Kolkata: An Airbus A320 aircraft plunged like a stone for 1000 feet after it hit an air pocket while being diverted from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar during Sunday's thunderstorm. Two passengers, who were not strapped in securely despite the seat belt sign being on, were seriously injured. So was an airhostess, who was hurled to the plane's ceiling and was stuck there for the terrifying seconds that the plane dropped.
IndiGo Airlines filght 6E 252, with 183 passengers and six crew, was en route from Indore to Kolkata via Raipur when it was redirected to Bhubaneswar after two failed attempts to land at NSCBI Airport. Subhabrata Basu of IIM Indore, who was on the flight, said the vertical drop took them completely by surprise and left the cabin in chaos in an instant.
"Half an hour into the diversion to Bhubaneswar, the plane encountered turbulence. An airhostess, who had walked to the ninth row to help a passenger fasten his seat belt, bumped hard into the ceiling the moment the aircraft fell like a stone. She was stuck there for several seconds and then fell on the floor with a thud. I reached out and caught her so that she did not get thrashed around as the plane was buffeted by choppy weather," he said. When a plane enters into a free fall, passengers feel virtual weightlessness, which is why anything that is not strapped down will soar and swirl about.
13/05/13 Times of India
