In the news this last week or two. A flight from Qatar to Dublin experienced serious turbulence, with six passengers and six cabin crew injured. A much much worse experience for those on a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore.
Singapore Airlines has tightened seatbelt rules on its flights after one passenger died and more than 100 were injured when one of its planes hit severe turbulence.
Passengers and crew onboard flight SQ321 suffered skull, brain and spine injuries when they were thrown violently around the cabin during Tuesday's terrifying high-altitude ordeal. Some passengers said the turbulence happened so fast there was no time to fasten their seatbelts.
The London to Singapore flight carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, where at least 48 people are still being treated in hospital.
And new measures have been introduced including:
a "more cautious approach" to turbulence.
"In addition to the suspension of hot beverage service when the seatbelt sign is on, the meal service will also be suspended," the carrier said in a statement to AFP. "SIA will continue to review our processes as the safety of our passengers and crew is of utmost importance."
Interesting that that wasn't already implemented to protect those working on the jets.
Though once petrified on aircraft, while that phobia has largely faded away I have found turbulence to be less than enjoyable - I've a great app that shows the G-forces working on the aircraft (it's a fear of flying app and while I don't need it I do enjoy the visuals about G-forces) and it's remarkable to compare and contrast with trains and buses. Let's just say that the latter two modes of transport are subject to much more vibration and continual mild G-forces - rattle and shake kind of describes it. Aircraft are notably more smooth in their passage through the air. Once you can see in real time just how low level the forces exerted on an airframe are it is very calming, almost relaxing. Knowledge is a good thing.
As to whether this is a function of climate change, it does appear that some turbulence appears to be getting worse.
Clear air" turbulence occurs when there is a change of wind direction in or around the jet stream - a fast flowing "river" of air that is typically found at 30,000-60,000ft.
Last year scientists from Reading University found that severe turbulence, from this clean air phenomenon, had increased 55% between 1979 and 2020 in the North Atlantic.
They said that warmer air from increasing greenhouse gas emissions was changing the wind speed in the jet stream.
And:
This type of turbulence is notoriously difficult for pilots to navigate. Although meteorological organisations provide warnings of where it may be found, during flight it cannot be picked up on their radar systems or seen.
Prof Paul Williams, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Reading, who co-authored the study told the BBC last year: "We should be investing in improved turbulence forecasting and detection systems, to prevent the rougher air from translating into bumpier flights in the coming decades."
Not that it is dangerous, as such to airframes - I've been looking for examples of turbulence seriously damaging aircraft and worse and it appears to not be a contributory factor to accidents and worse, but for people not strapped in, that's a different matter. The point being keep that seatbelt loosely on all the time. And perhaps keep in mind that in a world that is heating up this is going to become more, rather than less, prevalent.
No comments:
Post a Comment