Outside, a scene of absolute pandemonium. Emergency crews scrambling to help the passengers of Singapore Airlines, flight SQ-321. But inside, so much worse. Videos and images showing the devastation of that midair crisis. When the Singapore Airlines, Boeing 777, hit turbulence earlier today, at least one person has died, seven more are critically injured.

The first thing you can see is just the objects flying, not knowing what's going on. It's a feeling of lack of control, loss of control, helplessness.

Andrew Davies says he and other passengers tried to help the injured.

The worst thing I saw was a gentleman who lost his life. The two people he had very severe lacerations. When you're talking about help, there was a lady screaming, Okay, let me take that back.

The flight left Monday night from London's Heathrow Airport, destined for Singapore, with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. But about 10 hours to the flight. Airline officials say the aircraft hit a patch of turbulence. The pilot declared a medical emergency and diverted the plane to Bangkok.

So as wild as this must have felt inside the cabin, the airplane only dropped 100 feet, and then it climbed back up 300 feet. So just that short period of negative G, descending 100 feet very rapidly, was enough to push all those people who are injured up onto the ceiling or to bounce off the seats around them.

Pictures from the scene show oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and equipment thrown about, the incident causing damage and injuring multiple people on board, with what appears to be blood seen on seat handles. Parts of the ceiling caved in. All told, 71 people were sent to the hospitals, including two American passengers. Thai officials say that six people remain in critical condition. The one passenger who died, 73-year-old Jeff Kitchen, his musical theater group, confirmed on Facebook, paying tribute to their friend. Singapore Airlines releasing a statement saying in part, Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologize for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. We are providing all necessary assistance during this difficult time. Travel like never before. Singapore Airlines is consistently known as one of the top airlines. Last year, Sky tracks, an international air transport ratings organization, ranked them as the world's best.

This is an airline that has great pilots, has great training, has a great safety record. So when the pilot says, Put your seat belt on, even when you're not experiencing turbulence, it's for your own good.

Turbulence accidents are the most common causes of injuries aboard commercial airlines, according to a 2021 study by the National Transportation Safety Board, the FAA reporting that it found 163 incidents of serious serious turbulence injuries from 2009 to 2022. And just look at this computer simulation posted on the FAA's website, demonstrating the effects turbulence can have on belted and unbelted passengers and unsecured objects inside an aircraft cabin. It all could be getting worse. There is strong evidence that turbulence is increasing because of climate change. Severe clear air turbulence in the North Atlantic has increased by 55% since 1979.

Whether predictions about global warming When we're seeing increasing turbulence, come true, the idea is here that more people are flying. As more people fly, airplanes are going to encounter more turbulence. When we see more turbulence, we're going to see more of these kinds of accidents, these kinds of injuries, if people do not put their seatbelt on when the seatbelt sign comes on.

Airborne incidents are incredibly rare, but they do happen. The results can be harrowing. Just last year, this Southwest flight to Florida, the cabin filling with smoke and panic-Evacuate, evacuate. The passengers evacuating after a bird strike. The moments of you think, Please God, just let me get out of this. Also last year, this Lufthansa flight suddenly dropping a thousand feet during dinner service, sending objects flying, and a flight attendant reportedly hitting the ceiling. But what are the most terrifying? This was the nightmare scenario for the passengers of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, bound for Ontario, California, this past January. It was a hole beside the plane. Terrifying moments from 16,000 feet in the air. I was really praying. I was asking God to put angels under the wings to hold us up. The Alaska jet, a Boeing 737 MAX IX, with 177 people on board, taking off from Portland, Oregon, when all of a sudden, the door plug, which is used to cover and seal optional emergency exits, flew off. I was just being really scared, and I remember being like, I just need to tell everyone I love them. I thought I was going to die.

After a three-day search, that door plug that flew off the plane was located in a Portland, Oregon, school teacher's backyard. An NTSB report, released in February, found that four bolts in the door plug designed to prevent the plug from falling off the plane, were missing before the incident occurred. All of this comes at the cusp of the busiest travel day of the year so far. Triple A predicts over 3.5 million people will travel by plane over the holiday weekend, building up to be the busiest Memorial Day weekend at US airports since 2005.

Lots of people are going to be flying. This is the time of year when we see severe storms, particularly around the middle of the country. So pilots are going to be extra careful in making sure that that seat belt sign comes on in time for everybody who isn't buckled up to get buckled up.