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A Boeing Dreamliner traveling from Madrid, Spain to Montevideo, Uruguay was forced to divert to Brazil after experiencing turbulence so severe one passenger was jettisoned from their seat and propelled into an overhead storage bin.
The aircraft – a 737-9 Dreamliner built in North Charleston, S.C. – experienced the severe turbulence over the Atlantic Ocean near the end of its twelve-hour flight early Monday. It was forced to divert to the coastal Brazilian port of Natal. There, local health officials reported thirty-six injuries – including twenty-three people who were hospitalized, per a report in The New York Times.
“By Monday evening, five passengers were still hospitalized, four of them in intensive care,” the Times reported, citing local health officials.
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Passenger Stuck in the Ceiling After Plane Hit Severe Turbulence
— marknehpets (@mapkpets) July 1, 2024
A video has surfaced showing an Air Europa passenger being pulled out of the ceiling after the Boeing 787 hit severe turbulence.Flight UX045 was heading from Madrid, Spain, to Montevideo, Uruguay, when the captain pic.twitter.com/hXfF1szqjI
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The flight – UX045 – is operated by Air Europa. The Dreamliner in question – registered as EC-MTI – was delivered to the airline in March of 2018 and has been in active service ever since.
Multiple skull and neck fractures – along with multiple lacerations – were reported among the injuries.
What happened? While turbulence is often associated with sudden altitude changes, some suggested in this case a sudden deceleration was to blame as the plane’s altimeter recorded no significant increase or decrease in altitude at the time of the incident.
According to the Times, “climate change” was responsible for the incident.
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“Recent studies suggest that climate change can make turbulence more common because increased carbon dioxide emissions can affect air currents,” the paper reported.
No such studies were cited or linked to in the Times report, however.
This media outlet uncovered one such study which cited a 17 percent increase in “clear-air turbulence” from 1979 to 2020. The authors of the report claimed this increase was “consistent with the expected effects of climate change,” however nothing in the study proved this “expected” correlation – and the authors suggested “future work should address the limitations” of the report, including the “sensitivity of (its) results.”
As of this writing, there has been nothing to suggest a mechanical flaw contributed to the incident over the Atlantic this week – although given Boeing’s recent track record that would hardly qualify as suprising.
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RELATED | THE WHISTLEBLOWER AND THE CORPORATION
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While this media outlet has been outspoken in its criticism of Boeing – and its South Carolina-based crony capitalist facility in North Charleston – we will await a thorough report prior to jumping to any conclusions as to what may have happened.
The incident over the Atlantic comes just six weeks after another Boeing jet – a 777-300ER operated by Singapore Airlines – experienced severe turbulence during a flight from London, England to Singapore. That flight had to be diverted to Bangkok.
Of the 211 passengers and 18 crew members aboard that flight, 104 were treated for injuries and 58 were hospitalized (including 20 who wound up in intensive care). One passenger – Geoff Kitchen, 73, of Great Britain – reportedly died of a heart attack during the incident.
Count on this media outlet to keep our audience in the loop in the event there is clarity regarding what transpired aboard this Boeing aircraft. Also, count on us to continue holding this crony capitalist corporation accountable for its conduct.
BANNER: Air Europa/ Facebook
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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1 comment
Scientists: This was related to climate change.
Republicans: Climate change isn’t real. It was probably the chemtrail pump failing. Or maybe aliens. Could’ve even been a disgruntled illegal alien. Then again, Joe Biden could have masterminded this before nap time. Or maybe the plane was a crisis actor?