“The plane dropped and it almost felt like it was crashing,” Ayo Suber, one of the passengers, tells Inside Edition.
Several people were injured on a flight after intense turbulence on a plane just days ahead of Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest travel weekends in the country.
As a Delta flight approached Atlanta, sudden turbulence rocked the plane, causing 11 people to be hospitalized and others to require neck braces and ice packs.
“The plane dropped and it almost felt like it was crashing,” Ayo Suber, one of the passengers, tells Inside Edition. “That was pretty alarming and scary.”
AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist, Jonathan Porter, tells Inside Edition that more frequent episodes of turbulence may be due to rising temperatures.
“There is science that does suggest at least part of the severe turbulence reports is related to a warming atmosphere,” Porter says. “Some of the winds in the jet stream can be accelerated, so there are signs that there are more bumpy rides ahead.”
Just two days prior, footage showed passengers on a different flight clinging to their seats as severe turbulence rocked their flight while headed to the Spanish island of Majorca.
Last year, 36 passengers were injured after turbulence started rocking the plane just 30 minutes into their Hawaiian Airlines flight.
To help protect yourself from sudden turbulence over the holiday weekend, Porter emphasized the importance of passengers wearing their seatbelts at all times during the flight.
For those willing to risk the turbulence, this Labor Day weekend is expected to bring long lines to the airport. TSA said they expect to screen over 14 million passengers between Friday and Monday.
To those who like to stay grounded and prefer road-tripping over the holiday weekend, with over 53% of Americans expected to hit the road, the busiest time to be on the road is expected to be on Friday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
