United Airlines passenger hospitalized after flight hits severe turbulence

One passenger was hospitalized after a United Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence and diverted to Memphis on Wednesday.

According to the airline, flight 1196 was traveling from Cancún, Mexico to Chicago when it encountered “a brief period of severe turbulence while the seatbelt sign was on.”

United said the plane landed safely in Memphis and paramedics met the flight at the gate.

The plane ultimately continued to Chicago, where it arrived Wednesday evening.

This year has seen a number of high-profile turbulence events, including an incident involving a Singapore Airlines flight in May that injured 30 people. One passenger also died in that incident, although the direct cause of death may have been an unrelated health issue.

Is turbulence getting worse?

Climate change has been contributing to turbulence becoming more frequent and severe. Although it’s still extremely rare to encounter the roughest kind of turbulence, it does happen.

Passengers can stay safe by staying buckled in whenever they’re seated, even if the seatbelt sign is off. That’s because so-called clear air turbulence can pop up unexpectedly, and is the most likely to cause injury since people are the least likely to be secured when it does.

Cruising Altitude: Planes are made to handle bad weather, so why is your flight canceled?

"Anytime somebody asks me about turbulence, I say the same thing," Thomas Guinn, chair of applied aviation sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, previously told USA TODAY . "If you're fastened in your seat belt, the odds of getting injured in a turbulence event are low."

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: United Airlines passenger hospitalized after flight hits severe turbulence