Passengers suffered panic attacks Turbulence forces A330 to turn back after 5-hour flight

An SAS Airbus A330 was forced to turn back on its way to Miami after experiencing severe turbulence. The flight returned to Northern Europe after more than five hours.

An Airbus A330-300 operated by SAS Scandinavian Airlines took off from Stockholm on Thursday at 13:10 local time, bound for Miami, USA. The scheduled flight time was 10 hours and 50 minutes. The flight initially proceeded normally. The nine-year-old jet crossed Sweden, Norway and the south of Iceland and Greenland.

But about halfway between Greenland and the Canadian coast, the situation changed dramatically, as reported by the "aeroTelegraph". The long-haul aircraft turned around and returned to northern Europe, where it landed in Copenhagen. The turnaround took place after a flight time of around 5 hours and 10 minutes, and the plane landed in Denmark almost five hours later.

The reason for the turnaround was severe turbulence, which influenced the crew's decision to bring the plane back to an SAS base. A spokeswoman for the airline told the newspaper "Aftonbladet" that it would not have been possible to inspect the aircraft in Miami.

One passenger recounted the frightening experience on board, when the plane sagged badly and loose objects flew through the cabin. The atmosphere during the return flight was tense and some passengers suffered panic attacks. According to the Air Live portal, the cockpit crew reported to Canadian air traffic control that one passenger had suffered a head injury, but that a doctor was on board.

SAS has not yet commented on possible injuries.

This article was created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). All content created by AI is verified by the editorial team.