SALT LAKE CITY — On Wednesday, a flight en route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam unexpectedly hit three waves of violent turbulence, causing a nightmarish scene for the nearly 300 passengers on board. Joseph Carbone, a Utah man, was one of them.
While sitting next to his wife on Delta Flight 56, he settled in after the first 45 minutes of the flight, and meal service had just begun. It was then the turbulence hit them over Wyoming, tossing carts, cups and even people.
“There was one flight attendant who was attending to us,” he recalled. “She went all the way up to the ceiling. The passengers grabbed her to keep her from hitting the ceiling.”
Carbone was visibly shaken on Thursday morning while recounting the chaos.
“We thought that the plane might go down,” he said, “and I just held my wife’s hand, and we just, you know, we tried to remain calm.”
Carbone’s estimate wasn’t so far from reality. The Airbus A330-900 did drop, he said, by about 1,000 feet, according to the plane’s pilot.
“We went down about 1000 feet in a very short period of time,” he said. “They think they were pelted by large hail. No one was ready for this. They didn’t hear any warnings from any towers. This was totally unexpected. And it just happened.”
As the nightmare unfolded, Carbone said the Delta crew took immediate action. When asked if the experience changed his feelings about flying, he firmly said no.
“First of all, kudos to the Delta crew,” he said. “They made sure that we were comfortable, safe that they had us as number one. So they’re amazing.”
As for the plane itself, Carbone said he’s convinced only divine intervention ensured their lives were safe.
“I really believe there were angels around,” he said. “You have to remember that even though there were 25 people and our hearts go out to them and their families, we pray for them. That was still, from what we experienced, just a few.”
Carbone and his wife were ultimately headed to Kenya on a humanitarian mission with EyeCare4Kids, stopping in Amsterdam to get another flight. On Thursday, the couple had plans to book a flight again to Amsterdam and “continue on to Nairobi, and with smiles.”
Federal investigators are looking into whether changing weather patterns are playing a bigger role in this type of incident. Delta has since launched an internal review and sent a care team to assist impacted travelers. The company stresses the crew followed all safety protocols.
As for the 25 people injured, most were treated and released by Thursday afternoon, according to the airline.
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