Latest news with #turbulence
The Independent
a day ago
- Health
- The Independent
New website forecasts turbulence risk for nervous flyers
is a website that offers passengers information about potential turbulence levels for their flights, similar to what pilots use. The site uses data from NOAA and the Met Office to monitor and forecast turbulence, presenting it in an hour-by-hour graph indicating light, moderate, or strong turbulence. also provides interactive turbulence maps, tailwind/headwind predictions, crosswind data, and thunderstorm forecasts. In North America, Denver, Colorado, is identified as the most turbulent airport for approaches and descents, while Albuquerque to Denver is the most turbulent route. Turbulence is caused by warm air rising, mountains disrupting airflow, and pockets of air moving in different directions, but modern aircraft are designed to withstand it, and serious injuries are rare, according to FAA data.
The Independent
a day ago
- Climate
- The Independent
Worried about turbulence? The hack for discovering how bumpy your next flight will be
Turbulence is undoubtedly the scariest aspect of a flight for nervous fliers — with their fears compounded by not knowing how long it'll last or how severe it's going to get. But fortunately there's a hack to help with this, a tool that gives passengers-in-waiting almost as much information about turbulence levels for their upcoming flight as pilots receive. The feature is by website which monitors and predicts turbulence using the same sources pilots and airlines use to plan their flights — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the MetOffice. Fliers who believe in a "better the devil you know" approach to life simply input their upcoming departure and arrival airports, and flight numbers, into forecasting tool to see hour-by-hour turbulence levels for their trip, presented as a graph. This indicates whether turbulence will be light, moderate or strong along the expected route, along with a one-line summation of how bumpy things will get. The website describes "light" turbulence as "smooth flight conditions"; "moderate" as leading to "difficulty with walking and food services"; and "strong" as "passengers straining against seat belts". Further down the page, and viewers can see predicted tailwinds and headwinds, crosswinds at the expected take-off and landing runways, plus thunderstorm forecasts. The website also produces insightful interactive turbulence maps, with passengers able to plot their upcoming flight route and see any patches of turbulence their plane might pass through. In addition, produces lists of the airports and flight routes that are the worst for turbulence. In North America, the most turbulent airport for approaches and descents — take-offs and landings are affected by crosswinds, not turbulence — is Denver, Colorado, followed by Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport. Salt Lake City, Jackson Hole Airport and Las Vegas also make the top 10, with Albuquerque to Denver ranked as the route with the highest average turbulence. Las Vegas to Reno and Las Vegas to Salt Lake City also make the top 10 most turbulent route table. Turbulence is caused by warm air rising through cooler air; mountains or manmade structures disrupting air flow, and pockets of air moving in different directions. It's completely normal and modern aircraft are designed to withstand more turbulence than you'll ever experience on a flight. According to data from America's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there have been only 184 serious turbulence injuries between 2009 and 2023, with 37 of those people passengers, the rest crew members. North America's 10 most turbulent airports Denver (17.29 EDR — eddy dissipation rate) Bozeman (17) Albuquerque (16.44) Salt Lake City (16.43) Jackson Hole Airport (16.14) Las Vegas (15.74) Vancouver (15.68) Reno (15.67) Seattle (15.49) Boise (15.40) North America's most turbulent routes Albuquerque — Denver (17.75 EDR) Denver — Jackson (17.45) Jackson — Salt Lake City (17.41) Denver — Salt Lake City (16.94) Bozeman — Denver (16.68) Ontario — San Diego (16.43) Boise — Salt Lake City (16.30) Bozeman — Salt Lake City (16.25) Las Vegas — Reno (16.06) Las Vegas — Salt Lake City (15.87)
Times of Oman
2 days ago
- Climate
- Times of Oman
IndiGo flight faces turbulence due to duststorm, lands safely in Delhi
