An American Airlines flight experienced SEVERE turbulence...for 45 minutes! It occurred when the airplane was over Japan & the winds were 220 mph plus.
HOW did the pilot NOT know what he was flying into?
DH was watching the morning news. The still photos were bad enough. I had to leave the room when the video came on.
You cant see turbulence. It doesn't have a color or shape. It was WIND.
How did the pilot not know? Because you cant see wind.
Sorry. But this gets a big ol' DUH!
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Usually if there is chop or clear air turbulence (not due to weather), pilots put out the info and it is relayed to others on that flight path and altitude. But there is the ONE plane that hits it first. I've been on one of those, and experienced that sudden drop. It's the reason that I always wear my seatbelt when seated, even if the pilot doesn't have the fasten seatbelt sign lit.
The hazards of flying first class on long haul trips, all that china poised to take flight....
I feel sorry for everyone on board, especially the flight crew. Must have been terrifying. I understand the pilot didn't say a word to the passengers until much later. Most likely he wasn't trying to maintain control of the plane and figure out what to do.
OMG - one year I was returning to NY from London after Christmas and we encountered TURBULENCE for at least 40 minutes too. And it was absolutely terrifying. I was gripping the seat arms and my hands were white!! There was a group of teenagers on the flight and they were literally screaming with fright. Felt like we were loose pencils in a metal box being tilted from side to side and then dropping in free-fall and then more of the same!!! We seriously thought we were all going to die. Never been so happy to touch the ground.
Pilots usually know before hand that there will be turbulence. I remember flying to Las Vegas and the pilot warned everyone to put their seatbelts on that we were going to hit some bad turbulence.
I think it is crazy to blame a pilot for not knowing about turbulence.
When flying, anything can happen. It a calculated unknown.
I am happy the ones who were hurt, are going to be ok.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
On my return flight from Paris we flew into a thunderstorm. The pilot had to perform 4 "touch and go's" before he was finally able to land the plane. The drops were horrible. Everyone held hands with each other and prayed.
I think it is crazy to blame a pilot for not knowing about turbulence.
When flying, anything can happen. It a calculated unknown.
I am happy the ones who were hurt, are going to be ok.
Given the fact that you are NOT a pilot, I think you are wrong.
Studies show that flying is typically SAFER than driving. Why? Maybe because of the sophisticated equipment used.
flan
And given the fact the YOU are NOT a pilot EITHER I think you are trying to blame someone for something OUT of their control.
You sound ridiculous.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
NO ONE is agreeing that the pilot should have known before hand. They are saying they understand it happens.
You are wanting to blame the WIND on a human.
It doesn't matter how sophisticated the equipment is, Wind can come out of nowhere and be gone just as fast.
It's WIND. You cant see wind. You can feel wind. You can feel the effects of wind. But you can not see wind.
But go ahead and blame the pilot. He should have known. He is a pilot and all.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
It's winter. They were northeast of Japan. The weather gets nasty out there very quickly. It happens.
I'm grateful the pilot managed to maintain control of the plane and was able to land it safely.
I also have been on bumpy flights. People were throwing up. It happens.
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Faith isn't something that keeps bad things from happening. Faith is what helps us get through bad things when they do happen.
Interesting, Lily and Flan are arguing because they agree with each other.
The "sophisticated equipment" that saved everyone in the plane was ...
The aircraft itself, which stayed intact through the incident.
There are circumstances where on-board radar will show weather problems ahead of the aircraft, but that's reflecting off of water (rain, snow, ice) blowing around.
This was too high for water to be accumulating, so the radar wouldn't reflect off of anything.
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I was a little surprised at this, too. After working in aviation for 40 years and knowing all the advancements in weather radar I have to wonder if he was actually watching it or had it tuned correctly.... Seems strange that with all the devices installed in aircraft today that "unexpected" turbulence would appear.
At any rate, glad not more were injured or that the aircraft suffered structural damage.
On the other hand, think of the 1000s and 1000s of flights everyday that are completely boring. Just normal take off/landing, etc... A pretty safe way to travel.
No problem flan, I too read the article and of course it made me nervous. I try to think that there are flights going that direction everyday without anything happening.
No problem flan, I too read the article and of course it made me nervous. I try to think that there are flights going that direction everyday without anything happening.
I mean, if it happened frequently, it wouldn't be NEWS.
Clear-air turbulence is usually impossible to detect with the naked eye and very difficult to detect with conventional radar,[7] with the result that it is difficult for aircraft pilots to detect and avoid it. However, it can be remotely detected with instruments that can measure turbulence with optical techniques, such as scintillometers, Doppler LIDARs, or N-slit interferometers.[8]
Although the altitudes near the tropopause are usually cloudless, thin cirrus cloud can form where there are abrupt changes of air velocity, for example associated with jet streams. Lines of cirrus perpendicular to the jet stream indicate possible CAT, especially if the ends of the cirrus are dispersed, in which case the direction of dispersal can indicate if the CAT is stronger at the left or at the right of the jet stream.
DS2 has a commercial pilot's license. AS he says, it's not common, and you can't really see it to avoid it..but a pilot who experiences it will always relay the position to warn any other aircraft.
The takeaway here is that it's always a good habit to wear your seatbelt when seated.
DS2 has a commercial pilot's license. AS he says, it's not common, and you can't really see it to avoid it..but a pilot who experiences it will always relay the position to warn any other aircraft.
The takeaway here is that it's always a good habit to wear your seatbelt when seated.
Okay, next question:
If he had changed his altitude, would that have helped?
