On Wednesday, March 10th, a Lufthansa flight from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany encountered severe turbulence, resulting in seven people being sent to the hospital and an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. Now, passengers on the flight are sharing their terrifying experience on social media.
TikTok user Monica Raygada shared clips of the incident on Monday, describing the events that took place onboard the plane. According to her, passengers were having dinner approximately 1.5 hours into the flight when the plane suddenly dropped. She said it felt like the plane was in zero gravity and she saw everything flying in slow motion.
She also noted that the plane kept dropping for what felt like 15 minutes, but passengers were only informed of an emergency landing after about 30 minutes. Raygada said she was frantically searching for her phone so she could text her family and say goodbye.
Actor Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves were also passengers on the flight, and Alves documented the damage on her social media once the plane safely landed.
She said, “On Flight last night, I was told plane dropped almost 4000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital, Everything was flying everywhere. To respect the privacy of those around me that’s all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS And the turbulence keep on coming. The @lufthansa flight you are seeing on the news today!!!! Yes…that one. Thank God everyone was safe and ok. I must say everyone @marriottbonvoy by the airport of Washington where we had to divert to and spend the night was so kind!”
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has confirmed that Lufthansa Flight 469 experienced severe turbulence, but was able to make the emergency landing without incident at 9:10 p.m. They are currently investigating what happened.
The incident has left passengers with a harrowing experience that they will likely not forget. Raygada said of the incident, “That’s when we all thought this was it.” Fortunately, everyone onboard the flight was able to make it safely to the ground.
