logo
25 Hospitalized After Delta Flight Is Hit by Strong Turbulence

25 Hospitalized After Delta Flight Is Hit by Strong Turbulence

New York Times3 days ago
Twenty-five people aboard a Delta Air Lines flight were hospitalized on Wednesday evening after the plane, which was flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced strong turbulence that forced it to make an emergency landing in Minnesota.
Flight DL56 was diverted to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport after experiencing 'significant turbulence,' Delta said in a statement. It was carrying 275 passengers and 13 crew members and was met by medical personnel upon landing, the airline said.
The Airbus A330-900 landed at about 7:45 p.m. Central time, said Jeff Lea, a spokesman for the airport, adding that people had been injured by the turbulence.
It had left Salt Lake City at about 5:30 p.m. Central time, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware, landing just over two hours into its scheduled eight-hour journey.
The airport's fire department and paramedics provided medical attention to passengers after the flight landed, Mr. Lea said in an email.
Delta said that 25 people on the flight had been taken to local hospitals. The airline did not respond to questions about the nature of the turbulence or the condition of the hospitalized patients.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

A pair of airline incidents gave us a powerful reminder of 2 key safety rules: wear your seatbelt and leave your bag behind in an emergency
A pair of airline incidents gave us a powerful reminder of 2 key safety rules: wear your seatbelt and leave your bag behind in an emergency

Business Insider

timea day ago

  • Business Insider

A pair of airline incidents gave us a powerful reminder of 2 key safety rules: wear your seatbelt and leave your bag behind in an emergency

Passenger behavior can be key to preventing injuries, as two recent airline incidents have shown. To be specific, always wear a seatbelt in case of sudden turbulence, and leave your bags behind in an emergency evacuation. On Wednesday, 25 people were injured after a Delta Air Lines plane encountered "significant" turbulence while flying over Wyoming, the airline said. Flight 56 diverted to Minnesota and landed safely, but over two dozen people were taken to nearby hospitals. Turbulence can appear suddenly and isn't always detected by onboard radar systems, so there may not be time for the pilots to put on the seatbelt sign. "It's essentially like taking a box with something in it and starting to shake the box up and down," Guy Gratton, an associate professor of aviation and the environment at Cranfield University, previously told Business Insider. "If you're the person who's inside the box, then you get thrown around inside the box, and that's where injuries happen." " Passengers are told to keep their seatbelts done up because if you're tied to the box, you're much less likely to get injured," he added. Plus, turbulence is getting more common as a result of the climate crisis Warmer temperatures allow the atmosphere to hold more moisture, increasing the likelihood and intensity of thunderstorms. Clear-air turbulence, which occurs near jet streams, is also becoming stronger and more frequent due to changes in the atmosphere. In 2023, researchers at the University of Reading in the UK found that severe air turbulence had increased 55% over a typical point in the North Atlantic Ocean between 1979 and 2020. Leave your bags behind in an evacuation Last Saturday, an American Airlines flight was evacuated at Denver International Airport when a landing gear caught fire before takeoff. The airline said that all 173 passengers and six crew members on board were safely evacuated from the aircraft, while one person was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. However, a video of the incident showed passengers carrying their luggage as they went down the emergency slides. The Federal Aviation Administration warns on its website that "retrieving personal items may impede the safe evacuation of passengers." Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas previously told BI how this can cause bottlenecks on board, slowing down the evacuation. "You've got to get all the passengers out in 90 seconds," he said. "Now, we're seeing evacuations taking six and seven minutes because passengers insist on taking their bags." When a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 caught fire after colliding with another plane last January, all 379 people on board survived after evacuating in time. Under safety rules, planemakers have to show that an aircraft can be evacuated in only 90 seconds with only half the exits available. "Bear in mind that such tests do not take place in a high-stress environment," Graham Braithwaite, an expert on flight safety at Cranfield University, told BI at the time. The airline's in-flight safety video was also praised for its clear evacuation instructions, and reminding passengers to leave their bags behind. Not all fires end the same way. In 2019, an Aeroflot plane caught fire after an emergency landing in Moscow, and 41 of the 78 people on board died. Experts criticized passengers who evacuated with their carry-on luggage, suggesting it may have contributed to the death count. While there were no fatalities in the American Airlines and Delta Air Lines incidents over the past week, both are stark reminders of how things can go wrong if safety rules aren't followed.

