparing to land in Perm, Russia in 2008.
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