JetBlue 1230 Diversion with Hospitalizations

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ReviewGuy883@reddit

What “flight control” issue happened?!

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TechnicianBrief4631@reddit

Elevator aileron computer part of fly by wire system. There are 2 in an A320.

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drshadi@reddit

Would that result in an uncontrolled decent described?

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Brave-Gate-9100@reddit

dual SEC failure , spoiler, elevator issue.

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gefahr@reddit

I look forward to reading the report (well, reading someone else's comment that distills it for me).

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It was absolutely crazy I didn’t think they’d ever regain control. still shaken up but on the recovery flight which is somewhat empty I completely understand not wanting to fly out after that thank god it went differently!

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UniqueCucumber6114@reddit

Can you describe what happened? How long did it last?

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Few_Worker2982@reddit

when we landed at tampa they told us that the computer tried to assume autopilot while they were manually driving I believe I’m not too sure don’t quote me, It didn’t feel like turbulence there was no build up we just started dropping out of nowhere it felt like something clipped a wing on the outside but it seemed to be a control issue or something very very wrong with that plane for it to just drop like that and regain control I was definitely more scared that when some of the cabins popped open at that moment that the luggage sliding would contribute to the dropping in altitude

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

What plane was this. Reminds me of the MAX crashes.

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I_DRINK_URINE@reddit

It's too early to know the cause of this incident, but there have been several similar occurrences on various Airbus aircraft. It's nothing like the MAX crashes which involved a slow, gradual loss of control.

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RedditZhangHao@reddit

A320

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

Ah that explains the happy ending. KIDDING!

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tuna_HP@reddit

Pilots, what could that mean? To me it sounds more like, “one pilot assumed we were on autopilot when the other was actually driving manually, and started doing something that combatted control of the airplane”. I don’t know if it’s possible to manually enter flight directions that could compete with someone flying manually, or if you can bump the controls when the other is flying manually.

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viccityguy2k@reddit

Ah see this makes more sense than turbulence out of nowhere. Sounds more like the yoke/sidestick getting bumped forward

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Few_Worker2982@reddit

It was about 30 seconds to a minute maybe a little more, I was sitting in the second to last row of the plane, a flight attendant was next to my row with the snack cart and just as I was about to ask her for a snack the plane shook a bit side to side then it literally felt like we were just falling out of the sky and a whole lot of chaos everyone and everything just went up including the attendant and the cart, and every liquid open and a lot of passengers items. the snack cart ended up smacking the ceiling of the plane and cracked it, came back down and when the plane regained control I just seen the cart on the attendant and the whole plane just wet somewhat broken and a mess nobody was really too shook up though I was panicking cause it was just so unexpected it all happened so fast all was calm literally seconds before honestly we’re really lucky it felt really terrible to endure after all the passengers were trying to find their items and comfort others hopefully that’s a good explanation I’m not that well with words lol tried uploading pics and videos won’t work will try to upload when we land

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gefahr@reddit

Glad you're ok.

With that out of the way: .......,,,,,,...,,,,

I have more in the back, just let me know if you run out!

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ialwaysforgetmename@reddit

.They're s.catt.,,ered .all, ov.er t.he ca,,bin.,

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gefahr@reddit

They're magnetic. 🧲

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Educational-Coat-750@reddit

Glad you are safe. Out of curiosity, was the seat belt signal on?

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imaguitarhero24@reddit

Reddit is crazy, someone who was literally on the flight shows up in the comments.

I'm glad it seems like everyone is mostly ok. My gf is a FA and I've been flying a lot on her benefits but neither of us have had it that bad yet. It's pretty rare. Sorry you had to deal with that. I've seen a video of the cart getting tossed in the air and that's definitely a chaotic scene.

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ErB17@reddit

That is possibly the longest sentence in the world!

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Tactless2U@reddit

It would be a great beginning to a short story or a novella. I think the author is kind of genius for describing the sensations so well.

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screech_owl_kachina@reddit

Adrenaline

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Dugoutcanoe1945@reddit

So glad you all are safe!!! What a nightmare.

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lulzchicken@reddit

That’s insane. Thanks for sharing

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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gbmex1721@reddit

Hey! I'm a producer with CNN. I just sent you a DM. Hoping we can chat more.

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gefahr@reddit

If he's not available, I am.

I wasn't on the flight but I've been on other aeroplanes and can do airplane sounds.

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Shovelbone@reddit

I wasn't on the flight either, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. I can't make airplane sounds but I can scream like a passenger on a plane caught in turbulence!

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gefahr@reddit

Let's collab.

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digawina@reddit

I've now read this comment, like, 100 times and it's still cracking me up. Thank you for the joy you've given me.

