Diverted aircraft needs repairs before it can leave island
A passenger aircraft forced to divert to Bermuda after experiencing severe turbulence on Saturday is still on the island.
The Airbus A330-200 is grounded at LF Wade International Airport and will have to undergo repairs before it can fly again.
The Maleth Aero flight left Barbados for Manchester on Saturday night. But a few hours into its journey, it hit “clear air turbulence”, forcing it to divert to Bermuda.
Skyport, the airport’s operator, said yesterday that an airline maintenance team was on the island and repairs were expected to be completed today.
Eleven of the 225 passengers on board were injured in the incident. They were taken to hospital for evaluation after the aircraft touched down in Bermuda shortly before 1am on Sunday.
All passengers and 13 crew were put up in hotels on the island until Boxing Day when a second aircraft ferried them to Manchester. That flight arrived yesterday morning without incident.
The story was picked up by national newspapers in Britain, with The Daily Mail, Independent and The Telegraph all giving it extensive coverage.
The Manchester Evening News interviewed one passenger, who described the incident as “so scary”.
The woman, who was not named by the newspaper, added: "We were about two hours into the flight and everything was fine. Some people were sitting down, but some were in the toilets and staff were serving drinks.
“Then all of a sudden the plane literally just dropped.
"I had my belt on very loose, so I was OK but I did feel myself lift off the chair. It felt like you could have been pulled off the seat. I just assumed it would keep on going."
The passenger said the aircraft’s sudden, sharp descent felt like being on a roller-coaster ride. People were screaming in panic and the aircraft’s interior lights were flickering on and off.
She said: "I've had turbulence on a plane before and its just like a bit of rocking back and forth, but this was a proper drop.“
The passenger, who was speaking from Bermuda before leaving the island on Tuesday, described her hotel here as “lovely”, but added that uncertainty over when she would finally get home was “frustrating”.
"I know it is unforeseen but our flights keep getting changed and we don't really know what is happening," she said.
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