A man died in the middle of strong turbulence on a private flight in the United States

It happened when the aircraft was flying over New England, in the northwest of the country. Authorities did not say whether the victim was wearing a seatbelt.

A man died during a private flight in the United States as a result of strong turbulence that forced the aircraft to deviate from the initial route when it was flying over New England, in the northwest of the country.

Poor conditions forced the plane to change course and head to Bradley International Airport.

The Bombardier plane was carrying five people when it hit the turbulence. He was traveling from Keene, New Hampshire, to Leesburg, Virginia, according to the spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States (NTSB, for its acronym in English), Sarah Sulick.

It is not clear at this time what damage the aircraft sustained and the NTSB has not yet provided details. They also did not specify whether the victim was wearing a seatbelt.

Bradley International Airport, Connecticut.

According to a Federal Aviation Administration database, the plane was owned by Conexon, a Kansas City, Missouri-based firm. The company, which specializes in bringing fiber optics to rural communities to provide them with high-speed internet, declined to comment on Saturday.

NTSB investigators interviewed the two crew members and surviving passengers. Voice and data recorders from the plane’s cockpit were sent to NTSB headquarters for analysis, Sulick added.

Turbulence, which is unstable air currents in the atmosphere, continues to injure airline passengers despite improvements in aviation safety over the years.

Earlier this week, seven people were so injured they had to be transported to hospitals after a Lufthansa Airbus A330 experienced turbulence while flying from Texas to Germany. The plane was diverted to Virginia’s Washington Dulles International Airport.

However, deaths from turbulence are extremely rare.

“I can’t remember the last turbulence fatality,” said Robert Sumwalt, former NTSB chairman and executive director of the Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Turbulence accounted for more than a third of accidents on the largest commercial airlines between 2009 and 2018, according to the NTSB.

With information from agencies

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