Lufthansa flight that hit turbulence before plunging 4K feet ordered passengers to delete all evidence
WASHINGTON DC: Passengers on the Lufthansa flight were reportedly asked to delete their photos and videos of the traumatic incident after the plane plunged nearly 4,000 feet in extreme turbulence. According to passenger Rolanda Schmidt, the flight crew announced the decision to delete all images twice before the plane's emergency landing March 1 at Dulles Airport in Washington DC.
"I think we were all just like, 'What?!'" Schmidt told Insider. According to her, the second announcement implied that the request was made to protect passenger privacy. Schmidt claimed that the plane, which was on a flight from Texas to Germany, abruptly dropped during dinner service. She claimed to have injured her arm, suffered a concussion and possibly broken her hip. "I thought we were going down," she explained.
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What did the passengers say?
One of the seven passengers injured on the trip, Rolanda Schmidt, told Insider that the aircraft experienced a significant drop, which caused food and other belongings to fly around the cabin. On March 1, Lufthansa Flight 469 was en route from Austin, Texas, to Frankfurt, Germany, when it encountered what the airline described as "severe turbulence" over Tennessee.
'It felt like it hit the eye of tornado'
During the first significant descent, according to Schmidt's account to Insider, she hit her head on the plastic tray table case on the seat in front of her. She claimed that as soon as the plane stabilized and began to climb rapidly, she flew out of her seat and struck her head once more against the ceiling. "It felt like it hit the eye of a tornado," Schmidt stated. "It would not stop. I thought we were going down," she added,
'You knew you were going to die'
She reportedly cried and texted her husband that she was dying rather than screaming like the other passengers. "It was one of those moments where within five-to-ten minutes of processing, you knew you were going to die and we didn't know if we were going to make it safely anywhere," Schmidt claimed. "It felt like the insides of your body were being shaken out."
'Delete all your pictures and videos'
Schmidt claims she suffered more serious injuries than the "minor injuries." Lufthansa claimed a number of customers experienced, including a concussion, a severely bruised arm, and a possible fractured hip. She, however, claimed that as the aircraft descended to Dulles International Airport to make an emergency landing, a flight attendant announced, "delete all your pictures and videos," over the loudspeaker.
Another passenger confirmed to the outlet that he was instructed to delete the images. Still, numerous images of food, documents and other debris strewn across the cabin floor found their way onto social media. Actor Matthew McConaugheys wife, Camila Alves, was a passenger and shared brief footage of the chaos with her Instagram followers.