Plane hits rough turbulence on way to Philadelphia Int'l Airport

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight headed to Philadelphia had a scare after the jet hit rough turbulence on Tuesday.

Action News spoke to airport officials and passengers on Southwest Airlines Flight 4817 from Nashville.

They told us people on the plane were bounced around a bit after the aircraft hit the turbulence.

"It was like a roller coaster ride," said Mark DaSilva of Dallas, Texas. "I was sleeping and all of a sudden a guy to my left yelled really loud," DaSilva said. "People came off their seats."

The pilot alerted the ground that they might be injuries on board.

However, while there were some minor injuries reported, no one was seriously hurt.

Passengers we spoke with say what made it so frightening was that it all occurred very suddenly - and without warning of impending turbulence.

"There was a sudden lurch where a lot of people were flung up and out of their seat temporarily. There were a few people out of their seats, a stewardess threw a bag of garbage accidentally," said Michael Conrad of Nashville, Tennessee.

"It looked quite disastrous from the back of the plane where we were but, overall, I don't think it was that bad, but it felt pretty legitimately scary during the turbulence," Conrad said.

This comes amid numerous flight delays at the airport due to the snow.