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MrPigeon70@reddit

did you not enjoy your jet blue holiday? /j

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IM_REFUELING@reddit

Yet another seat belt advertisement that will be ignored by those who need it most

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noir_lord@reddit

I don’t get why people take them off, you can loosen them a little after the light goes off and you don’t even notice it, certainly less noticeable than impacting the ceiling.

But the people drive without seatbelts, ride motorcycles without helmets so there is that.

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

Poor flight attendants who were manning the cart.

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butthole_lipliner@reddit

Those carts need to be on a track system. Fucking nightmare projectiles

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digawina@reddit

My first thought was "and this is why it's a crime that they allow 'lap babies.'"

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bluelily216@reddit

I was actually reading into this and while the flight attendant unions are against it, the FAA's argument is that it's still safer than driving.

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lenspointer@reddit

If that's the metric they're using, what else could be allowed?

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BridgestoneX@reddit

the FA unions including it in bargaining is huge- they want to bargain over something that effects someone else's safety and not theirs, but which may mean compromising on something for themselves. that's how horrifying lap infants are. i worry the faa line is influenced by consumer price concerns

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lenspointer@reddit

You worry that it is?

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PDNYFL@reddit

That was based on a pretty flawed study over 25 years ago....

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vman3241@reddit

Can't really blame that on everyone. If you're in the bathroom when the seatbelt sign is off and this happens, it's not your fault.

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sigga_genesis@reddit

I mean, there's a belt in the bathroom...

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willBlockYouIfRude@reddit

I bet you sit down on the airplane toilet seat without looking first.

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MmmSteaky@reddit

You sound like you might need to be strapped in just in general.

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Blue_foot@reddit

Flight control issue, A320

Article with little info https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jetblue-flight-diverts-tampa-after-suffering-flight-control-issue-2025-10-30/

FlightAware shows the plane go from 35k feet to 18k in 5 minutes. https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/JBU1230

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TheFredCain@reddit

Looks like they unsuccessfully attempted to terminate the descent at least once or twice before they finally gained some altitude around 18k.

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yourlocalFSDO@reddit

That’s less than 2500 fpm which is a pretty standard descent rate to be fair

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-npk-@reddit

35k to 18k = 17k. 17/5=3.4k fpm

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yourlocalFSDO@reddit

Well would you look at that I guess I used 30 instead of 35. My bad

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BrianBash@reddit

Username checks out

I kid, I kid :::ducks:::

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Kaanapali@reddit

I have done that a decent amount of times in a normal descent getting slam dunked on the east coast.

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Logical-Mention5404@reddit

The activity log shown doesn’t show any sudden change in altitude. Don’t know what I am missing.

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Which_Material_3100@reddit

Holy cow!

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SEAinLA@reddit

Does not appear turbulence was involved at all here.

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balloonninjas@reddit

What do you mean?

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SEAinLA@reddit

That the sudden drop in altitude was due to a flight control issue, not turbulence.

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OkayScribbler@reddit

Even then 3400fpm is not a descent rate that causes hospitalizations.

That’s the average descent rate for Southwest when you give them a pilot discretion descent

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

And yet hospitalizations happened ? 🤔

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Few_Worker2982@reddit

I will say a lot of people definitely hit their head if not on the overhead where the fans and call button would be it could’ve easily been the pull down table, items flying around, and a plane falling even when landing on the tarmac feels like so much weight when we started to drop my body rose up hit the overhead and slammed back down and I can definitely feel a little damage to my back. A lot occurred in those very few seconds.

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gefahr@reddit

Wow, make sure you get checked out properly.

This is why I keep my seatbelt low and tight anytime I'm sitting. Unfortunately that won't protect me from all the metal laptops flying, but people stare when I wear my helmet.

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Few_Worker2982@reddit

Even with how tight the seatbelt is, it isn’t tight enough! I was quickly realizing there needs to be a change in them. If me, about 5’3”, and grown adults at about 5’6”–5’8” easily flew up and hit their heads with the seatbelt tightened as much as it goes, I couldn’t imagine all the children that had their own seat, or the babies that were being held and were caught with a seriously unexpected jerk and significant drop in altitude. But if not anything else, I was more pissed that I didn’t feel safe within my seatbelt.

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gefahr@reddit

Ah like it was as tight as it can get but that still left a lot of slack you mean?

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Few_Worker2982@reddit

Yes exactly! It really did play a part, in how extreme it was.

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gefahr@reddit

Finally being shaped like a refrigerator pays off for once

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Wrong_Sport7205@reddit

Hi, hope you are okay and safe… I’m with NBC News and we are reporting on this incident. Would you possibly be open to connecting? Sending you a quick DM.

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Holiday_Bumblebee815@reddit

Standard turbojet penetration 2-4 thousand feet per minute. Not outrageous.

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clearingmyprop@reddit

If you consider going from straight and level to an abrupt nose down altitude that’s 3400 FPM that is definitely enough to cause negative gloading and fling some people into the roof

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cheetuzz@reddit

Even then 3400fpm is not a descent rate that causes hospitalizations.

