Woman paralyzed on turbulent flight

"Seatbelt sign was illuminated." There is a reason they do that. You see people ignore them all the time.
 
Sometimes they are illuminated the whole flight and people get, well bathroom emergencies. Maybe a potty seatbelt??
Sad story.
 
Certainly no prima facia evidence of wrongdoing on the airline's part. The fact that they sat for 3 hours before departing due to storms does give one pause, however. I can't imagine the pilot saying "well the storms must all be gone, so I'll extinguish the seatbelt sign." I think she probably had to go so badly by that point that she decided to risk it and lost. Big Time. The pilot probably figured that as long as everyone was securely fastened in their seats, the flight could be made safely, albeit uncomfortably. No winners in this. :no:
 
I suppose this story was particularly poignant to me the day I saw it because my flight on Sunday ran into some unexpected turbulence. We were toodling along in light turbulence and misty rain when ATC started asking how the ride was. No sooner had I told her than the ride got a little rougher. Within 10 minutes it seemed we were chugging into potholes and ruts along the way. So, I upgraded the report to moderate. Other pilots in heavier aircraft started to say the same thing. In another few minutes, my hands were flying off into the air, my teeth were grinding and chattering. Then without further warning, my skull slammed into the ceiling and we were in a 30* bank. Bouncing about like Tigger, I regained control and asked Flight Following for help out of the mess. My passenger was thoroughly enjoying herself.
 
On Monday I ran into someone I met last summer. She is a young helicopter manager for the BLM in Fairbanks, a real sharp cookie, helped us on a large missing person search we had last summer. Weeks after that mission she was riding third seat in a Twin Commander fire spotting northwest of Fairbanks somewhere when they struck severe turbulence about 20 miles from what appeared to be a relatively benign air mass cell (if there is such a thing.) She was in a four point harness and still bounced off the headliner suffering crushing fractures of two T-curve verterbrae. Lucky they weren't c-curve.

She is back to work this summer but it really worked her mentally.

We tend to hear about the cases in airliners (oh, the drama) but turbulence injuries in GA tend to go unreported, or reported only locally.
 
AdamZ said:
Yeah but they don't know if it was illuminated when she went to the bathroom.
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I have a simple rule for getting out of my seat. If it's clear outside, and the light is on, I may get up. If it's not clear, and the belt is on, I stay seated. Doesn't help with CAT, but anything weather induced should be avoided.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
I have a simple rule for getting out of my seat. If it's clear outside, and the light is on, I may get up. If it's not clear, and the belt is on, I stay seated. Doesn't help with CAT, but anything weather induced should be avoided.
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CAT isn't weather induced? :dunno: ;)
 
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