Five people were hospitalized Sunday night after an American Airlines flight from Miami to Raleigh-Durham International Airport encountered what the airline says was "unexpected turbulence." An airline spokesperson tells USA Today that three flight attendants and two passengers were taken to a hospital for observation and later released. Passengers tell WRAL that there was terror and "pure chaos" when the Airbus A321 suddenly dropped. "It was like being on the top of a roller coaster and going down," one woman says. "It sounded like we hit something and then we just dropped in the air."
One passenger tells CNN that the turbulence hit just after in-flight service began. Passengers tell WRAL one man was knocked unconscious, a flight attendant's arm was broken, and another flight attendant was burned by hot water from the drinks cart. "They wouldn't have been serving drinks if they knew turbulence was coming," she says. "They were carrying hot water. I mean, there was ice flying everywhere, soda cans, cups. People that were by the carts, they just had things flying in every direction."
Passengers tell WRAL that it took too long for the pilot to address the plane and they don't understand why he chose to fly for another hour and 10 minutes instead of landing at the nearest airport for the injured passengers and crew to get medical attention. Some passengers say they saw lightning outside the plane and they're not sure if turbulence was the real cause of the sudden drop. (More turbulence stories.)
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