Travel Like A Local, Not A Tourist: The Good Life Abroad Makes It Easy
Travel Like A Local, Not A Tourist: The Good Life Abroad Makes It Easy

Forbes

time2 days ago

  • Forbes

Travel Like A Local, Not A Tourist: The Good Life Abroad Makes It Easy

Many tourists want to live like locals. getty Overtourism has sparked a vocal backlash among residents in cities such as Barcelona, Amsterdam, Venice, and more. Ironically, many veteran travelers also have frustrations about European travel. They are weary of the crowds and hectic pace of their trips, and they yearn for slower, more authentic, and more meaningful experiences. The Good Life Abroad (TGLA), founded by Andrew Motiwalla, is an innovative travel company that aims to fill the niche between escorted tours and independent travel. The tour agency enables adults over the age of 55 to book one- to three-month-long apartment stays at a single destination with a small group of kindred travelers. This slow style of immersive travel allows them to live among locals and get to know a city more intimately and deeply than most tourists. Seeking: The Slow Travel Experience 'One of our daughters traveled extensively during college via study abroad opportunities,' says Diane Cook, 64, of Louisville, Kentucky. 'We often commented how fortunate she was to be able to spend time in a country like she did.' Diane, a retired marketing executive, and her husband, Bob, had gone on a number of Seabourn cruises that offered guided excursions to exotic international locations. They had rented a house in the south of France for several weeks and had booked personalized tours through luxury travel companies like Abercrombie and Kent, and Andrew Harper. When they learned about The Good Life Abroad on social media (the company advertises on Google and Facebook), they were seeking a travel experience that was slower and would offer opportunities for connections. They booked a month-long stay in Palermo, Sicily. Seeking: A Sense of Community Linda Scena, 71, is single and lives in Manhattan. Since she retired from a global software technology firm three years ago, she has been involved in volunteer work and is a museum docent in the city. Also well-traveled, she was planning a solo trip but was intrigued by the sense of community offered by TGLA. Linda booked a one-month stay in Paris, France, intrigued because the program offered the possibility of alone time as well as opportunities for support and companionship, should she wish to partake inof them. Seeking: Hassle-Free Travel Sharon Grandinette, 67, of Redondo Beach, California, is a legal consultant focusing on traumatic brain injury in children. She still works remotely; her husband Paul is a retired corporate trainer who has lived abroad. After their marriage, the two traveled extensively throughout Europe, returning to Sweden and Italy multiple times. 'I hate planning trips, and I hate wasting time trying to figure out what to do,' says Sharon. 'I thought it might be nice to live in one place for a while to get to know it, and to share travel with a community of people,' she says. Sharon and Paul booked a month-long trip to Lisbon, Portugal, with TGLA, and extended it for another week, traveling themselves to Porto by train. What The Good Life Abroad Provides The TGLA provides a package with furnished apartments with equipped kitchens, weekly housekeeping, and high-speed internet connection. Andrew explains that while these aren't high-end, luxury apartments, they are modern, clean and relatively new. Participants can opt for one or two-bedroom units. One essential component of the program is a group's Community Manager, a local tour guide who knows the ins and outs of the area. That individual plans weekly community meals, happy hours, and other activities to bring people together. 'They are like an 'in-country concierge' who can help you plan local transportation, recommend activities, restaurants, and not-to-be-missed sites,' says Diane. 'They help educate you and demystify the culture and geography.' Everyone in the group has access to the Community Manager via WhatsApp, who also troubleshoots any problems that might arise. Participants love that they learn about activities, events, places and foods that they may never have discovered on their own. 'Our farewell dinner was on a boat anchored in the Seine," says Linda. 'She [the community manager] also planned visits to Montmartre, Versailles Gardens, the St. Denis suburb, a walk with an architect around the Marais, an exploration of the passageways around Paris, and a cooking class.' Linda notes that the community manager also reached out to the group every day with suggestions of things they could do on their own. Another reassuring inclusion, especially for older travelers: The TGLA program provides travel medical insurance, evacuation insurance and facilitates access to a global network of medical providers in case of an emergency. Participants are responsible for booking and paying for their flights, with everyone arriving on the same day, and are responsible for all meals except those sponsored by TGLA. The Genesis of The Good Life Abroad Founder Andrew Motiwalla is a seasoned entrepreneur and 30-year veteran of the travel industry. His overseas travel experience began as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras. After that, he founded several successful programs, including Terra Education, all of which can be described as 'meaningful travel' or 'travel with a purpose.' One such effort, Discover Corps, organizes group tours to allow travelers to connect with local people through volunteer work. Andrew's vast experience underpins the design of The Good Life Abroad. 'Even savvy travelers discover that planning an independent trip isn't as easy as it might seem,' he says. 'Accommodations aren't like the photos they saw online; they may not speak the language, and they can feel isolated and lonely.' He describes TGLA as independent, community-based travel. The term 'community' embraces both the locals in the neighborhood where clients reside, as well as the friendships formed with other travelers in the group who live in the same building or adjacent ones. The Chance To Live Like A Local Participants expressed that some of the most satisfying experiences were derived from simple day-to-day pleasures. 'Most mornings, my husband would walk through the neighborhood discovering coffee shops and bakeries,' says Diane. 'In no time, he knew what time his favorite baker's pastries would come out of the oven and where he could purchase the best fresh roasted coffee beans for the coffeemaker in our apartment.' Then the couple would head out to explore museums, markets and historical sites. 'We became known to the local shop merchants (bakery, fruit store, grocery store, etc) and felt like it was our home,' says Sharon. 'As someone who is used to city walking and public transportation, I felt comfortable getting around Paris much the same way as I get around NYC,' she says. Besides planned group activities, Linda used her time to explore the arrondissements of Paris, and visit department stores, food markets, cafes and restaurants. A friend from London even popped over to visit for one weekend during her stay.. The Good Life Abroad: Forming Connections Each group typically includes 10-20 people, usually a mix of couples and solo travelers. 'Because we were all in the same building in Palermo, we had lots of opportunities to plan meals or activities with other members of the group,' says Diane. 'We became friends with others from the group with whom we still remain in contact,' says Sharon. Linda explains that there were just enough activities planned so that the group could get to know each other. Then it was up to them to reach out if they wanted more than that. 'We wanted something a little different than a tourist experience,' says Diane. Since its inception in 2023, The Good Life Abroad has facilitated some 2,000 bookings, many from repeat customers, demonstrating its success in attracting travelers seeking a distinctive experience. It also provides an excellent opportunity for those considering international relocation to see what living abroad might be like. Destinations currently offered include Barcelona, Florence, Lisbon, Palermo, Paris, Valencia, Vienna, Prague, Seville, Amsterdam, London, Cagliari, Split, and Rome. Pricing varies by dates and destinations. For additional information, see the booking page of The Good Life Abroad.

