Passengers Whose Plane Plunged Told by Crew to Delete Videos of Terrifying Ordeal

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Food trays and other stuff are scattered inside the cabin as Lufthansa Flight 469 from Austin, Texas, headed to Frankfurt, Germany, that experienced “significant turbulence” and was diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport, Virginia, where it landed safely Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Crews responded to the flight and took seven people to hospitals with injuries that were believed to be minor. (Ecaterina Fadhel/via AP Photo)

(VINnews) — Lufthansa passengers whose flight suffered severe turbulence, causing their plane to plummet thousands of feet, were ordered by crew members to delete all photos and video of the event, according to Business Insider, quoting two people on board.

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Flight 469 was forced to make an emergency landing in Washington DC. It was headed from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany on March 1 but ran into “severe turbulence” over Tennessee.

Rolanda Schmidt, one of the seven injured, said the plane took a major drop, sending food and other items flying through the cabin.

Schmidt reportedly banged her head on the plastic tray table in front of her. Once the plane steadied and started to ascend quickly, she said she was pushed upward and banged her head on the ceiling.

“It felt like it hit the eye of a tornado,” Schmidt said. “It would not stop. I thought we were going down.”

“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,” she added. “It felt like the insides of your body were being shaken out.”

She said she was in tears and instead of screaming like others during the terrifying ordeal, she prayed, and she texted her husband that she was going to die.

Schmidt described that as the plane was about to make an emergency landing at Dulles Airport, a flight attendant ordered passengers to “delete all your images and videos.”

Several minutes later, the same person made an announcement on the overhead system saying the same thing, but claimed that it was to protect the privacy of passengers.

“That’s not the way that it came across, saying ‘delete all of your pictures’ and all of that,” Schmidt said.


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6 Comments
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A Jew
A Jew
1 year ago

The flight attendants have no right to ask that

Paul Near Philadelphia
Paul Near Philadelphia
1 year ago

After all that excitement, the crew’s commands would probably lack much authority.

SMH
SMH
1 year ago

Some of the crew may have behaved poorly and hoped not to wind up on the internet.

Not Surprised
Not Surprised
1 year ago

Metal silverware?

hard at work yeshiva grad
hard at work yeshiva grad
1 year ago

I am shocked that a german crew would behave so poorly.

Mobile
Mobile
1 year ago

I would the Germans would have learned by now that you can’t hide the evidence.