Thursday’s Scandinavian Airlines flight from Stockholm to Miami made an emergency turn back to Europe after encountering extreme turbulence over Greenland, leaving passengers screaming as some were thrown violently against the cabin ceiling.
The Airbus A330 departed Stockholm at 12:55 p.m. and was scheduled to land in Miami at 5:45 p.m. The severe turbulence struck at cruising altitude, caused the aircraft to turn back, ultimately landing in Copenhagen instead of completing its transatlantic journey.
Video footage captured by a passenger shows unbelted travelers that were hurled upward by the turbulence. The video also shows passengers gripping the backs of seats for support, with debris—including plastic cups, paper bags, and backpacks—scattered across the cabin. According to one person on board,
Look at her feet touching the ceiling! I thought we were going to die.
A spokesperson for SAS confirmed that there were 254 passengers and one infant on board. While at least one injury was reported by a passenger, the airline stated that no serious injuries occurred. According to the carrier, they didn’t have the equipment necessary in Miami to properly inspect the plane. Diverting back to their Denmark hub meant returning the aircraft to service more quickly, though it also meant greater inconvenience to customers who were offered rebooking the next day along with hotel accommodations.
#BREAKINGNEWS:
SAS Flight #SK957 from Stockholm to Miami has encountered severe turbulence, prompting a diversion back to Europe. Passengers onboard experienced intense shaking, leading to items scattered across the cabin @zamzam1925#turbulence #WeatherAlert #aviation #safety https://t.co/ttX42dh1BY pic.twitter.com/j47rdWBVdf— Antony Ochieng,KE✈️ (@Turbinetraveler) November 14, 2024
A Scandinavian Airlines flight going from Stockholm to Miami hit severe turbulence over Greenland https://t.co/hpIsHeOCBF pic.twitter.com/0a4eAhP6ky
— Charles T (@ChuckyT3) November 15, 2024
We’ve seen a number of severe turbulence incidents recently like Air Canada’s Vancouver – Singapore flight, Korean Air’s Mongolia flight, Air Europa from Madrid to Montevideo, the Singapore Airlines flight that diverted to Bangkok, United’s Tel Aviv – Newark and Emirates from Perth to Dubai.
When the seat belt sign is on, wear your seat belt. When the seat belt sign is off, but you’re in your seat wear your seat belt.
As a 2 Million miler and an Instrument Rated Pilot, I am still constantly amazed at how stupid and/or careless people are when travelling by air.
Wear your seatbelt. It’s that simple. You can’t police stupid.
Yep – 8 million miler here over 40 plus years and I ALWAYS wear my seat belt unless getting up to use the lavatory and then I get back in my seat as quickly as possible. Never understood why people don’t keep their seatbelt on. Not like it is bothersome and just wear it loosely which will prevent you from becoming a projectile.
Following an incident like this, I find it interesting that the airline decided not to fly to the nearest airport, most likely KEF in nearby Iceland, but instead, to fly 4 hours back to mainland Europe, to Copenhagen, an SAS hub, nonetheless, but not even to Stockholm, a similar distance from Greenland and where they had originated. I could imagine passengers from Sweden may have just wanted to go home after this madness; we’ll, they’ll have to find some way on their own.
It seems like an odd ‘business decision’ rather than one for the safety or best interests of the passengers and crew. I can only imagine the trauma and inconvenience compounded, though I am not surprised that these ‘big businesses’ chose profits over people yet again.
Hopefully the passengers receive compensation, but likely the airline will argue ‘extraordinary circumstances’ so they will also be out of luck. That fine print on the insurance policies will probably also result in denied claims (‘Oh, you had to be delayed 72 hours… sowie’). The little guy almost always gets screwed in situations like this sadly.
This is 100% the reason I have my little kids wear CARES harnesses on the plane. The regular lap belts are so easy for little to slip out of, and be seriously injured in a situation like this!
This is why parents should pay for a seat
@John – did you read the article? They returned to their base because they didn’t have necessary equipment to inspect the plane in Miami. I’m sure AA has such equipment there but SAS wanted their own mechanics to look at it. Same with KEF. Obviously the pilots determined the plane wasn’t in any danger or they would have gone to the nearest airport. As for flying to CPH instead of returning to ARN – you may not know but CPH is the main airport and headquarters for SAS. Sweden no longer even has an equity stake (only Denmark and Norway).
Phil, not been reading the news lately? People don’t always do the best thing in their self-interest.
But I’ve got a commercial ticket and completely agree with you. Our training drilled safety procedures into us, but many folks seem to treat airliners like bus travel. But then look at how many people still don’t use belts in cars, let alone helmets when biking or on motorcycle. It is pretty hard to fix bad habits from the outside.
FlightAware shows the flight well past Greenland and almost to Canada. If customer safety was even a thought, there were numerous airports in that part of Canada or the USA that the flight could have been diverted to. Full service airports in Montreal, Boston and New York City were a lot closer than returning to Europe. Being customer friendly seems to be an afterthought, if that.
Show the video of what can happen in turbulence to the gate lice prior to boarding- they will be close to the monitors and they will keep the belts on.