Unexpected heavy turbulence is not only a threat to passengers and crew, but also to the long-term safety of planes carrying them, according to researchers who say this phenomenon is on the rise.
A Singapore Airlines flight from London Heathrow to Singapore has become the latest to make headlines from severe turbulence, after the carrier said on Tuesday that one passenger was killed and others injured by severe in-flight turbulence.
Unexpected heavy turbulence is not only a threat to passengers and crew, but also to the long-term safety of planes carrying them, according to researchers who say this phenomenon is on the rise.
Although you may have never encountered a case of severe turbulence during a flight, one study projects that air travellers are likely to face more hazardous turbulence in the coming years due to climate change.
Most cases of turbulence are experienced only as a mild shaking in the aircraft and a slight loss of elevation. In rarer, more severe cases, passengers and crew members can be injured, however.
Especially dangerous is what’s known as “clear air turbulence” since this often occurs without any advanced warning – in other words without any chance to fasten your seat belt.
This form of turbulence “is hazardous to aircraft and is projected to intensify in response to future climate change,” say the authors of a 2023 study from Reading University in the UK.
In 1979 clear air turbulence totalled 467 hours over the North Atlantic, while in 2020 the figure was 547 hours, the researchers say. Turbulence not only poses a risk of injury to passengers, but also to the plane itself. “Every additional minute spent traversing turbulence causes fatigue and increases wear-and-tear on the airframe,” the study authors write.
According to figures from the US Federal Aviation Administration, 163 people suffered “serious turbulence injuries” on flights to or from US airports between 2009 and 2022.
There can be different causes, and one major one is the jet stream, says Jens Heider, an aeronautical engineer and pilot with the German aviation and space centre (DLR).
