Passengers on a transatlantic Scandinavian Airways (SAS) flight yesterday had been in for fairly an disagreeable trip. Not solely did the flight encounter extreme turbulence, however after flying for over 10 hours, the airplane landed solely 340 miles from the place it originated.
SAS A330 encounters extreme turbulence over Atlantic
This incident occurred on Thursday, November 14, 2024, and includes SAS flight SK957, scheduled to function from Stockholm (ARN) to Miami (MIA). The flight was operated by a nine-year-old Airbus A330-300 with the license plate LN-RKS, and had 254 passengers onboard.
This 4,977-mile flight usually spends slightly below 10 hours within the air. That was additionally true on yesterday’s flight, besides passengers didn’t find yourself the place they had been anticipating to. So, what occurred right here?
The airplane took off from Stockholm at 1:10PM native time, and began its transatlantic crossing, flying over the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. Nevertheless, simply over 5 hours into the flight, whereas flying over the Labrador Sea between Greenland and Newfoundland, the plane encountered extreme turbulence.
Footage and video footage from contained in the cabin are wild, with folks and repair gadgets flying up. The nice information is that there have been no critical accidents. It’s a great reminder of the significance of at all times being strapped in whereas seated.
Whereas I wouldn’t at all times belief this knowledge to be 100% correct, Flightradar24 means that the jet dropped from 36,000 toes to 27,000 toes in a really quick time period.
SAS A330 then diverts… to Copenhagen?!
Typically when there’s extreme turbulence, planes will divert to one of many nearest airports, on account of accidents, the final cabin situation, and so forth. This SAS A330 did in actual fact divert, however to not the place you’d anticipate.
It didn’t fly to one of many nearest main airports. As a substitute, despite the fact that it was approaching North America, the choice was made to fly all the best way to Copenhagen, a roughly 5 hour flight away. What’s fairly stunning is that Copenhagen was farther from the plane’s place than its vacation spot of Miami.
The airplane landed in Copenhagen at 11:15PM, after a flight time of 10hr5min. All passengers acquired in a single day lodging, and had been rebooked on flights to Miami at present (November 15).
Why would SAS make the choice to divert to Copenhagen, which is neither the origin or vacation spot, the place there’s a complete flight time that’s longer than it could’ve been if the airplane simply continued to Miami? Nicely, as an SAS spokesperson explains:
“Following such turbulence, commonplace security procedures require a radical inspection of the plane. SAS have the most effective amenities and employees for this degree of inspection in Copenhagen/CPH, and we subsequently determined to reroute the plane right here, the place each hangar house and certified technicians had been accessible. Flying the plane to MIA would have resulted in it being grounded for an prolonged interval, resulting in a number of cancellations.”
That is removed from the primary time we’ve seen an airline flip a flight round, despite the fact that it’s greater than midway to its vacation spot, and there’s no instant menace. Airways do worth having plane again at their greatest bases in conditions like this.
Now, I do surprise, may an inspection like this not be carried out by a 3rd celebration at an outstation? Or did the airline know there was harm to the inside of the jet, and needed to get it mounted earlier than having it reenter service?
Clearly that is an unenviable scenario throughout. For passengers, the preliminary extreme turbulence scenario was in all probability terrifying, after which they needed to fly for an additional 5 hours in a fairly messy cabin, to a vacation spot they didn’t even intend to journey to. Then they needed to do the entire thing once more the next day.
Backside line
An SAS A330 sure for Copenhagen encountered extreme turbulence throughout its transatlantic crossing, between Greenland and Newfoundland. Although the jet was over midway full with its journey, the choice was made to return to Copenhagen, which is the provider’s greatest hub.
In the long run, the airplane landed in Copenhagen over 10 hours after it first departed Stockholm, and all passengers had been rebooked for the next day.
What do you make of this SAS A330 diversion?
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