Uncertainty is a turbulence for passengers while on board. These inconvenient changes occur sometimes but less often and are always non-fatal causalities.
On Tuesday, there was also another rare incident when passenger died on Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 777 during “violent turbulence”. The flight had been scheduled to fly from London to Singapore but it was diverted to Bangkok after the event.
The incident has seen many people get injured as well as raise several questions about climate change among others such as Impact of Climate Change on the Aviation Industry.
According to experts, the frequency of clear-air turbulence caused by global warming could increase three-fold by mid-century.
‘Clear-air turbulence that severe cannot be detected or predicted, even by satellites and radar,” says Paul D. Williams, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom’. He added that ‘we have shown that globally severe clear air turbulence will increase significantly over coming decades with maximum increases in the number of people being ejected from planes due to this type of turbulence reaching two hundred percent or more’.
“Based on our recent global analysis that now includes Indian airspace, we find that CLEAR-AIR TURBULENCE above INDIA will grow markedly over next few decades. This growth is expected to be largest across northern half of India and strongest over Indian airspace.
Dangerous clear air turbulence
Paul explained why clear-air turbulence poses a great risk for airplanes because it does not appear on radar screens or satellites “and pilots can’t see them through their windshields”.
“The cause of clear air turbulence is atmospheric instability especially in jet streams particularly when there’s strong windshear; however, climate change has led to increased wind shear (Williams). For example, we know that the jet stream over the North Atlantic is already larger than it was in the 1970s 15% more when the last satellite started observing,” according to Williams.
“Accordingly, predictions from climate models suggest that the effect of climate change will increase severe clear-air turbulence event by hundreds of percent in coming decades while not all cases will be clear-air. This calls for more research before any conclusion can be made and a lot of research is required.
How hot weather affects aircraft engine performance
When mercury levels reach 40° Celsius, flight can become bumpy. High surface temperature together with nearby hills may abruptly change wind direction near the ground whereas crosswinds would make it hard for pilots to control their aircraft while gliding in order to land safely. There is thin air when climbing and taking off. The plane’s body causes reduced lift on the airplane due to aerodynamic effects.
However, pilots are trained in these dynamics and they are always vigilant about dealing with turbulence, wind shear, and birds as they fly towards the main runway during landing time “There was also an instance when they reached 10,000 feet above sea level”. Turbulence may hit at any time after a few hours or even right after takeoff which is why seat belt signs are left on until just before landing.
Safety comes first than provision of inflight services. “The seat belt sign may remain illuminated throughout the journey or shortly after the aircraft begins its descent from cruising altitude so that passengers do not move about since turbulence could occur anytime.”
The pilots were cautious in conducting an overheat examination of the aircraft. “In Chennai we prefer using the main runway since it has the maximum landing length. However, it does not imply that we advocate for it as safe landing can also be done on the second runway. But if there are no constraints then we would use the main runway.
Airlines have been reducing their payload by carrying more fuel especially when they are bound to land into airports like Trichy with shorter runways. This is aimed at ensuring that there is enough fuel for a go-around or diversion to another airport.”
