When the captain says “fasten your seat belts,” please listen. News is just emerging that a SAS Scandinavian Airlines stewardess suffered spinal cord injuries from an incident involving turbulence last August.
As reported by the BBC, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report said the stewardess had been in a crew seat, unrestrained, and was making a passenger announcement when turbulence threw her into the air. The woman landed in her seat and needed to remain on the galley floor until landing at Heathrow.
On the same flight, another cabin crew member hit the cabin roof but was unhurt. Three of the four cabin crew on the flight in question reported being unaware of the request to be seated due to turbulence ahead.
The injured stewardess endured a 10-day hospital stay.
SAS carried out an investigation which highlighted three similar occasions of cabin crew suffering injuries due to turbulence.