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'I thought we were going to fall out of the sky': Perth woman's Etihad nightmare
Brendan FosterPublished: September 8 2017 - 9:15AM
"I thought we were going to fall out of the sky."
Those were the words of Perth passenger Wendy, who was aboard Etihad Airways Flight EY487 when it hit severe turbulence off Geraldton on Thursday night.
The Boeing 787-9 plane had left Perth bound for Abu Dhabi just after 5pm when, about 45 minutes into the flight, it started to experience severe turbulence.
"We were heading towards Geraldton and everything was fine when all of a sudden the seat belt sign came on," Wendy told WAtoday.com.au on Friday morning.
"Then we hit some turbulence and I thought we were gone.
"It went on for about 10 minutes and a lot of people were screaming and crying on the plane.
"It was horrendous.
"I thought we were going to fall out of the sky."
Wendy was heading to Belgrade in Serbia with her two sisters for a family reunion.
She said the first she knew the plane was turning back to Perth was on the monitor in front of her at her seat.
She said the pilot then told passengers it was unsafe to continue to Abi Dhabi so the plane was heading back to Perth.
Wendy said at no stage did the pilot tell anyone what had actually happened.
"We got back to Perth around 8pm and thought we would be put on another plane," she said.
"We then lined up for two hours only to be told at midnight we wouldn't be flying until the next day.
"Not only that, but all my duty free got smashed.
"The whole experience has been quite traumatic."
The 58-year-old said she was nervous about hopping on another flight on Friday afternoon but was looking forward to the holiday with her two sisters.
"The family in Belgrade is expecting us and to be honest if we weren't going on such a special holiday I probably wouldn't go," she said.
Etihad Airways confirmed the plane was forced to return to Perth because of turbulence.
"Etihad Airways flight EY487, operating from Perth to Abu Dhabi today, 7 September 2017, has returned to Perth Airport having experienced severe turbulence an hour into its journey," the airline said.
"No passengers were hurt during the turbulence event, however as a precaution, the aircraft is being inspected by engineers."
This story was found at: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/i-thought-we-were-going-to-fall-out-of-the-sky-perth-womans-etihad-nightmare-20170907-gyd9u3.html