A passenger who was on a Miami-bound flight when he was hit by extreme turbulence said he thought he was going to die and described how a man next to him was knocked unconscious after being thrown against the cabin ceiling.
Sammy Solstad, originally from Sweden but now living in Florida, was on the flight home with his wife when the plane was buffeted by air currents over Greenland.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) Flight SK957 fell more than 8,000 feet in just a few minutes when turbulence hit, flight trackers show.
The flight from Stockholm, which was supposed to last nine hours, turned around and headed back to Europe, a trip that lasted about five hours.
Solstad shared a clip of the moment the plane suddenly “sank”, in which passengers are seen clinging to their seats and heard screaming in terror as others are thrown upwards.
People’s belongings go flying as a man and woman in their row are seen crashing into the ceiling, with the woman’s feet visible at head height in the dramatic images.
“I was asleep and my wife woke me up and said, ‘There are a lot of potholes,’ and then things got very bad, very quickly,” Solstad told MailOnline.
‘We thought we were going to die when it fell straight down, and the people next to us crashed through the roof. The woman was thrown upward and hit the ceiling with her entire body, head first.
He said the woman’s husband, whose seat belt was loose, was knocked unconscious.
A woman’s leg is seen in the air as she is thrown by the force of turbulence on the Scandinavian Airlines flight.
Passengers are seen clinging to the backs of their seats as the plane was rocked by extreme turbulence.
Sammy Solstad, originally from Sweden but now living in Florida, was on the flight home with his wife when the plane was hit by turbulence.
The woman, who was not wearing a seat belt, “hit her head and neck very hard” and then fell to the ground.
“The staff didn’t get out of their chairs to help the woman on the floor; it was a crazy situation and they were probably in shock,” he continued.
The plane continued to descend rapidly, but Solstad said he decided to run to help the woman, who he said was “bleeding a little bit,” by lifting her up and strapping her to the seat.
Passengers posted photos of the cabin during the turbulence on social media, with items such as plastic cups, paper bags and a man’s backpack scattered on the floor.
The shocked passengers pleaded for the plane to land at the nearest airport in Canada, Solstad said, adding that they were just an hour away from flying over the United States.
“Everyone on the plane is praying and asking to just land instead of flying over open sea and for several hours because of the damaged plane and the woman with neck injuries,” he said.
However, the pilots were ordered to fly back to Denmark, he claimed, saying the reason was that it would be too expensive for SAS to send mechanics to the US.
“Everyone was worried, we didn’t want to go back five hours in a compromised plane that, according to the pilot, was damaged. I don’t think he wanted to tell us that because he didn’t repeat it again.
He said that although the turbulence subsided, people were still terrified during the flight back to Europe. “When you’re scared for five hours, it feels like five days,” he said.
“Everyone was crying and screaming, the little hit everyone was scared, there wasn’t much turbulence, but everything felt horrible.
«There were many children and elderly people on the flight who could have easily suffered a heart attack.
“Many people said they would never fly again, that they would never get on a plane again after that experience,” he added.
Solstad shared an image of his monitor after it began showing his flight diverting to Copenhagen due to turbulence.
Solstod said he met one of the pilots at the hotel where they stayed afterward. “The pilot said he had been flying his whole life and it was definitely the craziest thing he had ever experienced,” he said.
The traveler attacked the airline saying: ‘They care about money before people. The flight attendant said “no, we always put people first” but then admitted that the plane might need to stay there for three weeks and that they didn’t want to be stuck there, which confirmed what I said.
The airline told MailOnline that the plane had to turn around because it did not have the necessary equipment in Miami to carry out the checks.
“As SAS does not have the facilities or personnel necessary for this level of inspection in Miami, we decided to divert the aircraft to Copenhagen, where hangar space and qualified technicians were available,” he said in a statement.
“Bringing the aircraft to MIA would have resulted in it being grounded for an extended period, which would have resulted in multiple cancellations.”
According to Scandinavian Airlines, there were 254 passengers and a baby on board the plane.
A passenger shared an image from inside the Scandinavian Airlines plane after it experienced strong turbulence this Thursday and had to fly back to Europe.
The image above shows the scene inside the flight when it experienced severe turbulence.
The Scandinavian Airlines flight took off from Stockholm at 12:55 p.m. and was supposed to land in Miami at 5:45 p.m. local time, but decided to return to Europe when it reached the east coast of the United States.
No serious injuries were reported to passengers or crew, they said, and the plane was met by a special assistance team when it landed.
Passengers and crew were given hotel rooms in Copenhagen and were booked on other flights to Miami on Friday, according to the airline.
In September, a Scandinavian Airlines flight was forced to divert after a rodent was discovered in a passenger’s meal.
The plane, which was flying from Oslo to Malaga, Spain, was forced to land in Copenhagen as a safety precaution after the mouse was found in a meal during the flight.
Rodents on board airplanes can pose a safety risk as they can chew on critical cables. Airlines usually have procedures to prevent such an incident from occurring.