Passengers Remember Chaotic Scene Aboard Airplane Hit by Turbulence

It started out as just another flight up the coast. The seat belt light was off, and some of the 107 passengers on the Shuttle by United plane were roaming around the cabin.

Then, without warning, the plane ran into turbulence and plunged, sending many people flying and leaving 15 injured, mostly with sprains, cuts and back pain.

“Everybody went straight to the ceiling,” passenger Ronald Kalio said. “There [were] two stewardesses that spent the rest of the trip in the aisles. They were knocked out.”

United Airlines Flight 2036 encountered the turbulence about 2:20 p.m. Thursday, about halfway through its trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco, said United spokesman Joe Hopkins.

Five of those injured were members of a Quincy, Mass., high school girls soccer team.

“When I looked out the window, my first thought was, ‘It’s going down,’ ” said Maureen Cheesman, mother of a team member.

San Francisco airport spokesman Ron Wilson said the plane probably hit clear-air turbulence. But Hopkins said United is “90% sure” the culprit was turbulence caused by the wake of another aircraft.