It’s been revealed that on August 11, two flight attendants were injured on Norwegian flight D82961 between Rhodes and Helsinki.
Information has been released pertinent to this event, which we will get into in this article.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Norwegian Flight D82961 – Rhodes to Helsinki…
Norwegian flight D82961, where two flight attendants were injured, is a routine scheduled flight between Rhodes and Helsinki.
Furthermore, the aircraft involved in the incident was SE-RYC.
As per data from Planespotters.net, SE-RYC is a 5.7 year old Boeing 737 MAX 8 that was delivered to the airline in December 2018.
It was transferred over to the Swedish subsidiary in November 2019.
After the bankruptcy of the airline, it was handed over to Arctic Aviation & SKY Leasing over the course of 2021-2022, before being given back to the airline in April 2023.
Furthermore, of the 737 MAX 8, Norwegian Air Sweden has 16 of them in their fleet.
Within that 16, all of them are in active service, with an average fleet age of 2.2 years.
In the Swedish AOC, they also have a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800 aircraft as well.
Norwegian flight D82961 departed Rhodes at 0226 local time on August 11 and tracked north to Helsinki.
As per Aviation24, it is understood the incident took place when on approach into the Finnish airport, but the aircraft landed safely without further incident at 0609 local time.
Two Flight Attendants Injured Due to Turbulence…
It is understood that the reason why the two flight attendants were injured on Norwegian flight D82961 Rhodes-Helsinki was due to severe turbulence on approach.
The extent of the injuries are unknown, but it is believed that the airline took the relevant precautions for reporting such incidents.
Moreover, Otkes, the Finnish regulator, has declared this as a “serious incident”.
Inquiries will no doubt go on following this incident, to determine how the turbulence caused these injuries specifically.
Incidents Becoming More Common Now?
The incident involving Norwegian flight D82961 Rhodes-Helsinki is the fourth such incident globally in the last few weeks alone.
Furthermore, the first came from Korean Air flight KE197 Seoul-Ulaanbaatar where 14 people were injured by turbulence.
Not long after, Southwest Airlines flight WN3633 between Manchester & Baltimore suffered a passenger injury caused by severe turbulence.
Finally, EVA Air flight BR238 from Jakarta to Taipei suffered heavy turbulence, resulting in minor injuries to six of their flight attendants.
Overall, it is clear that these turbulence incidents are becoming more frequent.
All eyes will be on what regulators and organisations around the world will do to combat and reduce injuries caused by turbulence.
