Wizz A320 near Ybbs on Jul 19th 2014, severe turbulence injures 3

A Wizzair Airbus A320-200, registration HA-LWE performign flight W6-2299 from Budapest (Hungary) to Frankfurt Hahn (Germany) with 166 passengers, was enroute at FL340 near Ybbs an der Donau (Austria) when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence causing the aircraft to deviate from its assigned flight level and reach FL346. About 2 minutes later the aircraft was able to return to its assigned FL340 and continued to Frankfurt Hahn for a safe landing about 50 minutes later. Two cabin crew and a passenger received minor injuries in the turbulence encounter.

A passenger reported the aircraft encountered unexpected turbulence about 40 minutes into the flight in clear weather, no turbulence, no clouds around. The fasten seat belt sign had been turned off when the aircraft started shaking like in light turbulence for about 1-2 seconds, then the aircraft suddenly and violently rolled to the left creating a sensation of "free fall for about 2000 meters". Then a hard maneouver occurred stopping the sensation and the aircraft became stabilized again. The whole event took a couple of seconds. The passenger observed 4 other passengers being injured, who needed medical attention and were taken to an ambulance at Frankfurt. The passenger reported: "The drinks on the trolley have been attached to the plane's roof, the cabin looked quite messy afterwards, but fortunately the luggage compartments stayed closed."

The airline reported the aircraft encountered severe turbulence which caused light injuries to two cabin crew and a passenger. The passenger was attended by airport ambulance upon arrival and was released. The two cabin crew required further medical care. The return flight therefore operated with less cabin crew and with a limited number of passengers causing 11 volunteering passengers accepting compensation to delay their travel.