A passenger and cabin crew member both sustained a broken ankle when the incident happened about 20 minutes after the seatbelt signs were switched on, a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) revealed.
The turbulence, which lasted 10-15 seconds, was “perceived as light to moderate” by the captain of the flight from Los Angeles to London Heathrow on December 6 2024, according to the AAIB.
The injured passenger reported the aircraft made a “sudden movement upward and sideways” as he was returning to his seat after using a toilet, resulting in him breaking an ankle, the report stated.
He said he was sleeping before leaving his seat and had not noticed the seatbelt signs were activated.
The injured cabin crew member was lowering her seat to strap herself in when the turbulence raised her, causing her to fall and break an ankle.
Both casualties were treated by other crew members and two passengers who were doctors.
Shortly after the turbulence injuries, another passenger became unwell and lost consciousness.
The turbulence happened above the Atlantic Ocean, to the south of Greenland.
Diverting to airports in Canada or Iceland was considered by the captain, but he deemed those options unsuitable so continued to Heathrow where ambulances met the Airbus A380 aircraft and took the three casualties to hospital.
It is mandatory for plane passengers to wear their seatbelt while the relevant signs are activated.
The captain of the British Airways flight turned the signs on in advance of the turbulence after monitoring a live weather app on his tablet device.
The AAIB concluded more people on board may have been affected if that had not happened.
A British Airways spokesman said: “Safety is always our priority and our highly-skilled pilots and cabin crew are trained to manage rare events such as this.
“The aircraft landed safely at London Heathrow, where our teams looked after both our colleague and the customer.”
Geoff Kitchen, 73, from Thornbury, Gloucestershire, died after suffering a suspected heart attack while travelling on a Singapore Airlines flight which hit severe turbulence on May 21, 2024.
Seven other people were seriously hurt and dozens more suffered minor injuries on the flight from Heathrow to Singapore.
One passenger said the Boeing 777 plane suffered a “dramatic drop”, meaning people not wearing a seatbelt were “launched immediately into the ceiling”.
Images from the aftermath showed damage to the cabin’s ceiling, while food, cutlery and other debris was strewn on the floor.
