By Hayden Cunningham – The Postmillennial
Two United Airlines flights were forced into emergency landings this week. The first was from Tel Aviv to Newark, NJ, and the second from San Francisco to Paris.
A United Airlines flight from Tel Aviv encountered severe turbulence before its scheduled landing at Newark International Airport. The turbulence resulted in injuries to seven passengers, prompting the pilots to divert the flight to Stewart International Airport, where emergency crews were on standby to assist injured passengers.
According to ABC 7 New York, seven passengers were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries. About 30 people of the 320 total passengers were evaluated for medical care.
“We had 320 people on the plane,” said Michael Bigg of New Windsor EMS. “We evaluated about 30 people and we transported seven to a local hospital just for observation, no major injuries or ailments but most people want to get checked out at the emergency room.”
News of these two emergency landings come after United Airlines was heavily criticized for its CEO championing DEI measures for pilots. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was also revealed to be a drag queen in his spare time.
Recent air travel safety issues have left many Americans increasingly anxious about flying. The most notable incident occurred back in January when an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 appeared to have bolts missing when a door panel blew out mid-flight.
Earlier this month, United’s vice president of corporate safety told employees in a memo that the “number of safety-related events in recent weeks have rightfully caused us to pause and evaluate whether there is anything we can and should do differently.”