Seven passengers were injured after a Unitd Airlines 737-900ER encoutered severe turbuelnce enroute from Cancun to Chicago, forcing a diversion in Memphis, Tennessee.
7 Injured, 1 Hospitalized After United Airlines 737-900 Makes Emergency Landing Due To Severe Turbulence,
On Wednesday, August 28, 2024, United 1196 took off five minutes ahead of schedule at 12:15 pm from Cancun (CUN) bound for Chicago O’Hare (ORD). The flight was operated by a Boeing 737-900ER (10.6 year old, resgistration N66814) with 20 seats in busienss class and 159 seats in economy class. All seats were occupied and the flight was serviced by two pilots and five flight attendants.
But after crossing the Gulf of Mexico and flying over Louisiana, the aircraft encountered unexecpted but severe turbuelnce. The sudden and violent nature of the turbulence injured seven, even though–accoding to United–the seatbelt light was on during the encounter:
“United flight 1196 diverted to Memphis this afternoon after encountering a brief period of severe turbulence while the seatbelt sign was on. Paramedics met the aircraft at the gate and transported one passenger to the hospital.”
UA1196 landed at Memphis 2:54 pm local time where paramedics treated the seven injured passngers, transpoirting one to the hosptial. The specific nature of the injuries is not (yet) known.
By 4:34 pm the flight was back in the air, landing in Chicago at 6:27 pm, 2 hours and 12 minutes behind schedule.
I’m very thankful this did not turn out worse. It has been a rough year for turbulence:
- Severe Turbulence On Singapore Airlines 777 (Images + Video)
- Man Literally Becomes Stuck in Aircraft Ceiling After Severe Turbulence
- Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant Breaks Hip, Elbow Due To Severe Turbulence
- Texas Man Sues Lufthansa For Turbulence. He Wasn’t Wearing A Seatbelt.
- United Airlines 787-10 Diverts After “Roller Coaster” Turbulence Injures Several Onboard
image: formulanone / Flickr
I wonder how customs handled the flight, particularly the passenger who was hospitalized?
Cancun is a pre-clearance airport…so zero customs issues upon diversion
If they had chosen a different destination . other than Cancun , they would be better off , no ?
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance
US CBP doesn’t list it.
Quote
Preclearance locations in 6 countries: Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Bermuda; Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates; Nassau in the Bahamas; and Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg in Canada.
Victoria, Saskatoon, Regina, Quebec City are not preclearence airports.
No Pre-Clearance in Mexico.
Do we know if this was clear air turbulence? Thankfully the pilot kept the seatbelt sign on.
Looking at the flight path, there was thunderstorm activity in that area of SE Louisiana as the flight would have been passing through. Could be related, might not be.
Huge, sudden flash floods in the American Southwest, Pakistan, France and Asia; crippling heatwaves and drought; dramatic and increasing instances of sudden unexpected turbulence across the globe have all become the new normal. At this point we should all just expect violent turbulence is a very real thing and could happen at any time. Keep those seatbelts fastened and tray tables put away, meditate or listen to music.