At least 26 hurt after China Eastern Airlines flight hits turbulence

 

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - At least 26 people were injured when a China Eastern Airlines flight from Paris to the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming hit turbulence on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

 

Passengers onboard flight MU774 suffered injuries such as fractures when strong turbulence caused them to hit the overhead lockers and be hit by falling baggage, Xinhua said late on Sunday. At least four people were in a serious condition, it said.

 

In a posting on its official Weibo account, China Eastern Airlines said that it had arranged relevant medical services for the flight's passengers, without confirming details of the injuries. It added that all passengers should fasten safety belts during flights for safety.

 

"We felt strong turbulence twice and minor turbulence three times. The process lasted about 10 minutes," Xinhua quoted a passenger surnamed Zhang, as saying.

 

This was the second incident the airline encountered within the week. On June 11, a China Eastern Airlines flight MU736 bound for Shanghai, had to make an emergency landing and return to Sydney after a hole emerged in one of the aircraft's engines.

 

(Reporting by SHANGHAI Newsroom; Editing by Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-19

And I suspect that every single one of the injured wasn't wearing their seat belt. It really is time for the wearing of seat belts in a plane to be mandatory throughout the flight, unless you are using the toilet, as turbulence and injuries are a regular occurrence.

  Serves them right 

Maybe be it will teach people to keep their seat belt on all the time even when the sign is off and also not going to the toilet when the sign is on

Overweight and improperly loaded carry on luggage can cause serious injuries during these events. One reason I usually squeeze into a window seat despite being fairly tall.

Never used to wear a seat belt after takeoff. Did a flight up to Chiang Mai and the plane dropped like a stone for a few seconds, beer bottle was floating above the table but managed to save it. Always worn a slack seat belt since.

It doesn't take any extra effort to wear your seat belt at all times however it does take an extra amount of stupidity not to.  I fly around 200,000 miles per year and my seat belt is always on, common sense really.

I recently noticed how  a number of passengers unlocked their seat belts immediately after the aircraft touched down.

They don't realize what can happen if the plane should stop or change direction.suddenly. .. idiots.

Me too, always have seat belt on just shy of "snug", including when in flat bed mode.   

 

I don't know much about the Chinese, but the Arabs and S. Asians in the ME/GCC region seem to have a shared anti-seat belt gene.  I would always hear the "click" of seat belts being released immediately following take-off when still climbing steeply, and again right after landing, when we were still braking heavily/ engines in reverse thrust.  

I used China eastern last year for my trip home and I never will again. Terrible useless customer service and cant contact or help you at all. Evet. We showed up 4 hours early for flight and it was cancelled so had to run through suvanabumi with all our stuff. Barely made it. Then the next flight im China got delayed 2 or 3 times. Same with when we returned. Missed our connecting flight in Vancouver because of it then had to wait for next flight for 6 hours. Their customer service didn't care and wouldn't do anythinh to help. And wouldnt help get us any earlier flights. They are absolutely terrible

3 minutes ago, jabsjabs said:

I used China eastern last year for my trip home and I never will again. Terrible useless customer service and cant contact or help you at all. Evet. We showed up 4 hours early for flight and it was cancelled so had to run through suvanabumi with all our stuff. Barely made it. Then the next flight im China got delayed 2 or 3 times. Same with when we returned. Missed our connecting flight in Vancouver because of it then had to wait for next flight for 6 hours. Their customer service didn't care and wouldn't do anythinh to help. And wouldnt help get us any earlier flights. They are absolutely terrible

 

but their service seems to have responded appropriately to the subject turbulence incident in the OP

7 hours ago, Caps said:

  Serves them right 

Maybe be it will teach people to keep their seat belt on all the time even when the sign is off and also not going to the toilet when the sign is on

The other side of that coin is the issue of so many airline pilots leaving the seatbelt sign on long after the prospect of turbulence has passed. Maybe it's from an abundance of caution, but it's very clear that it's much more common in recent years. One consequence is that it makes some passengers blasé about the risks.

 

39 minutes ago, jabsjabs said:

I used China eastern last year for my trip home and I never will again. Terrible useless customer service and cant contact or help you at all. Evet. We showed up 4 hours early for flight and it was cancelled so had to run through suvanabumi with all our stuff. Barely made it. Then the next flight im China got delayed 2 or 3 times. Same with when we returned. Missed our connecting flight in Vancouver because of it then had to wait for next flight for 6 hours. Their customer service didn't care and wouldn't do anythinh to help. And wouldnt help get us any earlier flights. They are absolutely terrible

Not great. Similar experience somewhere in China...a domestic flight to Shanghai with an international connection on a different carrier. They cancelled the flight, forcing me to buy a new ticket on alternative airline. The refund took the best part of a year and more trouble than it was worth. Haven't flown them since...maybe 15 years.

1 hour ago, Prbkk said:

Not great. Similar experience somewhere in China...a domestic flight to Shanghai with an international connection on a different carrier. They cancelled the flight, forcing me to buy a new ticket on alternative airline. The refund took the best part of a year and more trouble than it was worth. Haven't flown them since...maybe 15 years.

