NTSB Investigates JetBlue Flight After Severe Turbulence Injured Passengers

Image: A JetBlue flight taking off from LAX. (photo via MichaelGordon1/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Image: A JetBlue flight taking off from LAX. (photo via MichaelGordon1/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Rich Thomaselli
by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 8:30 AM ET, Tue September 26, 2023

Now the National Transportation Safety Board is involved.

The NTSB said Monday it would investigate a JetBlue Airways flight from Ecuador to Fort Lauderdale that encountered severe turbulence.

Eight passengers were injured on the flight. Included in the eight was one crew member.

It was JetBlue flight 1256 that left Jose Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador, shortly before midnight Sunday and landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Monday morning.

In between, however, the plane ran into roughgoing. The airline said in a statement that the turbulence was ‘sudden’ but severe enough for several passengers to be taken to a local hospital upon arrival in Florida.

A spokesperson for the hospital in Broward County, Florida, said most of the passengers were already discharged. The plane in question, an Airbus A320, has been removed from service and will undergo inspection.

All inquiries were directed back to JetBlue since the incident happened in the air and not technically at the airport.


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Rich Thomaselli

Rich Thomaselli

Associate Writer

Editor Associate Writer true 9281 14744 Rich Thomaselli has written for TravelPulse since 2014 and has been a professional journalist for nearly 40 years. His work has appeared in USA Today, the New York Times and New York Yankees publications. He is an 11-time writ

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