Rough flight ‘like a horror movie’: Etihad Airways passenger – The West Australian

A Perth passenger recounts the frightening moments on the Etihad Airways flight.

A passenger on an Etihad Airways plane which was struck by severe turbulence over WA feared she the aircraft would drop out of the sky as it shook violently just minutes after taking off.

Wendy was on the Abu Dhabi-bound Boeing 787-9 when it was forced to return to Perth Airport after experiencing turbulence 8534m over Cervantes last night.

She told Radio 6PR passengers were about to be served their meals when the shaking appeared to take both air attendants and passengers by surprise.

It was the scariest thing Ive ever encountered in my life. It was like one of those horror movies, I thought I was actually going to die, she told Morning Show host Gareth Parker.

We got probably 30 or 40 minutes out of Perth I just felt like we were going to drop out of the sky. It was just terrible, just shaking and we were all hanging on tightly to the seats in front of us.

The woman, who was en route to Belgrade for a family reunion, said passengers screamed as they clung on to their seats, being spared injury only by their seatbelts.

She said the captain eventually told passengers the conditions were deemed too dangerous for the flight to continue and the pilots would dump the planes fuel before return the aircraft to Perth.

If we didnt have our seatbelts we would have been hitting the roof for sure. All my duty free alcohol broke, Wendy said.

It felt like an eternity but honestly probably about 10 minutes it all settled and the captain said theyd decided to turn the plane around.

Fire engines were in attendance when the plane landed safely at Perth Airport at 6.42pm.

Etihad Airways says no passengers were injured during the ordeal and the plane was being inspected by engineers.

Wendy said passengers were given food vouchers while the flight was delayed. It is expected the aircraft will fly out to Abu Dhabi today.

Go here to see the original:
Rough flight 'like a horror movie': Etihad Airways passenger - The West Australian