Tokyo flight turbulence hurts 47

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7900892.stm for pics & better formatting

Forty-seven people were injured when an airliner was hit by severe turbulence as it neared the end of a flight from Manila to Tokyo.

Terrified passengers told how those without seatbelts fastened shot up and hit the ceiling of the plane.

At least six passengers on the Northwest Airline plane were seriously injured, officials say.

Turbulence struck while the plane was circling off the coast of Chiba, east of Tokyo, an airline spokesman said.

Ambulances met the plane at Narita International Airport, near Tokyo, and ferried the injured to hospital.

The Boeing 747-400 plane had been carrying more than 400 passengers plus 14 crew when the incident happened on Friday.


I was so scared, I thought I would die
Unnamed passenger on Japanese TV
The flight had been set to continue on to Los Angeles after a stopover.

"The 47 people were taken by ambulance to six hospitals," said Sayuri Naito, a spokeswoman at Narita municipal fire and disaster management headquarters said.

Six people were expected to require hospital treatment of up to three weeks, while the 41 others suffered lighter injuries, she told the AFP news agency.

"The plane started swaying left and right all of a sudden, then people flew up," a male passenger told the TV Asahi network.

"They bumped hard against the ceiling twice. It left at least three holes in the cabin ceiling as far as I could see," he said.

Screams

Northwest Airlines spokesman Masashi Takahashi said the turbulence happened 25-30 minutes before landing, when the seatbelt light was on.

"During the flight, we received a message from the pilot saying two or three people were injured. But [the pilot] probably assessed that an emergency landing was not necessary," he said.

"It is possible that the people injured did not have their seatbelts on, otherwise all of the 422 passengers would have been injured as well."

Japanese media quoted witnesses saying that those who had not fastened their seatbelts had been sent crashing into the ceiling as the plane shook violently.

A passenge, centre, leaves a plane hit by serious turbulence at Tokyo's Narita airport
The flight had been due to continue on to the US
"I was so scared, I thought I would die," an unnamed male passenger told Japan's TBS television network.

"The plane shook so much, and my whole body hovered up in the air. Inside the cabin, everybody was screaming loudly," he said.

Another passenger told the broadcaster: "The person in front of me flew up to the ceiling. The person behind me collapsed and looked unconscious."

Vincent Salazar, a 55-year-old American passenger, told the Kyodo news agency that he heard screams when the plane suddenly descended and then made an ascent about 30 minutes before landing.

"It really happened so fast and it was over," Mr Salazar said.

"We were flying and then the seatbelt sign came on and when we were trying to get back to the seats, the plane dropped and so some people went up and hit the [ceiling]."

"I actually was pretty calm because I've flown a lot, but the lady next to me was screaming... And unfortunately some people weren't in their seatbelts. They were just flying," he said,

[Donald]

A Northwest Airlines Boeing 747-400, registration N676NW performing flight NW-2 from Manila (Philippines) to Tokyo Narita (Japan) with 408 passengers and 14 crew, was in a holding near Chiba 40nm south of Narita about 30 minutes before landing with seatbelt signs turned on, when the airplane encountered severe turbulence and suddenly departed its assigned altitude of 15000 feet. A number of passengers, who had not fastened their seatbelts, were thrown out of their seats and hit the ceiling. The crew reported about 2-3 injuries via radio, but did not declare emergency. The landing 30 minutes later at 12:19 local (03:19Z) was safe. A total of 43 passengers were injured in the upset and were brought to hospitals. Initially reported two serious injuries turned out less severe. However, Japanese officials reported later, that one passenger received a serious injury (neck fracture).

Northwest Airlines said, no crew got injured in the accident.

[desksgo]

I can say from experience that there ain't no turbulence like Tokyo Turbulence.

[Siddley Hawker]

Years ago BOAC had a wing come off a 707 in turbulence near Tokyo.

[Elliot Moose]

Okay time for a rant here.

The reason for this type of incident is (MOST LIKELY) due to a prevailing cultural situation that I've recently observed on MANY flights with American carriers. The situation can be best described as one of "Je ne give a shit pas" by both flight and cabin crews.

Let me clarify. On a recent flight from YYC to DFW and the return leg, the flight crew did pretty much SFA to even encourage, let alone enforce adherence to the seat belt signs. People were up and down to the john, getting things out of the overheads, standing talking to folks in nearby seats almost constantly during the climb, and even at fairly low altitude. Never once did I see an even friendly request to return to seats even when one woman stood in the aisle and talked to friends for like 10 min. As soon as the wheels hit the wells on climb, one person across the way undid his seat belt and never put it on again until final approach, despite the signs being on for an hour and a half on the trip north, and despite the original briefing that stated the law requires people to be buckled in while in their seats regardless of the signs. Lazy, indifferent FA's to be sure.

This of course brings me to the pilots. Somewhere about 2/3 of the way up they announced that they were expecting a bit of turbulence for the next while (they said specifically, but it certainly wasn't for the remainder of the trip). On goes the sign, and it REMAINED ON for the rest of the trip. The turbulence happened as forecast, and quit as forecast, but they never got around to turning it off. Now, if the turbulence was looking more widespread, they should have left the signs on (and preferably made an announcement to that effect) by all means. If however, there wasn't a reason to leave them on, then they should be turned off, because leaving them on in smooth air for 2hrs only encourages people to ignore them. Shear laziness and indifference by the crew for not paying attention, and by the cabin crew for not calling the front and saying "hey boss, what the hell's going on--turn off the damn signs!"

This isn't an isolated incident, and I've seen similar on American, Northwest, Continental and United flights, both continental and international over the last few years (and yes it's the same in business and cattle class because I've flown both).

It's lazy bastards like this that are getting people hurt, and I don't give a rat's ass if they think they're underpaid, tough shit, IT'S THEIR JOB!! I'm totally not a lawsuit type, and I firmly feel that those that were hurt by not buckling in deserved what they got for being dumb asses, but at the same time, I hope one of the "buckled in" types sues them for endangering them by not enforcing the law and allowing those others to make themselves into dangerous projectiles (i.e. by NOT buckling up) that could hurt everybody.

Don't even get me started about carry on baggage policies.......

[Shep]

about 30 minutes before landing with seatbelt signs turned on, when the airplane encountered severe turbulence and suddenly departed its assigned altitude of 15000 feet. A number of passengers, who had not fastened their seatbelts, were thrown out of their seats and hit the ceiling.

I bet some moron out there will try and find a way to blame the airline for this.