[Anonymous]

[AMcWhirter]

Fifty passengers and crew on today’s TG600 flying between Bangkok and Hong Kong were injured then the A380 super jumbo encountered severe turbulence.

The full story has yet to emerge but some pictures I’ve seen (taken by one passenger) shows that some people hit the cabin ceiling with such force as to break the lining.

So always advisable to keep your seat belt fastened at all times.

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/se-asia/story/dozens-hurt-thai-airliner-hits-turbulence-20130830

[BigDog.]

Thanks Alex – would I be right in thinking that as with Ships in very bad weather, other things being equal, the bigger the better?

[Travellator]

There has been a warning re flight delays due to weather at HKG today.

[BA744fan]

It’s peak typhoon season. Not very pleasant for anyone who lives there (I should know – I used to live on the 32nd floor and could feel the building sway). Even more unpleasant at 35000 feet doing 500 miles/hour. Definitely a good idea to keep the seatbelts on.

[AMcWhirter]

It seems that big isn’t always better. I find it surprising that a huge plane like the A380 can be so affected by turbulence. The full story has yet to emerge, it’s not long been reported in Asia, and so far all the media are quoting more or less the same facts.

[MartynSinclair]

wasn’t there another 380 incident in severe turbulence recently ???

[AMcWhirter]

Correct. It was on an SIA A380 bound for LHR. But there were far fewer injuries than today’s incident and, from what I can see from the accompanying picture, passengers did not hit the ceiling panel.

http://avherald.com/h?article=462eaf1c

[MartynSinclair]

@AMW – are you able to provide access to your photos??

[AMcWhirter]

Martyn

Here’s a link to a thread on airliners.net See the original post. You can see the damage caused to the cabin ceiling.

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5857934/

[AMcWhirter]

A report has just appeared in Ireland’s Independent.

Read towards the end and it reports that a Hong Kong Airlines flight from Phuket also encountered turbulence on approach to HKG. Three passengers and three flight attendents were injured.

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/26-hurt-as-planes-hit-turbulence-29539458.html

[AMcWhirter]

Reported now on Thai TV showing damage to A380’s interior.

http://www.tnnthailand.com/news_detail.php?id=8438&t=news

[LuganoPirate]

Fact is the forces of nature are much greater than those of man, and no matter the size of the plane, it can still get tossed around.

I wonder if they will now carry out a big inspection? I think after very severe turbulence the plane has to go for a major check. I think this happen recently to a Lufthansa plane heading to the States.

[FormerlyDoS]

“It seems that big isn’t always better.”

It’s more a matter of wing loading, the heavier the load, the less movement in turbulence, having said that, in severe CAT or convective conditions, even a very highly loaded wing will move around a lot.

From an article by J ‘Mac’ McLellan, a respected writer who is/was a columnist for Flying magazine

http://macsblog.com/2011/04/watch-out-for-wing-loading-2/

“There is no mystery about how wind and turbulence will affect a lightly loaded wing compared to one carrying more pounds per square foot. The lightly loaded wing will bounce around more and be harder to control. When the same gust has half the weight resisting its efforts to move the same square foot of wing, the movement is likely to be something like twice as great.”

[BigDog.]

Most interesting FDOS especially the link. Am duly more enlightened, thanks.

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