The Nation - News from July 14, 1986

An Eastern Airlines plane struck a pocket of violent turbulence 20,000 feet above Palm Beach, Fla., injuring at least 18 people, two seriously, as they were tossed about the cabin, officials said. The pilot of the A-300 warned passengers that the flight was likely to encounter turbulence because of a thunderstorm and told them to fasten their seat belts, an airline spokesman said. But at least two Spanish-speaking passengers on Flight 977 from New York’s Kennedy Airport to Miami Airport said they did not understand the pilot’s warning in English.