5 Hospitalized Due to Intense Turbulence on American Airlines Flight

An American Airlines flight from Miami to Raleigh-Durham encountered dangerously heavy turbulence on Sunday night, just an hour into the flight. Five people, including three flight attendants and two passengers, were injured and taken to the hospital after the plane safely landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Passengers say the turbulence came without warning, and some of them saw lightning outside their windows. At 35,000 feet, flight attendants, passengers, and luggage went flying. The plane landed approximately 40 minutes after the incident.

Lee Francis, a passenger returning from a vacation with his family commended the flight attendants' composure during the chaos.

“Everybody’s hollering, I’ve got my wife’s hand, she’s got my kids, you know, like we’re doing the whole thing. Cups are going everywhere, ice goes everywhere,” said Francis to a local CBS outlet. "It was wild because while they were there, I mean they're injured, those carts are super heavy, they're injured and yet they were so awesome, because they're literally telling people like, stay in your seat, don't help us, we don't know what's going on, keep your seatbelt on."

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed an investigation is underway for Flight 1286, the last of the day's flights.

The airline released a statement reading, "American Airlines flight 1286 with service from Miami (MIA) to Raleigh-Durham (RDU) landed safely at RDU after encountering unexpected turbulence while in flight. We thank our crew members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding."

This is the third serious turbulence incident this month for American Airlines. Two different flights earlier this month concluded in three different flight attendants injuries from violent turbulence.