Welcome back. This morning we're learning new details about a
terrifying flight that hit severe turbulence as it flew from
London to Singapore.
Here's a look inside the Singapore Airlines plane.
You could see the extent of the damage.
Passengers on board say quote.
All hell broke loose when the plane suddenly hit turbulence
and plunged several 1000 feet in just a matter of
minutes.
Shoes, iPads, plates, cups you see on your screen here
are flying through the cabin.
The plane was forced to make an emergency landing in
Bangkok.
A 73 year old British man died.
Officials say it appears he suffered a heart attack.
71 passengers were hospitalized for their injuries.
The airline says the rest of the passengers have now
arrived in Singapore.
Joining us now to talk more about severe turbulence and
how it happens and how to prepare yourself is Joining
us is Sean Prucchnicki,
aviation professor at The Ohio State University and a former
commercial pilot.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Pretty scary stuff here, especially when you see that video
of just everything kind of just thrown about the the
plane there.
So what happens to a plane when it hits turbulence?
And how common is it for the
plane's path, I guess, to be altered?
Thousands, several thousands feet.
Well, most turbulence is certainly not as severe as this,
right? The
Yeah, absolutely. So when you hit this type of turbulence,
there's there's one of two things that most commonly happen.
One is the aircraft's how level it is is is
greatly disturbed.
So the airplane itself, you know,
the nose goes down, the nose comes up,
so the airplane kind of teeter powders like this.
And then the other problem is the aircraft typically will
lose altitude quickly.
So you have both of these problems going on at
the same time
and in in addition to this,
the flight crew and the automation has a very difficult
time maintaining control of the aircraft.
I experienced this one time myself and in fact the
autopilot will disconnect when it's this severe and it becomes
a manual operation of the pilots trying to regain control
with the aircraft at that point.
Wow, so how? OK, so for someone out there who
you know,
maybe doesn't fly often, wasn't a commercial pilot like yourself,
what would you equate it to?
Is it as simple as,
hey, I'm walking down the street,
a large gust of wind blows and almost knocks me
over,
you try to gain control.
What would be a way that you could kind of
relate it to a real life scenario for someone to
actually know what that feels like?
Well,
it's really quite unique to experience something like that.
If if you
you could almost think of it as a
maybe a ride at an amusement park,
you know, something that's very violent that shakes your,
shakes you around possibly and and you're not belted in,
you know, maybe that would be an example.
I I'm not really sure.
I mean, it's so unique
in and of itself, but I'm not sure you can
really compare it to something because,
you know, the entire airplane is shaking so violently in
two directions,
both up and down and side to side.
So it's just so unique.
I'm not sure you can really compare it to something
interesting.
And so if you do go on planes and you
hear them,
you know, the pilot over the intercom say,
OK, we're about to hit some turbulence,
some rough air, Now's the time to buckle your seat
belt.
How predictable? Not necessarily. In a severe case like this,
'cause it seemed pretty sudden,
But how predictable or not predictable is turbulence in something
like this?
Well, a lot of times we do
when we receive our weather,
weather information before we leave,
you might see that in your,
you know, listed in that information.
So we're aware of that.
And if you listen to our briefings,
usually given by the captain.
So I would give a weather a briefing or update.
So sometimes you do hear
the captain mentioned that there might be a little bit
of rough air.
So there gives you a little insight right there.
But just like you, just like you just mentioned when
you know,
when we make an announcement about your to to put
your seat belt on,
it should be on already,
right? Right. When you're seated in your seat.
That's the problem. I notice I fly a lot for
work and I I'm amazed how much when I,
you know, walk down the aisle,
you know to, you know,
to do something.
People I see seated with their seat belt off
very dangerous to do that.
It's like they wait for the seat belt sign to
come on before they buckle up.
If you're in your seat,
have your seat belt side on.
Don't wait for the seat belt sign to come on.
If you're seated, have your belt on.
Yeah. You know, I think that this,
especially with the that door plug situation that happened that
was so random and so terrifying.
If that wasn't enough to say,
hey, maybe you should just keep this on at all
times.
I I, I don't know what will,
but how much would you say that climate change plays
a role in this?
Well, scientists a certain saying that you know that we
are noticing climate change and the predictions are that
as climate change continues that
it will affect the the upper atmosphere and may
and and I you know cautiously say that that it
may increase
airflow at the higher altitudes and as the airflow changes
that's what can produce turbulence.
But here's what we have to be careful of is
climate change is not something that necessarily affects the whole,
you know, upper air all at the same time.
So when we say that,
we can't say necessarily we have climate change.
Therefore there's rough air everywhere,
all over, at the altitudes that we normally fly.
So it's a little bit,
you know,
cautious when we say things like that about climate change
affecting turbulence.
I think we'll have to wait and see,
you know what the scientists really come up with.
And I'd be cautious to say right now that necessarily
we're going to see,
you know, a significant change in turbulence because of that.
Aside from leaving your seat belt on at all times,
any other safety tips for people who may be flying?
Yes. So especially on long haul flights,
do not spend a lot of time just walking around
gathering in the back of the airplane.
I notice a lot of people do this.
I understand and you know,
it is a good idea to get up and stretch,
stretch your legs,
you know, for medical reasons,
you know, you want to do that.
But I'm always surprised that people that gather in the
back or the front of the airplane and you know,
you see 10 people back there talking and they can
be back there for an hour or so.
This is a dangerous thing to do,
especially at the ends of the front of the airplane,
because when there is turbulence,
especially something as violent as this,
when you're at the back of the front of the
airplane,
it is worse the the action of the airplane.
So the effects at all the way at the back
or all the way at the front
and what you feel is actually worse,
so it's more violent.
So it's fine to get up and use the lavatory
and walk up and down the aisle once or twice.
And then you need to get back in your seat
and put your seat belts on.
All right. Put your seat belt on.
Yeah. All good. All right.
Sean, thank you so much for joining us.
I really appreciate your time and your insight.
Thank
you.