After the latest severe incidence, we look at some of the most commonly asked questions about turbulence No frills airlines are becoming the only choice for many people. Encounters with extreme turbulence while in the air can be terrifying. During one recent example of a severe incident, a 73-year-old man with a suspected heart condition died and 30 were injured on a Singapore Airlines flight from London, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok.
In the last year, there have been numerous incidents, from 11 people being injured after severe turbulence rocked a flight from Arizona, to Honolulu in Hawaii in December 2022, to a British Airways flight that hit such strong severe turbulence over the Bay of Bengal that pilots had to return to the airport they'd just departed from, with several members of cabin crew reporting injuries. Even seasoned fliers can, at times, get spooked by the mid-flight bumps and shakes, though in reality the vast majority of cases will be nothing more serious than a jiggle to your in-flight meal. We look at what causes turbulence, answer some of the most commonly asked questions, and investigate whether it can ever bring down an aircraft.
Turbulence is caused by eddies of “rough air” – a bit like waves becoming choppy at sea. The Federal Aviation Administration defines clear-air turbulence (CAT) as “sudden severe turbulence occurring in cloudless regions that causes violent buffeting of aircraft ..
. CAT is especially troublesom.
