Airbus plane en route to America turns around and heads back to Europe despite flying across Atlantic
Extreme turbulence on a trans-Atlantic flight from Stockholm to Miami saw passengers lifted from their seats, with the aircraft being forced to land early.
The Scandinavian Airlines flight, which was due to take nine hours, was almost at its destination when it was forced to make a U-turn and head all the way back to Europe.
The flight, which had 254 passengers and one baby on board, was crossing over Greenland when the plane started rocking.
It had to go all the way back to Europe as the airline did not have the required equipment in Miami to perform a required technical check.
All passengers will be given a hotel room in Copenhagen until their rescheduled flight takes place on November 15.
A spokesperson for Scandinavian Airlines said that no serious injuries had been reported.
One passenger filmed footage of the shaking plane and shared it online with the caption: “Thought we would die.”
In the back of the clip, a woman’s legs appear to be extremely high in the air as she was chucked around due to the turbulence.
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Commenting on the woman being lifted out of her seat, the user said: “Look at her feet touching the [ceiling]!”
Earlier this week, 11 people were injured after a Lufthansa flight encountered severe turbulence whilst travelling over the Atlantic Ocean.
The Boeing 747-8, carrying 329 passengers and 19 crew members, was en route from Buenos Aires to Frankfurt when the incident occurred.
The aircraft had departed from Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza International Airport and was flying through an intertropical convergence zone when it experienced the brief but intense turbulence.
“Unfortunately, five passengers and six crew members suffered mostly minor injuries,” a Lufthansa spokesman said, confirming that the injuries happened due to some passengers not wearing their seatbelt.
Last month, a Ryanair flight was diverted 450 miles away in a different country due to a severe thunderstorm which meant it could not land at its planned destination.
The plane took off from Edinburgh Airport at 5.45am on October 4 and headed for Tirana, Albania.
However, a thunderstorm forced the pilot to land in Greece at 10.20am, according to Flight Radar.
Camille Allison was travelling with her partner Heather when the flight suffered “horrible turbulence”. The couple said they have been left feeling “traumatised” after the ordeal.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said the plane could not land in Tirana due to a thunderstorm and was later struck by lightning.