A dozen passengers and crew were injured when a Hawaiian Airlines flight bound for Sydney International Airport (SYD) encountered severe turbulence while flying across the Pacific Ocean.
Flight HA 451 left Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on June 29, 2023 at approximately 12:55 local time.
Five hours into the flight, the Airbus A330 aircraft met strong winds that sent passengers flying out of their seats and crashing to the floor as the aircraft nosedived.
A doctor onboard immediately treated four passengers and three flight attendants.
The flight was able to land safely at Sydney Airport the following day on the evening of June 30, 2023, where injured passengers and crew were met by paramedics. One passenger and three staff members were taken to hospital with injuries and back pain.
A passenger who was on the flight posted images to Reddit that showed the extent of the damage to the A330 interior caused by the severe turbulence.
Image: RainbowAussie / Reddit
The poster, username RainbowAussie, said that damage to the cabin was caused by “human bodies flying out of seats when the plane hit turbulence and suddenly nosedived.”
“Our Airbus A330 aircraft carrying 163 passengers and 12 crew members landed without incident at Sydney Airport at 7:47 pm local time Friday,” Hawaiian Airlines confirmed via a statement that was published by several media outlets.
“Our immediate priority is to continue to care for our passengers and crew affected by this turbulence event, and we thank Sydney airport first responders for their swift assistance. We conducted a thorough inspection of the aircraft before boarding HA452, which departed Sydney to Honolulu at approximately 10:30pm local time yesterday,” the airline said.
In December 2022, a Hawaiian Airlines flight flying from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) to Honolulu also encountered severe turbulence prior to descent. The turbulence led to 20 people sustaining significant injuries.