03-03-2025
Severe Turbulence on United Airlines Flight Sends 5 to Hospital
Five people were injured after heavy turbulence battered a United Airlines plane that was then diverted to a regional airport in Texas.
The SkyWest flight, operating as United Express, left Springfield, Missouri, and was due to land in Houston, Texas, when it was forced to touch down in Waco, 160 miles north of its intended destination.
A storm over the Dallas-Fort Worth area forced the plane, a Bombardier CRJ200, to touch down at Waco Regional Airport around 6:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. Eastern) on Sunday. Emergency services whisked five of the 28 passengers to a hospital with unspecified injuries.
FlightAware states that the flight departed again early Monday morning and landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston at about 1:45 a.m. local time (2:45 a.m. Eastern).
The Waco Fire Department and the Office of Emergency Management were at the scene, and SkyWest Airlines said in a statement that medical personnel were waiting on the tarmac in Waco.
'SkyWest flight 5690, operating as United Express from Springfield, MO to Houston, landed safely at Waco Regional Airport after experiencing turbulence. Medical personnel met and evaluated passengers, and five passengers were transported to the hospital. SkyWest and United are making sure the injured customers get the care they need and are working to line up new transportation options for everyone on this flight,' the statement said.
Flight 5690 was one of three that diverted to the airport in central Texas. Two American Airlines flights that were heading to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport were re-routed because of the storms. No injuries were reported on either of those flights.
'Due to storms at DFW, two flights briefly diverted to Waco and later re-departed,' the airline told CNN in a brief statement.
The news comes after a string of deadly incidents in American aviation, including the January collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet near Ronald Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people across both aircrafts. Days later, a small medical jet crashed near a shopping mall in northeast Philadelphia. Seven people were killed and dozens were injured.
In early February a small passenger plane went missing and was later found to have crashed in Alaska. All on board—nine passengers and the pilot—died.
In mid-February, a Delta flight flipped upside down upon landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport after leaving Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Miraculously, all 80 people on board survived.
