Several other flights had been canceled due to the storm, and four to five tons of snow were said to have accumulated on the wings of the plane, Sweden's Expressen.se explained.
Norwegian Airlines flight operations head Tomas Hesthammer told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet that the American crew who had disobeyed the captain's orders had also violated safety regulations. The crew members in question are currently suspended from work while the matter is being investigated. Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority director Einar Schjolberg noted that the airline itself is under investigation for the potential violation of safety regulations, while Norwegian counters that the flight still had the bare minimum of personnel required to ensure passenger safety.
Norwegian Airlines Communications head Charlotte Holmsbergh Jacobsson told Sweden's TT that ultimately, it was the pilot's "responsibility [to ensure] security on board and he is the one who makes the call whether it’s safe to fly or not. That’s not a task for the cabin crew."
Passenger Lii Hylander told Espressen.se that despite the walk-off, "the pilot was very calm and collected," explaining that the plane "would lift off with half the crew," and that "once we were in the air, the flight went just fine."
