A domestic, Florida-bound flight was forced to turn around on Sunday when severe turbulence injured six of the plane's passengers.
The incident occurred about 20 minutes after US Airways Flight 735 took off from Philadelphia International Airport at around 4 p.m. with 265 passengers, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. At 17,000 feet, the aircraft flew into volatile air, injuring four passengers and two of the 10 crew members, airline spokesman Bill McGlashen told NBC Philadelphia.
The pilot returned the Orlando-bound flight to Philadelphia after the injuries were reported. Three of the injured passengers and two flight attendants received medical treatment at local hospitals, McGlashen said. The extent of the injuries was not immediately known, but they appear to be non-life threatening, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The two flight attendants have since been discharged, according to Reuters.
Passengers aboard the Airbus A330 said the turbulence lasted five to 10 seconds, with the plane rocking violently from side to side. The seat belt sign was still on at the time of the incident.
"For a couple seconds there, nobody was controlling that airplane," 58-year-old Mark Pensiero told the newspaper. Pensiero said the sky turned gray before the turbulence hit. He felt his seat drop and his seat belt squeeze his body.
"Somebody described it as being on the 'ride of doom,' where the floor drops out and you drop," Pensiero told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "There were a lot of people on that flight who thought, 'Oh, that's it.' "
Another Orland-bound flight took off again from Philadelphia at around 9 p.m. with most of the same passengers. The flight landed safely in Orlando at around 11:15 p.m., NBC Philadelphia reported.
McGlashen said the pilots were warned about light turbulence prior to the incident when they came across the unexpected violent turbulence.
"I've been doing this for 20 years," a flight attendant told Pensiero, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, "and I've never been through anything like that."
