Sudden turbulence over the Pacific sent a United Airlines jumbo jet plunging toward the sea, tossing passengers and crew headfirst into the ceiling. One woman was killed and 102 other passengers were injured, and the plane returned to Japan Monday.
Screams filled the cabin of Flight 826 as the plane plummeted nearly 1,000 feet without warning en route from Narita to Honolulu. Food and drinks were flung throughout the cabin.Passengers said the turbulence was so violent that those standing in the aisles were thrown several feet into the air, while some who were seated bumped their heads on the overhead luggage compartments.
"I thought I was dying," said Kiyotaka Eto, a 16-year-old high school student from Osaka who had been headed for a surfing vacation in Hawaii.
He said his seatbelt saved him from injury.
A traveling companion, Yuji Takahashi, 17, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, hit his head on the ceiling. "It was like something straight out of the movies," he said.
The plane left Narita about 9 p.m. Sunday with 374 passengers and 19 crew aboard for what is normally a 61/2-hour flight. It hit the rough air just as meals were being served about two hours later.
After the severe jolting that lasted several minutes, the plane turned back and landed at Narita, 40 miles northeast of Tokyo.
Of the 102 people treated for injuries, 11 passengers and one crew member remained hospitalized Monday, said Toru Kawai, an airport police spokesman at Narita.
Most of those hurt suffered head or neck injuries, Kawai said. Konomi Kataura, 32, of Tokyo died of internal cerebral bleeding, he said.
A United spokeswoman said the Boeing 747 encountered "severe clear-air turbulence," - unanticipated rockiness that develops when there are no storms visible.
In a videotape taken by a passenger and shown on Japan's NHK television, oxygen masks swayed from the ceiling and people lay in an aisle. Screams could be heard.
"Suddenly the plane dropped and people were jumping and falling, and things came flying at me - like juice cans, food," said Chieko Ejiri, 28, who was on her way to a vacation with her boyfriend.
Many people were dozing when the plane lurched, rattled for a few minutes, then went into a sudden free fall. The seatbelt sign was off, and some people were wandering around the aisles, passengers said.