This sudden tossing from your seat is called turbulence, which is caused by the relative movement of disturbed air through which an aircraft is flying.[โฆ]CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLEโถ
Anytime you travel using a plane, there are those instances where you could be thrown up and down from your seat and depending on the severity, you can be injured, an experience deemed terrifying and one that passengers in an aircraft dread.
This sudden tossing from your seat is called turbulence, which is caused by the relative movement of disturbed air through which an aircraft is flying.
It is a common experience during flight, but severe turbulence rarely occurs. On Tuesday, May 21, however, one person died and several others were injured after flight SQ321 of Singapore Airlines from London (Heathrow) faced severe turbulence which forced the flight to divert back to Bangkok, Thailand.
Singapore Airlines confirmed that there were injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. Furthermore, there was a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board.
โOur priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft. We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed,โ reads part of the airlineโs statement on Tuesday.
โAs of 1950hrs Singapore time on 21 May 2024, 18 individuals have been hospitalized. Another 12 are being treated in hospitals. The remaining passengers and crew are being examined and given treatment, where necessary, at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.”
Causes & Origins Of Turbulence
According to SKYbrary, the origins of turbulence may be thermal or mechanical and it may occur either within or clear of cloud. The absolute severity of turbulence depends directly upon the rate at which the speed or the direction of airflow (or both) is changing, although the perception of the severity of turbulence which has been encountered will be affected by the mass of the aircraft involved.
Significant mechanical turbulence will often result from the passage of strong winds over irregular terrain or obstacles. Less severe low-level turbulence can also be the result of convection occasioned by surface heating.
Turbulence may also arise from air movements associated with convective activity, especially in or near a thunderstorm or due to the presence of strong temperature gradients near a Jet Stream. Jet Stream Turbulence, like turbulence caused by Mountain Waves, which can form downwind of ridges, occurs clear of cloud and in the form of Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) (CAT).
Very localised, but sometimes severe, Wake Vortex Turbulence may be encountered when following or crossing behind another aircraft. This turbulence is due to wing tip trailing vortices generated by the preceding aircraft; however, this phenomenon is distinctively transient.
Air moving over or around high ground may create turbulence in the level of the terrain feature. This may produce violent and, for smaller aircraft, potentially uncontrollable effects resulting in pitch and/or roll to extreme positions.
Relative air movements which involve rapid rates of change in wind velocity are described as wind shear and, when severe, they may be sufficient to displace an aircraft abruptly from its intended flight path such that substantial control input is required to compensate.
The consequences of such encounters can be particularly dangerous at low altitudes where any loss of control may occur sufficiently close to terrain to make recovery difficult. The extreme down-bursts which occur below the base of cumulonimbus clouds called Microbursts are a classic example of circumstances conducive to Low-Level Wind Shear.
Types Of Turbulence
Turbulence is graded on a relative scale, according to its perceived or potential effect on a ‘typical’ aircraft, as Light, Moderate, Severe and Extreme.
Light turbulence is the least severe, with slight, erratic changes in attitude and/or altitude.
Moderate turbulence is similar to light turbulence, but of greater intensity – variations in speed as well as altitude and attitude may occur but the aircraft remains in control all the time.
Severe turbulence is characterised by large, abrupt changes in attitude and altitude with large variations in airspeed. There may be brief periods where effective control of the aircraft is impossible. Loose objects may move around the cabin and damage to aircraft structures may occur.
Extreme turbulence is capable of causing structural damage and resulting directly in prolonged, possibly terminal,ย loss of controlย of the aircraft.
In-flight turbulence assessment is essentially subjective. Routine encounters involve light or moderate turbulence, although, to inexperienced passengers (or pilots), especially in small aircraft, these conditions may seem to be severe.
The perception of turbulence severity experienced by an aircraft depends not only on the strength of the air disturbance but also on the size of the aircraft – moderate turbulence in a large aircraft may appear severe in a small aircraft. Therefore pilot reports of turbulence should mention the aircraft type to aid assessment of the relevance to other pilots in, or approaching, the same area.
Are we seeing more turbulence?
Global heating is causing disruptions in different layers of the atmosphere. Since 1979, wind shear in the jet stream has increased by 15 per cent, according to Dr Paul D Williams, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading.
His research projects that clear-air turbulence will more than double by around mid-century in the mid-Northern Hemisphere, affecting popular routes like New York-London and San Francisco-Tokyo.
Can turbulence injure me?
Yes โ but there are far fewer turbulence-related incidents than you might think. According to data from Americaโs Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the number of injuries has averaged 33 per year over the last 16 years โ in 2017 there were just 17.
Considering 2.6 million passengers fly in and out of US airports every day, 959 million a year, the odds of being injured by turbulence are pretty low.
What is the best thing to do during turbulence?
Do as pilots do โ always wear your seat belt. Whenever you return from the toilet and sit back in your seat, strap in. Turbulence injuries are often caused because people arenโt wearing their belts.
FAA offers the following tips for staying safe:
Listen to the flight attendants. Pay attention to the safety briefing at the beginning of your flight and read the safety briefing card.
Keep you and your family safe by wearing a seat belt at all times.
Use an approved child safety seat or device if your child is under two.
Prevent inflight injuries by adhering to your airlineโs carry-on restrictions.
Could turbulence bring down my flight?
โThe short answer is yes,โ senior aviation consultant Adrian Young is quoted by United Kingdom’sย The Independentย โ but itโs unlikely.
Weather at high altitudes (storms and clear air turbulence), microbursts at ground level and wake turbulence caused by other aircraft can all be included under the term โturbulenceโ.ย The first however is rare as the cause of a crash in transport aircraft, but there are some examples from the 1960s.
โMicrobursts cause fewer accidents now than they did in the 1990s. See the American accident at Little Rock in 1999 (an MD-82, flight AA1420). Better extreme weather detection systems exist and flight techniques have been improved,” Young adds.
โWake turbulence affects smaller aeroplanes more than large ones. One accident comes to mind; American 587 in New York in 2001.โ
Modern-day engineering and technology reduce the risk dramatically โ satellites and advanced meteorology technologies give pilots extremely accurate forecasts of areas of expected turbulence.
Ultimately, crashes from turbulence are rare and the aviation industry has worked over the years to reduce the riskโฆCLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES>>>
