Turkish Airlines Flight TK01 from Istanbul to New York encountered an unusual turbulence about 40 minutes before landing at New York JFK Airport on March 9.
The Boeing 777 type aircraft, which had taken off from Istanbul with 326 passengers and 18 crew members, landed safely at the airport at 5.35pm Saturday, where 28 passengers onboard and two cabin staff, who had sustained non-life threatening injuries, were taken to hospital on landing.
Turkish Airlines has confirmed in a statement that 18 out of the 28 injured passengers were discharged following their treatment, 10 were kept under medical observation as a precautionary measure. After a while, nine of those last 10 passengers were also discharged. One passenger and one cabin staff member remain under medical observation, “as a precautionary measure”. Media reports state that the flight attendant in question sustained a broken leg.
Turkish Airlines states that since there was no technical failure on the coded aircraft, the turbulence was caused by the aircraft being exposed to unforeseen adverse weather conditions before landing at New York JFK Airport. After necessary technical examinations, the same aircraft departed from JFK on time for operating its scheduled flight to Istanbul.
Scientists are predicting that severe turbulence is expected to increase significantly over the next 30 years as CO2 levels rise and climate change impacts the speed of the jetstream.