3400 fpm is meaningless for determining injuries.

You can have 10,000 fpm that causes zero injuries. Or you can have 0 fpm that causes serious injuries.

What matters is the instantaneous acceleration. fpm is velocity not acceleration.

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claymore5o6@reddit

The drop in altitude was due to the diversion to nearest suitable (TPA). It's a rapid descent, but no where near an 'emergency descent' when there's a pressurization issue. Most likely a flight control malfunction, or a Pilot accidentally kicking the rudder (it can happen). With 10 people going to the hospital, the NTSB will have an interest in this event. We'll get more official information soon.

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

Wait. Pilots can kick the rudder and the plane the responds to that ? At cruise? That seems dumb.

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FiberApproach2783@reddit

That's kind of the whole point of the rudders?

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

The point of rudders is to be accidentally kicked ?

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pattern_altitude@reddit

I mean... the whole thing is that they're supposed to respond to input... an accidental input is still an input.

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

I really wish I hadn’t known this.

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pattern_altitude@reddit

Why? I’m curious what you think the rudders should do.

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

Just thought they’d be smart enough so kicking them at cruise would be safeguarded against somehow.

Ie the inputs would be cleared by a computer before being applied. Something that would avoid the problem that caused the AA crash where rudder input in response to wake turbulence caused the rail to break off. I would think that the computer wouldn’t honor unsafe inputs.

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pattern_altitude@reddit

But how do you define what an unsafe input is? Say you need to apply a non-normal input and you can’t because the computer won’t let you. That’s no good.

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

Ah. Looking into this it already exists in airbus systems. Rudder deflection is minimized based on air speed to avoid just the situation I described. So yeah. Glad my suggestion is already a reality.

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pattern_altitude@reddit

Minimized, not inhibited.

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

You’re being quite literal. But it’s exactly what I want and hoping existed. A safety feature to avoid a disaster because of an accidental input.

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Silence_is_platinum@reddit

I don’t define it. The computer does after taking in data it had available. This is already a feature for other systems? You want pilots to be able to accidentally rip off the tail at cruise when they happen to kick the rudder? Why ?

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pattern_altitude@reddit

Envelope protections are different than simply blocking out an input.

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Educational-Coat-750@reddit

I was on an Air Canada transatlantic flight a few months ago and was blown away by the amount of people strolling around while the seat belt indicator was on

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axpmaluga@reddit

Oh man looks like the continuation flight got diverted to lga. Long day for these people with 2 diversions

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gefahr@reddit

Oof, what was the reason for the LGA diversion?

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Lopsided-Hearing-953@reddit

Newark was backed up with international flights and we would’ve had to circle in the air until we could land. We didn’t have enough fuel though so we landed in LaGuardia. They almost made us stay on the plane to fly back to Newark after refueling. But we were able to get off. Finally back home safe and sound after a very long and stressful day.

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Vega188@reddit

Don’t forget we still have a hurricane out to sea and high wind warning all day for the NYC area.

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axpmaluga@reddit

Glad you made it home safe

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gefahr@reddit

Geez, thanks. Sorry you went through that.

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F0rbiddenD0nut@reddit

Scary, almost reminds me of that Alaska MD80 that went down. Luckily this one ended much differently. But a sudden drop due to a flight control issue immediately brings that flight to mind.

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pattern_altitude@reddit

This isn't even anywhere near the same.

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F0rbiddenD0nut@reddit

Explain.

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pattern_altitude@reddit

That was a mechanical failure versus this which could either be an inadvertent input or a software issue. Not remotely the same.

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F0rbiddenD0nut@reddit

So what you're saying is, I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. Sounds about right.

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TheVillagePoPTart@reddit

Flying to Latin America is a crapshoot regarding seatbelts and listening to the crew. If this is true I’m not shocked.

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OmnipresentCPU@reddit

Idk why you’re getting downvoted I literally just flew to Buenos Aires and half the plane had their seat fully reclined during takeoff, and during takeoff an overhead bin opened because the crew failed to properly check on everything before we took off. The passenger below the bin had to unbuckle and stand up during our ascent to close the bin! This was American Airlines!

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TheVillagePoPTart@reddit

I’ve never done American to LATAM but my mom has and she says they seem to have less Spanish speakers than other airlines, probably plays a big part considering when you fly delta they literally have to make every announcement five times in Spanish before people listen.

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gefahr@reddit

This echoes what I've seen, but, hey - at least the parent commenter got downvoted as to eliminate the risk of anyone being offended. That's more important than safety!

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TheVillagePoPTart@reddit

God forbid we highlight that the third world flys by night regarding safety. I saw someone hit the roof flying back from CDMX and there were people trying to stand shortly before flying final approach through a thunderstorm to San Salvador another time.

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