New Delhi: An IndiGo flight from Raipur to Delhi experienced turbulence due to a duststorm, prompting the pilot to climb up again when the aircraft was about to touch down at Delhi airport. Flight 6E 6313 landed safely at Delhi airport after making many circles in the air. The video of the incident also went viral on social media. The pilot announced that the wind speed was upto 80 km/hrs, and he discontinued the approach and climbed back till the weather cleared. Meanwhile, the national capital on Sunday witnessed a spell of rain, accompanied by strong winds over the southern parts of Delhi. The rains are due to an east-southeastward-moving cloud cluster, according to the Meteorological Department. The spell of rain offered a much-needed respite from the heat, as the national capital recorded maximum temperatures of more than 39 C earlier in the morning. According to IMD, Safdarjung area recorded a maximum temperature of 39.7 degrees Celsius, Ayanagar 39.5 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road 39.4 degrees Celsius and Palam recording 39.1 degrees Celsius. The IMD has issued warnings of thunderstorms, lightning and squall for the next two days, on June 2-3, in the national capital. The IMD has issued warnings on the nowcast for atleast 8 districts, including South, South East, New Delhi, East, Central, Sahadara, North East. The Met Department has said that the winds could reach up to 80 kmph too. Meanwhile, South West, West and North West Districts have been issued an advisory to watch out for light rains, thunderstorms and lightning.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Severe turbulence on Qantas flight results in cabin crew member's broken ankle
A cabin member broke their ankle and two more were injured when a Qantas flight from Sydney to Brisbane experienced severe turbulence during landing. The captain of the Qantas 737 did not inform the cabin crew about the expected turbulence during descent meaning they were performing pre-landing duties when the plane encountered difficult conditions on 4 May 2024, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation found. Two cabin crew sustained minor injuries including facial trauma and concussion, while a third suffered a fractured ankle and was unable to move from the rear galley floor. The plane's customer service manager (CSM) recalled observing the cabin crew member rising off the floor and colliding with the aircraft's ceiling before falling back down and landing on their right ankle. A travelling doctor, an off-duty cabin crew employee and two crew members remained with the injured flight attendant at the back of the aircraft, resulting in four people being out of their seats as the plane landed. 'Qantas 737 standard operating procedures rely on the customer service manager – the senior member of the cabin crew – informing the flight crew if the cabin is not secured for landing,' Dr Stuart Godley, director transport safety at Australian Transport Safety Bureau, explained. While the customer service manager contacted the captain to inform them about the injured cabin crew member and that some passengers were standing, the captain did not recall receiving any requests for more time to prepare the cabin for landing, and twice directed all uninjured cabin crew and passengers to return to their seats, the report found. 'Landing is a critical phase of flight, and the unrestrained cabin crew and passengers were exposed to a higher risk of injury in a landing-based emergency, which in turn would have compromised the cabin crew's ability to manage any such emergency situation. 'Data shows that almost 80 per cent of serious turbulence-related injuries in airline operations are sustained by cabin crew, and the most common time for these to occur is when preparing the cabin for landing,' Dr Godley added. Dr Godley emphasised that collaboration is essential between pilots and cabin crew to ensure service tasks are completed on time while minimising the risk of injury during known or anticipated encounters with turbulence. 'Differing understandings of the state of the cabin increases the risk of delayed responses or misaligned decision‑making, which may lead to safety being compromised,' Dr Godley said. After the aircraft arrived at the gate at Brisbane, the seriously injured cabin crew member was attended to by ambulance personnel. However, the other two injured cabin crew members did not receive any immediate follow up medical assessments or treatment. While one of the injured crew self-diagnosed their facial injury the next day, the other was unaware they had sustained a concussion and operated on multiple flights while experiencing concussion symptoms before being treated. Qantas has subsequently updated its post-event incident notification protocol to include contact with the Qantas on-call doctor in the event of significant cabin crew injury or illness. Additionally, the airline has implemented additional controls to adequately assess the fitness of crew members after a turbulence event or other unplanned aircraft movement.
CNA
6 days ago
- Climate
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - Why did it take a year for parts of the weather to be sent for testing?
CNA938 Rewind Parts of the weather radar system from Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 have been sent for tests in the U.S, following last year's severe turbulence incident. Lance Alexander and Daniel Martin discuss further with Alvin Lie, independent aviation analyst.
