The incident came after the Federal Aviation Administration filed a report on it on Tuesday.
United Airlines Flight 1 traveled from San Francisco to Singapore on March 26th. This is a 16-hour Redeye flight.
The incident occurred in outer space in the Philippines about 12 hours from San Francisco.
The Boeing 787 carried 174 passengers and 14 crew members when it encountered severe turbulence, according to a report by the FAA.
One passenger and three cabin crew members suffered minor injuries, while one cabin crew member was seriously injured.
It is not yet clear what kind of injuries they suffered.
An airline spokesman told Business Insider the flight “experienced a short period of unexpected turbulence.”
“When medical personnel arrived in Singapore, they met the aircraft and took one customer and four flight attendants to the hospital,” they added. “We are grateful to our crew for our efforts to ensure the safety of our fellow crew and our customers.”
The National Transportation Safety Board, along with the Philippine Civil Aviation Authority, is leading the investigation.
Growing problems
South Korean Air has announced that it will stop serving instant noodles to prevent burn accidents caused by turbulence.
Turbulence has been “a sustainable and growing problem in recent years,” he said, adding that between 2024 and 2019, the number of incidents doubled.
The airline also suggested that climate change had an impact, citing “large temperature differences between altitudes.”
Turbulence is generated when different wind speeds result in more friction between the air molecules. Warming climates provide more energy to the air and create more friction.
This is particularly noteworthy around jet streams, where transparent turbulence is most common.
“Climate change is more likely and more profound to meet clear air turbulence,” Guy Gratton, an associate professor of aviation and environment at Cranfield University, told BI previously.
In a 2023 study, researchers at the University of Reading found that turbulence is more common around the Arctic Jet River.
At typical time points, the most severe type of transparent turbulence increased by 55% between 1979 and 2020, the study found.
