Brazilian model and wife to Matthew McConaughey , Camila Alves , recently shared her experience on board the Lufthansa flight. News reporting the flight shows it experienced severe and frightening turbulence, resulting in an emergency landing.
Turbulence Over Tennessee
Reports from NBC News say that Lufthansa Flight 469 was flying from Texas to Germany when it encountered unexpected turbulence. Following reports from the FAA, the crew reported the plane to be at 37,000 feet over Tennessee when the heavy turbulence began.
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Impromptu Land At Washington
Through the pilots’ expertise, after experiencing a life-threatening disturbance in the air, they decided to make an emergency landing at the Dulles International Airport in Virginia, the suburbs of Washington. According to reports from the flight agency, the plane landed safely at precisely 9:12 pm.
Camila Alves Confirms She Was On The Flight
While news of the flight disaster spread, the 41-year-old Brazilian model confirmed she was aboard the Lufthansa flight. In her statement in a caption she shared, she wrote, “The @lufthansa flight you are seeing on the news today!!!! Yes… that one. Thank God everyone was safe and ok.”
Her Report
Giving her account of the experience to her 1M followers on Instagram , the model stated, “On Flight last night, I was told plane dropped almost 4000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital, Everything was flying everywhere.”
Thanks, Marriott Bonvoy
In the same post she shared, the rest of her caption was a grateful shoutout and thanks to Marriott Bonvoy for their kindness. She wrote, “I must say everyone @marriottbonvoy by the airport of Washington where we had to divert to and spend the night was so kind! @officiallymcconaughey and I made it to the bar with 1 minute before closing…slept well, getting on new flight today.”
Cabin Damage
Although more than 95% of the crew came out unscathed, inside the plane was a total mess. In a clip shared by Camila, the cabin could be seen to be in disarray — food, carts, trays, and blankets scattered and littering the plane’s aisle. Just like the model’s words, “everything was flying everywhere.”
More On The Injuries
More news from NBC reports that seven passengers aboard the flight were taken to the hospital shortly after the impromptu safe landing at Washington. Most injured passengers and crew were scathed because they were not on their seatbelts during the turbulence.
Lufthansa’s Statement
The airline, Lufthansa, has informed the public that its Airbus A330-300 (flight 469) “encountered brief but severe turbulence about 90 minutes after takeoff.” Issuing an apology statement to its passengers, Lufthansa reportedly sent an email statement saying, “Lufthansa regrets the inconvenience caused to passengers. The safety and well-being of passengers and crew members is Lufthansa’s top priority at all times.”
National Weather Service
A National Transportation Safety Board report suggests that turbulence accounts for 37.6% of all accidents experienced by commercial airlines. A senior forecaster from the National Weather Service in Nashville said the storms over Tennessee on Wednesday night were intense, and “it was very windy aloft, which could easily lead to the possibility of turbulence with any flight.”
Passenger Report
In a brief discussion with reporters, one passenger, Jazz Kantipudi, aboard the flight reported that a crew member was serving drinks when the unexpected turbulence occurred. In Jazz’s words, “He was literally standing up serving drinks, so he had no way to brace himself.” Further adding, “At one of the drops, he literally, completely, hit the ceiling and dropped down and was completely horizontal.”
Other Reports
Following the incident the night before, another passenger, Susan Zimmerman, spoke to Good Morning America about her experience on the flight. She said, “I don’t think any of the people on board — the cabin crew — I don’t think any of them have experienced anything like this.”
She added, “this was shocking. It was kind of like you’re in slow motion. You just see everything – like in a movie where you see everything lift, and all of a sudden, it just comes right back down.” Susan also said the 4,000-foot sudden drop “felt like five seconds of falling, and then there was shaking.”
Always Wear Your Seatbelts
Reports have it that many passengers weren’t on their seatbelts at the time of the incident. John Nance, an ABC News Aviation contributor, stated, “this is the very reason that pilots warn you from the cockpit to keep your seatbelts fastened, because if you hit something like this and you’re not strapped in, you could go flying.”
In For Another Bumpy Ride
Camila Alves, updating her followers via Instagram story, shared reports of their rescheduled flight after landing at Dulles International Airport. In a selfie video from the model, she explains that her new flight will be experiencing a difficult start.
In her words, “Just my luck, after last night. Just got on the rescheduled flight, and the pilot’s saying we have 45 minutes of turbulence, getting out of Washington.” She ends the short video with, “Just my luck. Wish me luck.”
Safe Landing
Safe to say, her luck helped her! After arriving safely in Germany, the star model shared a picture of herself enjoying her first meal after the flight on her Instagram . She captioned the post with, “It’s been “turbulent days” After 2 full days of travel caused by the flight severe turbulence delays, I finally arrived at my destination, with gratitude. Thinking of everyone that was on that flight, specially the 7 passengers that went to the hospital and the whole crew who got us to land safely!”
No Comment From Matthew
Husband to Camila Alves and star actor in The Gentlemen , Matthew McConaughey, has yet to give a statement or comment regarding the flight incident. Although he shared a picture on Instagram of one of his sons with injuries, claiming to be from surfing lessons. It remains unclear if they are truly from surfing or the plane incident, but nothing serious certainly happened to the McConaughey household.
Camila’s Neck Incident
Just months before the flight incident, Camila Alves shared with her followers via her Instagram page about a Neck injury she suffered from falling down the stairs. She captions the post with, “Sh** Happens,” adding, “I am ok but… Don’t fall people… don’t fall…”
Her Advice
Advising her followers not to follow in her footsteps, the 41-year-old model wrote, “Ladies hold your long dresses up or lose pants up when going by down the stairs!! wind blew mine as I was midair, pant fabric wrapped around my shoe and down the floor I went…A silly fall, turned into not so silly neck situation, recovery time ahead…” while adding 12 heart emojis, ” “
In Other News
Last week, Camila shared a picture of her husband, Matthew McConaughey, cutting their 10-year-old son’s hair. In the background, their 14-year-old son, Levi, and their family dog could be seen by the side watching his dad cut his brother’s hair. The picture gathered over 70K likes and showed their bonding time as a family.
Agent Elvis
Matthew McConaughey might not have been featured in any new movie last year, but the Golden Globe Award winner has an upcoming animation movie with Netflix. In a shared Instagram post with Netflix, the actor reveals the new Sony animation, Agent Elvis , to his fans — set to come out this month.
