In December of 2022, Flight UA1722 from Maui to San Francisco was reported by media to have plunged half of its altitude in a matter of seconds due to severe turbulence. Just last week, a Lufthansa flight from Austin, TX to Germany reportedly fell thousands of feet, sending seven people to the hospital for injuries after an emergency landing.
Is this just sensationalized reporting by the media, or do commercial jets actually plummet from the sky and recover just before crashing? Why and how does this happen?
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Yes, it can happen. My father worked for an airline when I was very young, back in the early 90s. I remember jumping on a flight with him to go to a meeting. I was asleep when the plane hit some turbulence, and woke up to people screaming, oxygen masks dropped, and luggage all over the cabin. I did what any 4 year old would do, and went back to my nap. Apparently we dropped something close to 1000 feet.
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