‘Severe Turbulence’ on Lufthansa Flight Leaves At Least 7 Injured

A Lufthansa 747-400 taking off from Newark Liberty International Airport
At least seven people including a flight attendant on a Lufthansa flight from Austin to Frankfurt on Wednesday were injured after the aircraft encountered what was termed “severe turbulence” by aviation authorities.
Lufthansa Flight 469 departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 4:52 p.m. local time with a wheels-up time of 5:09 p.m.
The Airbus A330-300 diverted to Washington’s Dulles International Airport as a result of the incident and “landed safely” at 9:10 p.m. EST, according to a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.  Video posted on social media shows food and packaging strewn throughout an aisle of the twin-aisle jetliner.
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said that the flight crew reported encountering “severe turbulence” at 37,000 feet over Tennessee.
Lufthansa said in a statement that the flight “encountered brief but severe turbulence about 90 minutes after takeoff” and said the crew then “made an unscheduled landing at Washington Dulles Airport as a precautionary measure.”
The Federal Aviation Administration as well as the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa said its ground staff at Dulles were “currently attending to the well-being of passengers and rebooking them accordingly,” but did not immediately provide further details when asked to clarify whether it planned to compensate passengers.
The carrier said it regretted the “inconvenience caused to passengers.”
(Photo: Accura Media Group)