Two cabin crew were hospitalized after severe turbulence sent a beverage cart aboard an American Eagle flight crashing into the jet's ceiling.
Flight 3358 was en route from Dallas-Fort Worth to Memphis, Tennessee, when it was diverted to Little Rock, Arkansas, on Wednesday.
The turbulence launched one of the beverage carts into the air before it landed on a flight attendant, according to witnesses.
Passenger Don Paul told NBC affiliate WMC that some aboard the Embraer E175 even worried that the aircraft would crash.
"This guy behind me, he's saying, ‘Are we going down? Are we going down?’" Paul recalled. "He goes, ‘I have kids.' I look back and say, ‘Sir, this aircraft is 100 percent safe and everything is fine.’"
The flight — which was operated by Envoy Air — landed safely at 12:02 p.m. local time (1:02 p.m. ET). No passengers were injured but two flight attendants were taken to hospital. They were later released.
“The American pilot should be commended,” passenger Casey Green told NBC News early Thursday. “He went out of his way to reiterate multiple times during the flight that the air was particularly rough and practically begged people to make sure seat belts were on. This pilot deserves credit."
The region where the plane was flying had been subject to severe weather advisories on Wednesday.
