ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – Air New Zealand domestic flight NZ607 on the Wellington to Queenstown, New Zealand route, Sunday, June 16 2024, experienced severe turbulence. The incident resulted in injuries to a plane passenger and a flight attendant.
Reporting from Mothership, Wednesday, June 19 2024, a passenger, who remained wearing a seat belt, was reportedly scalded by hot water from a hot coffee pot on the service trolley, RNZ reported.
Meanwhile, the cabin crew hit the ceiling. The plane experienced a minor shake during drinks service about 15 minutes into the flight. The incident was followed by “violent shaking.” The trolley moved down the aisle, spilling hot coffee from the jug onto passengers’ stomachs and backs. The injured passenger then poured a bottle of cold water over himself after being scalded. A paramedic sitting behind him immediately provided first aid.
“There was nothing I could do. I was tied up (because I was wearing a seat belt), I wanted to keep wearing a seat belt, because there was more turbulence, but I also had to treat burns (from being splashed with hot coffee),” said the victim, identified as Suze’s name.
He continued, “I managed to get a bottle of cold water and started dousing myself and I talked to the flight attendant who was still lying on the floor and said, ‘Is it okay if I spill water everywhere because that’s what I’m going to do?’ and he said, ‘Just do it.'” Suze told Checkpoint that the turbulence lasted for a while and she was stuck in her seat. “I certainly don’t want to take off my seat belt, while the trolley is still in the way, I can’t go anywhere. It’s chaotic.”
The victim of the incident said he wanted Air New Zealand to consider serving hot drinks on short-haul flights and improve their coffee pot lids.
“(The kettle lid) seems to come off quickly and I think on long-haul flights, you’ll see the coffee pot or hot water pot all covered tightly,” he said. “I mean, the fact that the lid on the carafe comes off quickly and a large amount of hot liquid can escape, that’s something that can be fixed fairly quickly,” he added. “Luckily, my burns weren’t too bad.”
Another passenger on the flight told local media Crux that a flight attendant said it was the worst turbulence he had ever experienced in his career.
Air New Zealand said cabin crew had been trained to respond to such situations. One of their procedures details when passengers and cabin crew are asked to sit in their seats at various levels of turbulence.
Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer Captain David Morgan said clear air turbulence can occur when rough air is not visible.
Morgan said they are always reviewing procedures to ensure the safety of customers and officers. Queenstown Airport connected, an ambulance was asked to be on standby after the flight landed.
Hato Hone St John said they were called to Queenstown Airport just before 3pm that day, and took two patients to Lakes District Hospital with moderate injuries.
The airline said in a statement to Crux that passengers had been told there would be shaking on the flight.
Previously, bulging on Singapore Airlines flights had made headlines. Initial investigations of the intense turbulence that hit the Singapore Airlines flight revealed that the plane accelerated rapidly up and down. The iron bird also descended about 178 feet (54 meters) in 4.6 seconds.
According to the BBC, June 1 2024, a British passenger was killed and dozens of others were injured when the London-Singapore flight experienced turbulence in the skies of Myanmar before finally being diverted to land in Thailand. Singaporean investigators have extracted flight data and black boxes in order to carry out the investigation. (ATN)
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