[AMcWhirter]

Here’s the report in the Bangkok Post of September 1 with a picture of the damaged ceiling caused “by a passenger being hurled upwards during turbulence.”

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/367253/45-hurt-as-plane-hits-turbulence

[LuganoPirate]

Thanks DoS for jogging the memory on dear old Mac. I used to subscribe to Flying for many years and always enjoyed his column. Now I no longer have my wings I stopped subscribing a few years ago, but I shall now follow his blog instead.

Looking through AVHerald there have been quite a few incidents related to turbulence recently, both East and West. Hope it’s not a sign of things to come!

[Biggless]

Guys, this is simple physics ! At 500 mph the air is exerting strong forces on the plane. Try putting you had outside a car window at say just 80mph ! That’s why the plane can fly, due to the shape of the wing, there is a net upwards force on the plane to counter the downwards force of the weight. Now, I would have to say that generally bigger is better (like a ship in the sea), when you encounter just modest turbulence where the size of the pockets of turbulence are small relative to the size of the plan you just get a generally bumpy ride. However, in extreme conditions, when the pockets of turbulence are big relative to the size of the plane, you get what happened here. Really not that surprising !

[FormerlyDoS]

“when you encounter just modest turbulence where the size of the pockets of turbulence are small relative to the size of the plan you just get a generally bumpy ride. However, in extreme conditions, when the pockets of turbulence are big relative to the size of the plane, you get what happened here. Really not that surprising !”

That explanation surprises me.

[Biggless]

As an engineer myself perhaps I’m not explaining myself very well. To make the analogy with the sea. If you have lots of small waves, then in a big cruise liner, you will have many waves all hitting the ship at the same time but you will get a mixture of peaks and troughs so the net effect is minimal. However, imagine you were in a small dingy in exactly the same sea and you would experience every peak and trough. BUT, if you’ve seen the film the Poseiden adventure, you’ll realise that if the size of the waves becomes big relative to the size of the ship then even a big ship can be severly impacted. It’s similar in the air except you can’t see the “waves”, they are swirls of air, the size of which will depend on the weather conditions. Does that help ?

[FormerlyDoS]

Not really.

The air and the sea behave in different ways.

[flyingcanadian]

Hi AMcW,
Thanks for the posting and the article from the Bangkok Post. If you look at the picture, you will see that the damaged ceiling is in Business Class! You would think that J/C Pax would know to keep their seat belts loosely fastened, and IF it is on approach as the article insinuates, all the more reason for keeping your belt fastened!

[AMcWhirter]

Here’s the AV Herald report …

As suspected, the ‘fasten seat belt’ signs “had been illuminated for a while” but a “number of passengers were still around the aisles of the aircraft or had not secured their seatbelts … ” when the turbulence occurred.

http://avherald.com/h?article=467ab3da&opt=0

[sparkyflier]

A problem is when the pilot leaves the sign on way after take off, forgetting about it frankly. This results on passengers taking a bit of a blind eye to it for when they need to go to the toilet etc.

I have been on flights when the sign has been on for ages and ages, yet they were the smoothest flights I have been on.

Of course the belts should be kept on all the time, but the sign should only be on when there is a good enough reason as to why pax should not leave their seats.

[FormerlyDoS]

sparkyflyer – 05/09/2013 13:45 GMT

Agree 100% with your post.

Pax lose their respect for the power of the environment when the belt sign is on and conditions remain smooth.

[BigDog.]

UA23 New York descending into Dublin; Boeing 757. Turbulence injures 8

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2470257/Severe-turbulence-injures-8-New-York-Dublin-flight.html

Regardless of aircraft type or carrier, air travel can be hazardous.

[BA4ever]

Maaaaaany years ago, one Christmas Eve, an OA’s plane (don’t know the type) hit turbulence in the middle of dinner serving.
The pilots instructed everyone to “sit down now!!!’ and fasten their seatbelts and everyone -even the crew- was sat down when the real dancing began.
Nobody got hurt but when the passengers exited the plane, it was like they were coming out from a horror movie. Dinner was turkey meatballs in red sauce… 😉

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

BA4ever

Your experience is a perfect illustration of the funny side of turbulence and reminds me of being tossed about (which I findly oddly reassuring) on a puddle hopper between Newcastle and Belfast. Well, at least I gave the Cabin Crew a good laugh as they watched in fascination as my drink went in all directions except down my neck.

[Author]

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