Scary footage has emerged from a Miami-bound Scandinavian Airlines flight that had to make a U-turn on Thursday (Nov 14) and return to Europe after encountering severe turbulence over Greenland. The video clip going viral on social media shows passengers screaming as the plane violently shakes, ejecting the fliers from their seats. Food and carry-on bags could also be seen lining the aisles before the pilots took the call to return to a base in Copenhagen with 254 passengers and crew members onboard.
"Look at her feet touching the [ceiling]!" one passenger wrote alongside a clip that has gone viral on social media. "Thought we would die."
The flight had taken off from Stockholm around 12:55 pm local time and was due to land in Miami at 5:45 pm when the incident took place. Despite the heavy shakedown, there were no serious injuries among the passengers and crew, according to a Scandinavian Airlines spokesperson.
"Following such turbulence, standard safety procedures require a thorough inspection of the aircraft," the spokesperson said.
The passengers were accommodated in a hotel overnight and were booked on other flights by Friday morning, according to a report in NY Post.
The flight, which typically takes nine hours, was rerouted back to Copenhagen, Denmark where technicians are looking for any potential damages. According to reports, if the flight had continued its journey to Miami, it would have been grounded "for an extended period of time" as the US city does not have space and personnel for inspection of a plane that has suffered such damage. The aviation safety protocols mandate a thorough inspection of any aircraft when it undergoes severe turbulence.
Also read | 11 Injured After Severe Turbulence Onboard Lufthansa Flight To Frankfurt
Previous instance
This is not the first instance when a Scandinavian Airline flight has been forced to abandon the flight path and return to home base. In September, a flight bound for Malaga, Spain from Norway has halted when a mouse leaped from a passenger's meal and started roaming around the cabin.
The pilot was forced to land in Copenhagen due to a policy that prohibits rodents on flights because they can chew through electrical wiring.
