More Turbulence - now Louisville Kentucky

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A Northwest Airlink flight en route to Detroit from Knoxville, Tenn., had to make an emergency landing at Louisville International Airport about 6 p.m. on Tuesday after a flight attendant and one passenger were injured by turbulence, an airline spokesman said. The passenger suffered cuts and bruises, and the flight attendant had to be transported to an area hospital, but their injuries did not appear to be serious, said Joe Williams, a spokesman for Memphis, Tenn.-based Pinnacle Airlines, which operates flights for Northwest and Delta. Williams said he did not know what kind of injuries the attendant suffered.


Flight 2871 took off from Knoxville about 4:25 p.m., he said. It encountered bad weather about 35 miles southwest of Louisville and turbulence jarred the plane at about 30,000 feet as the attendant was standing in the aisle, he said. A crew of three and 24 passengers were on board the plane, a CRJ-200 regional jet that seats 50 passengers, Williams said. The passengers were taken off the plane after landing, he said, and they were to be placed on other flights. The jet will be inspected before being cleared to fly, Williams said, but it did not appear to have suffered any structural damage. Severe thunderstorms hit Kentucky on Tuesday, causing flooding and power outages. Nathan Foster, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Louisville, said the turbulence the plane encountered was likely caused by the same weather system.


Airport spokeswoman Trish Burke said the plane was able to land without any problems, despite ongoing issues with flooding at the airport because of the storms. She said some roadways and the lower level of the parking garage were hit the hardest by flooding.)