Some flights still canceled, delayed after storms slam Northeast
Some flights still canceled, delayed after storms slam Northeast

USA Today

time2 days ago

  • USA Today

Some flights still canceled, delayed after storms slam Northeast

Air travel is getting back on track in the Northeast after heavy rain and floods pounded the region on July 31, but some flights are still being impacted. More than 600 U.S. flights have been canceled and over 2,100 have been delayed as of 10 a.m on Aug. 1, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines have the majority of cancellations with 7% and 2% of their schedules impacted respectively. Travelers should check their flight status before leaving for the airport. Here's what air travelers should know if their plans have been upended. Airline waivers More than 1,900 U.S. flights were cancelled and nearly 11,000 others were delayed on July 31. Delta, and United offered fee-free rebooking to travelers whose Northeast flights were impacted on July 31. American, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit don't have any active travel advisories listed as of Aug. 1. However, travelers whose flights are cancelled for any reason on any airline are eligible for rebooking or a refund if they choose to no longer fly, according to Department of Transportation rules. Will your carry-on get gate checked? How to tell in advance What happens if my flight is delayed? A DOT rule that went into effect in late October requires airlines to refund passengers if their flight is significantly delayed for reasons within the carrier's control – if they decide not to travel. Customers who choose to wait it out are eligible for various degrees of compensation including rebooking and possibly meal vouchers or overnight accommodations, depending on the scenario and airline. Again, that's if the delay was within the airline's control. Weather is outside of their control and not subject to the same level of compensation. Travelers can find airline-specific details on their carrier's website and the Transportation Department's Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard. Contributing: Zach Wichter, USA TODAY

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store