Passenger Dies After Private Plane Hit By Severe Turbulence In US

A passenger on a plane was injured and died after it was hit by severe turbulence on Friday. The private plane, a Bombardier Challenger 300, was carrying five people from Keene, New Hampshire, to Leesburg, Virginia, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The incident caused the plane to divert to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, Boston Globe reported. The outlet further said that the police responded to a call for medical assistance at the airport around 3.40pm and transported one passenger to the hospital.

Sarah Taylor Sulick, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Globe that she had no information on what happened to the passenger or if anyone else was injured.

The jet is owned by Conexon, a company based in Missouri, according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) database. The company works towards providing high-speed internet to rural areas. It has so far not commented on the incident.

FlightAware, which tracks live flight data, said the plane took off from Keene airport at 3.55pm and landed at Bradley airport 20 minutes later.

New York Post said the NTSB has taken the cockpit voice and data recorders (black box) to investigate onboard the flight and in also interviewing two crew members and the remaining passengers.

A preliminary report will be available in two to three weeks.

Turbulence remains a major source of flight anxiety for flyers. It causes bellies to drop, sometimes drinks to slop and in rare cases, bumps and bruises.

According to National Weather Service in the US, turbulence is an irregular motion of the air resulting from eddies and vertical currents. It is one of the most unpredictable weather phenomena.