There is a very good reason that airlines require passengers to have their seatbelts fastened for takeoff and landing. It is obvious to most flyers that being belted in during these portions of the flight can keep them safer if the plane has to abort the takeoff or has a hard landing.
But the consequences of not wearing a seat belt during the cruise portion of a flight can be as bad or worse, as passengers discovered on a recent Korea Air flight from the South Korean city of Incheon bound for Mongolia. With 281 passengers aboard, the wide-body Boeing 777 struck severe turbulence that scared the daylights out of passengers and injured 14 people.
Pictures of the cabin after the incident show utter mayhem. If you didn’t know better, you might believe the passengers had a middle-school-style food fight. Trays and cutlery were everywhere, and food was smeared from the floor to the ceiling.
Four flight attendants and ten passengers complained of neck and back pain after being tossed around the cabin like rag dolls. Thankfully, none of the injuries were severe or life-threatening.
Reports indicate the plane hit a patch of rough air while cruising at 34,100 feet. The turbulence lasted only 15 seconds, but to those aboard it must have felt like a lifetime. One passenger told news media afterward that the plane “sharply plunged” and that passengers were screaming as food and dishes flew around the cabin.
And that’s where seatbelts come in. Many flyers do not heed the flight crew’s advice to keep their seatbelts fastened even during the normally calm cruise portion of the flight unless they must get up to use the restroom. But if a plane hits rough air and drops faster than a person’s body can succumb to gravity, he will fly up and hit the overhead bins or ceiling, and that’s exactly what happened on the Korea Air flight.
The airline had already stopped serving instant noodles to passengers in economy class because of the risk of burns, though it is not clear why first-class passengers would not be subject to the same risk.
Things were even worse for passengers on a flight from London to Singapore in May. The plane, also a 777, plunged for several terrifying minutes after encountering extreme turbulence while cruising at 37,000 feet. One passenger died during the incident.
