2 people were injured and an emergency exit sign was shattered on a turbulent Air China flight

• A passenger and flight attendant were injured after an Air China flight hit severe turbulence.
• According to another passenger, the people on the plane were "genuinely frightened."
• Climate change is worsening plane turbulence, and experts say passengers should always wear seat belts. 

On Monday, an Air China flight from Shanghai to Beijing hit severe turbulence that left two people injured. 

According to ECNS Wire, the injured included one passenger and a flight attendant. After the flight landed, they were transported to a nearby hospital. 

"In the last 30-40 minutes or so before landing, there was a sudden sharp drop. Then there was another violent drop, which threw the flight attendant helping passengers return to their seats and a passenger to the ceiling," passenger Xing Lida shared on his Weibo account, according to ECNS Wire. 

The outlet reported that Lida also said the turbulence resulted in a shattered emergency exit sign and passengers were "genuinely frightened." 

"However, flight attendants provided medical assistance to the injured passengers in a professional and calm manner," Lida added, according to ECNS Wire.

The turbulence the passengers experienced was clear-air turbulence, which occurs at high altitudes typically in a cloudless sky, according to Skybrary. 

As Insider previously reported, a warming planet is making plane turbulence more common and more severe. Wind shear, which is a drastic change in the speed and direction of the wind, is often tied to clear-air turbulence, and changing global temperatures have increased wind shear by 15% since 1979, according to a report published in Nature. 

Each year, there is an average of 5,500 encounters with severe or greater turbulence, but that number has increased in recent years due to climate change, Insider previously reported. 

In 2023 alone, several events of severe turbulence have occurred. People on a Hawaiian Airlines flight experienced extreme turbulence that injured 25 people, and in June, a British Airways flight attendant required surgery after a flight from Singapore to London hit turbulence. 

But this doesn't necessarily mean passengers should expect more turbulence on future flights.  

Stephen Bennett, chairman of the American Meteorological Society's Committee on Financial Weather and Climate Risk, and co-founder and chief climate officer of The Demex Group, previously told Insider that as turbulence worsens, systems for air routing will likely adjust so flights can avoid turbulent areas. 

"I also expect that newly emerging technology will make it easier to detect clear-air turbulence in the decades ahead," Bennet said. "Even considering the impacts of climate change, it's actually likely that flights will become safer over time as opposed to more dangerous."

However, that comes with a cost. Isabel Smith, meteorologist and PhD student at the University of Reading and lead author of a 2023 article on clear-air turbulence trends over the North Atlantic, also told Insider that she predicts that increasing turbulence will cause longer travel times, increased fuel consumption, and higher CO2 emissions. 

As a passenger, experts agreed that the best thing to do is to have your seatbelt fastened — regardless of whether the seatbelt light is on. 

Representatives for Air China did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.