On Wednesday, March 1, Lufthansa flight 469 out of Austin faced a scary amount of turbulence that caused a diverted landing. Before it could land, however, the passengers were subjected to a 4,000-foot drop and as they were tossed about the cabin. One of those passengers just so happens to have one million Instagram followers, and shared footage of the aftermath.
Brazilian model Camila Alves McConaughey, wife of Matthew McConaughey, described the aborted flight in harrowing detail.
“I was told plane dropped almost 4,000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital. Everything was flying everywhere,” Alves wrote in an Instagram caption.
The flight, leaving Austin and headed for Frankfurt, Germany, was forced to land at Virginia’s Dulles International Airport. The turbulence was roughest over Tennessee.
Other passengers described an unbelievable scene aboard the flight: plates hovering in midair, passengers tossed about, trays and utensils scattered in the aisle.
One woman described a baby flying out of a bassinette, snatched out of the air by its mother, to the Washington Post.
“I seriously thought we were going to die,” she said.
Alves rebooked her flight to Frankfurt on Thursday, March 2, but was told that there would be turbulence leaving the Washington, D.C. area.
“Wish me luck,” she said on Instagram.
The couple did hightail it to the Marriott Bonvoy bar inside the airport, arriving in the nick of time for a drink after the distressing flight.
“@officiallymcconaughey and I made it to the bar with 1 minute before closing,” Alves McConaughey wrote.