Video: Turbulence Injures 31 Passengers On Etihad Flight To Jakarta

A flight full of religious nutcases, that must be worse than the turbulence.

Allah heard their chanting and saved them. We finally have video proof of a higher power. Checkmate atheists.

Wow. I am probably more cynical than the average commentor here, but the first two comments on this story are the very definition of mean-spirited, not clever and INTOLERANT. What kind of person reads Ben's post & watches the video and comes up with those comments? I hope I never have the misfortune of interacting with you at any airport or to sit next to you on any flight.

I have never heard of a case before where the ceiling panels develop cracks due to turbulence. Has this happened before?

"Wow" is the certainly best way to describe those two comments.

So much hate in this world. Unbelievable.

Sigord and David you guys are the biggest piece of crap so far today for me. However, I'm sure more will step forward though throughout my day.

@Sigord wow.... that's such an appropriate comment directed towards people who were probably terrified out of their minds moments before.

Having seen those cracks in the ceiling, I don't blame them for praying to their God.

horrified at the first two comments. Shows complete ignorance of Islam and Indonesia. I've lived in Indonesia and been there several times. Disgusting categorization of the country, the culture and the people.

@Sigord Honey, you're a nutcase.

Lucky, have you ever been in something similar before?

@Tim T: the cracks on the ceiling panels is probably where someone's head hit! Again, folks... keep your seatbelts fastened!

Been on one flight with an emergency landing evacuation situation, lets just say there was lots of crying & praying on that flight. Its not fun to be trapped in a plane and know something isn't right with the flight. I don't ever wish that on anyone. Glad they landed albeit with some injuries.

@Lucky don't you moderate comments? I thought you did. I am very surprised to see @Sigord's idiotic statement up there.

I was on a Qantas flight many years back, where the turbulence got so severe that a couple of the overhead lockers flew open, flinging out their contents. In addition,as you can imagine, anything that wasn't fixed to something got thrown around like it was in a slightly manic tumble dryer.

Genuinely terrifying, so I really feel for these passengers.

Funny thing is that Sigord would probably be the first person to say a prayer if he thought that his plane might go down. Then right after the danger clears he would go back to criticizing others for doing the same.

Most of the people (elderly) you see in the video are people who have just returned from Mecca performing their mini Hajj called Umrah.
For many of them it would most likely be the second time on a plane (the first being the outbound). So you really can't blame them being even more scared than the average traveler.

Why can't all the haters (like the first 2 commentors) just do us all a huge favor and go away someplace and die - never to be heard from again!! No one will miss you.

@CJ - The irony of your own comment must be lost on you.

All you social justice warriors with your bleeding hearts are no better or worse than me. We're all just doofuses (doofii?) behind a computer. Your empathy is doing just as much good as my joke: none. But go ahead, pat yourselves on that back for what a good person you are. Send your positive thoughts! XOXO Like Like Like!

I must add my disgust to the first two comments.
These poor people were terrified for their lives, why would it piss you off that they find solace by turning to God? It sad how you refuse to live and let live.

This happened to a buddy on an AA flight and he said some people threw their hands up in the air and started praying to Jesus. So, ya know... it's not just Muslims who freak out. I'm not even religious and I might start dropping a few "shma yisrael's" under my breath if that happened to me.

I am sure those poor folks must have been terrified. I hope those injured recover quickly.

(I know the first two comments upset a lot of people; just not sure why those offended are willing to give them the reaction they were looking for)

Laughed at the first two comments. Relax, people. This is what Internet is all about.

I'm most upset about the comma splice in the first comment.

Argh the first two comments. Just so many awful people on the Internet. Ben, it would be good if you could just take those two comments off.

@ Tim T: Yes, I have experienced such damage before both in a flight and during aircraft qualification. Essentially, uneven turbulence (imagine an aircraft flying into a strong wind front coming at it diagonally) can twist the fuselage by a few millimeters, where the stress is sufficient to crack the long-fiber reinforced plastics on the interiors since these are typically held onto the fuselage frame by screws as singular units.

The other reason is when a heavy object is propelled towards it and essentially cracks the plastic inwards (i.e. a person's head when an aircraft drops 30 ft suddenly and when that person has not fastened their seat-belt). This is what looks like happened here. I sincerely hope that the individual is recovering and not paralyzed.

I Read in German Media that 3of the passengers broke their spinal column:(

Etihad typically flies close to brand new aircrafts. A330 here I belive. Imagine if you were in an (30yr) old creaky md83.

@Caco Potoso , @ Jared Thanks for your replies.
I never thought about passengers' head hitting the ceiling. Horrible for the people involved and a good remind (again) to wear the seat-belt.

This isn't actually a video showing turbulence. You can hear an announcement at 0:55 saying that they have landed in Jakarta, to please remain seated etc. The prayers and thanks are presumably offered in relief, rather than in fear.

I am an atheist but have no problem understanding and accepting the comfort that many people take from their faith. There is no 'right answer' to religious belief - we each choose the path that is right for us. While it's tempting to comment on the intolerance and stupidity of the first two commenters, I'll try hard instead to sympathise. Low intelligence shows itself in different ways, these guys are clearly not terribly bright, and even less secure in their own skins. That's why they need to poke fun at others. It's time to crawl back under your rocks now!

Hey Ben, just curious. Do you sleep with seatbelt on when in F or J? I'd say I'm about 50/50...but when I see things like this it makes me think maybe I should be more diligent.

@David
+1 funny
Hate??? Intolerance? Stupidity?
When someone makes a joke about religion, it is no sign of any of the above. Quite the contrary actually. It is just a joke, folks. Relax.

David and Sigord, touche.

Amazing in today's time that the far majority of you folks got riled up over a couple comments rather than a discussion on Ben's story. Feathers, ruffled.

Science put the plane in the air. That we continue to believe in fairy tales in the 21st century is what is truly amazing.

Is the god that saves them the same god that caused the turbulence? Organized religion in the US of A is dying out like the republican party.

Some turbulence incidents get more coverage than others, even though damage and injuries are similar.

"Organized religion in the US of A is dying out like the republican party."

This comment aged well.