Flight attendant broke leg in seven places during severe turbulence
A flight attendant has had to give up her dream job after breaking her leg in seven places during severe turbulence.
Eden Garrity, 31, was pushing a trolley as the Thomas Cook flight from Cuba to Manchester passed through a violent Atlantic hail storm.
The plane suddenly thrust up 500ft, slamming Eden into the ground and snapping her leg in several places.
She couldn’t walk for the next two months and underwent a number of operations as well as intense rehabilitation.
Eden was left with nerve damage and is no longer able to stand up for long periods, which means she can’t return to her much-loved job as an air steward.
She has received a six-figure payout that will help her financially, but she says it can’t make up for the fact she’s lost her dream career.
She said: ‘It has left me bitter, I’m resentful for it. It’s just frustrating. It was the best job in the world and I feel like I’ve lost a piece of my personality.
‘You see people you’re friends with and they’re travelling in the skies and I’m not, I’m forever grounded. I’ll never be able to fly for work again.
‘I feel lost, I’ve got a family and a son and it is great, but I’m very restricted in terms of what I can do. I miss making memories, seeing different countries.
‘If not for the accident I’d have been able to fly in the future and it’s horrible.
‘I appreciate the payout but it doesn’t bring back what I’ve lost.’
Eden, from Leigh in Greater Manchester, lay on the floor of the plane in agony for an hour after the incident, as they waited for the turbulence to stop.
The back row of seats was then cleared and she was able to lay down there until they landed in Manchester seven hours later.
‘The doctor said it was like a sledgehammer hitting the bottom of my foot,’ she said.
‘Six passengers lifted me up and over to lay me across three seats at the back of the plane and the ambulance was waiting at the airport for me.’
Eden had broken her fibula in five places, her tibia once, fractured the side of her foot and cracked her ankle bone.
She needed surgery to insert screws and metal plates inside her leg, as well as a huge external metal brace.
Eden said the flight had taken a detour of around 100 miles to avoid bad weather conditions as it crossed the Atlantic in August 2019.
But Eden says she and other crew members had not been made aware of the risk of turbulence either during the journey, or at the pre-flight staff briefing.
She said: ‘Usually if we’re going to have some turbulence they tell us before the flight and let us know what the plans are.
‘For example, they might say “we’re going to put the seatbelt signs on” or “we’re not going to release you”‘.
While Thomas Cook’s insurers denied responsibility for her injuries, Eden has received an undisclosed compensation care package worth six figures.
Injury law expert Neil Richards, who represented Eden, said: ‘The circumstances surrounding the incident in which Miss Garrity sustained her injuries should have been foreseen.
‘The issue of inflight safety, especially when working in certain geographical regions including the Caribbean, carries a known health and safety risk.
Mr Richards, from Thompsons Solicitors, added: ‘Turbulence also represents an obvious and serious danger to all those onboard, and especially to airline staff who are required to work in and around the cabin in such environments.’
As of yesterday, 43 people, including Brits, were still in hospital after a Singapore Airlines flight plunged 6,000ft during turbulence, throwing passengers out of their seats.
Out of those, 22 suffered spinal injuries and six had brain and skull injuries.
One British passenger, Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, died of a suspected heart attack during the terrifying ordeal.
Meanwhile, a dozen people were injured when a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin hit turbulence while flying over Turkey this morning.
Six passengers and six crew members were injured during the flight, which landed safely as scheduled just before 1pm.
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