Sudden drop jolts WestJet passengers
TORONTO, HALIFAX — One hundred seventeen passengers on a WestJet flight from Calgary to Halifax had a major scare yesterday when their flight plunged in the air nearly 1½ hours from their destination.
Flight 80 was approximately 180 nautical miles northwest of Sudbury, and cruising at 39,000 feet above the ground around 5 p.m., when it hit a patch of turbulence.
The pilots told the people on board to put on their seatbelts, and then there was a sudden drop.
"It was just one huge loss of altitude," said Nancy Powers, a Victoria nurse who was flying east to visit family in Lunenberg, N.S. "Just one big drop," she said.
Drinks spilled all over the cabin and magazines flew from their holders as the plane quickly lost altitude, Ms. Powers said.
Ms. Powers and her friend, Kathi Nelson, who is a fellow nurse, attended to those on board for the next 1½ hours.
WestJet staff consulted the two nurses for their professional opinions on the conditions of the injured passengers. When it was decided they could fly to their destination, the pilots stayed in the air until they reached Nova Scotia.
Ms. Powers estimated that up to 10 people were injured in the incident.
"I would say maybe a total of 10 people had different types of aches and pains just from the jolt," she said. "Some people were asleep and were just jolted awake by this turbulence, and there were three people who really needed to see a paramedic."
WestJet spokesman Richard Bartrem confirmed that three people were taken to Dartmouth Hospital as a precautionary measure.
He said the plane did not land earlier than expected because the incident was "not deemed a medical emergency."
"There was nobody in any impending danger," Mr. Bartrem said. "They were able to continue on safely to Halifax."
The most seriously injured passengers were taken off the plane by paramedics using the lift on a food-service truck, said spokesman Peter Spurway, spokesman for Halifax Robert L. Stanfield International Airport.
Mr. Spurway said the airport was notified about the turbulence about 40 minutes before the plane was due to land. The injuries sounded severe enough that the paramedics took the unusual step of approaching the "airside" of the plane. This meant that the ambulances were in place on the opposite of the jetway and waiting for the plane when it came to a stop.
The paramedics entered the jet using a truck that normally loads food and removed three passengers.
"That way they can get a stretcher onto the plane and you don't have to take the patient through the airport," Mr. Spurway said in an interview late last night.
Passengers told the Halifax Chronicle-Herald that the turbulence was well beyond what they considered normal.
Many passengers didn't have enough time to put on their seatbelts and "all of the people rose up in their seats to where they had just been and hit their heads on the roof," said passenger Scott Lacroix, 30.
The incident will not have to be reported to the Transportation Safety Board because the pilot did not declare a medical emergency.
Mary Ellen Chesnutt told the Halifax Chronicle-Herald the "1,000-foot drop" threw the WestJet passengers around the fuselage like rag dolls.
"It was the worst flight ever," Ms. Chesnutt, 24, said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070907.wxplane07/BNStory/National/homeWestJet has been having a hard time lately...