I have used them once BKK to Shanghai , return. It was a few years ago

They were great.

The problem with some airlines is they will not give you a warning before the turbulence hit you. Most of the turbulence can be predicted and the pilot should inform the passengers. Probably never happened in this case. 

 

The problem with some airlines is they will not give you a warning before the turbulence hit you. Most of the turbulence can be predicted and the pilot should inform the passengers. Probably never happened in this case. 
 

Turbulence is invisible.

Pilots always tell you to remain buckled up.

The Chinese don't like to listen to others.

Karma

15 hours ago, xerostar said:

I recently noticed how  a number of passengers unlocked their seat belts immediately after the aircraft touched down.

They don't realize what can happen if the plane should stop or change direction.suddenly. .. idiots.

I fly many airlines in many countries but only if you fly in China (or having Chinese on board) such totally ignorance regarding safety can been seen. Often flight staff has problems to convince passengers to sit down until the plane finishes taxiing. This is so brainless as it always takes minutes even after stopping to open the door.

It is no coincident that such problems happen with Chinese aircrafts.

Mao, you did a good job turning a genberation of your people into proletarians!

I have experienced serious scary turbulence and for that reason keep my seatbelt on most of the time . Strange thing is I have not known the problem when flying in the Airbus a380 , always feels non bumpy and smooth .  Suppose it must happen sometimes . .  Makes me wonder how aircraft can tolerate such violent shaking and rocking .

19 hours ago, alanrchase said:

Never used to wear a seat belt after takeoff. Did a flight up to Chiang Mai and the plane dropped like a stone for a few seconds, beer bottle was floating above the table but managed to save it. Always worn a slack seat belt since.

Thank God you saved the beer!

 

4 hours ago, hhinhh said:

I fly many airlines in many countries but only if you fly in China (or having Chinese on board) such totally ignorance regarding safety can been seen. Often flight staff has problems to convince passengers to sit down until the plane finishes taxiing. This is so brainless as it always takes minutes even after stopping to open the door.

It is no coincident that such problems happen with Chinese aircrafts.

Mao, you did a good job turning a genberation of your people into proletarians!

Some sort of 'locking device' on the seatbelt, or an automatic voice to say 'SIT THE F..K DOWN' if belt is undone before stopping.

I have experienced serious scary turbulence and for that reason keep my seatbelt on most of the time . Strange thing is I have not known the problem when flying in the Airbus a380 , always feels non bumpy and smooth .  Suppose it must happen sometimes . .  Makes me wonder how aircraft can tolerate such violent shaking and rocking .

The A380 weighs around 500 tonnes at take off, whereas the standard 737/ A320 weighs less than 100.

Big bertha takes a serious knocking.

1 minute ago, coulson said:

 

The A380 weighs around 500 tonnes at take off, whereas the standard 737/ A320 weighs less than 100.

Big bertha takes a serious knocking.

 

How do they get that plane in the air , amazing . However I read that the there is a big loss of orders for this aircraft , maybe economics?

23 hours ago, darksidedog said:

And I suspect that every single one of the injured wasn't wearing their seat belt. It really is time for the wearing of seat belts in a plane to be mandatory throughout the flight, unless you are using the toilet, as turbulence and injuries are a regular occurrence.

How about a seat belt on the toilet too, just in case.

49 minutes ago, whaleboneman said:

How about a seat belt on the toilet too, just in case.

The mind boggles 

If everyone could wear some sort of protection suit inside the plane turbulence would never hurt you.  

 

I recently noticed how  a number of passengers unlocked their seat belts immediately after the aircraft touched down.

They don't realize what can happen if the plane should stop or change direction.suddenly. .. idiots.

Yes indeed, there are idiots everywhere including travelling by air. Common sense is not so common among people perhaps.

 

21 hours ago, Prbkk said:

The other side of that coin is the issue of so many airline pilots leaving the seatbelt sign on long after the prospect of turbulence has passed. Maybe it's from an abundance of caution, but it's very clear that it's much more common in recent years. One consequence is that it makes some passengers blasé about the risks.

 

Yeah like only wearing a seatbelt in a car during rush hour.

5 hours ago, whaleboneman said:

How about a seat belt on the toilet too, just in case.

On a domestic flight in Korea, just as the plane was leaving the runway on takeoff, an ancient Confucius-like man appeared from out of the toilet. Staff must have failed to secure it. The poor old bugger really struggled going uphill...but we got him into a spare seat.

On the matter of turbulence in the toilet ( weather related), it's the most dangerous place to be....and must be as scary as hell.

On 19/6/2560 at 2:38 PM, xerostar said:

I recently noticed how  a number of passengers unlocked their seat belts immediately after the aircraft touched down.

They don't realize what can happen if the plane should stop or change direction.suddenly. .. idiots.

If the plan stop mid air, I don't think a seat-belt would make much difference to the outcome.

3 hours ago, jvs said:

Yeah like only wearing a seatbelt in a car during rush hour.

 

Or, I'll wear my crash helmet when I'm going to have an accident.