Another turbulence incident injures airline passengers; what we should do about choppy air
TurbulenceForecast.com helps passengers know what they are in for when they step on a flight
It's time to take the issue of passenger airplane turbulence and injuries seriously. It's time to require more choppy air data from the airlines -- right now, they provide essentially none. And it's time you simply kept your seat belt on every moment you are in the air.
For the second time this year, several airline passengers and crew were injured in a serious turbulence incident. This time, it was a US Airways flight on a short trip from Philadelphia to Orlando. While still climbing to cruising altitude, the plane hit violent air and dropped suddenly. The incident lasted perhaps only 5 seconds, but it was long enough to send half a dozen folks to the hospital.
As someone who flew cross-country at least once a month for years, I'm here to tell you: flights are bumpier today than they were 10 years ago. Combined with all the pain of security theater at the airport, these factors make me pretty much hate flying now. I avoid it as best I can. Ten years ago, I could travel all year without having a white-knuckle trip. Today, I'm shocked if I get from takeoff to landing without at least some serious discomfort.
Naturally, my experience is not definitive. Maybe I'm getting older and less tolerant. Maybe I've had bad luck. I've taken four flights this year, and two were kind of hair-raising. One to a conference in New Orleans, where all participants spent the first day swapping horror stories about flying in and around last week's bad weather in Florida. And one across the country when I faced the same turbulence that had New York Yankees players saying prayers. Certainly, more recent scary moments stick out in someone's mind more than distant scary moments.
FAA.gov
After reading about last night's incident. I poked around looking to see if I could authenticate my experience in any way. I first found this rather unsatisfying chart from the FAA, which seems to indicate that injuries from turbulence are microscopically low and have stayed that way for years. (The chart doesn't include last night's incident.)
I also looked back at William McGee's column after this year's earlier turbulence injury incident. A great discussion of the topic, it confirms my fear that there is basically no data on turbulence outside these official reports of injuries which land at the FAA.
I have several friends who are pilots, and I pose them questions about rough air all the time. I basically ask if they feel pressured to fly through, rather than around, rough air in order to save the airline money. Every one has always told me that's never happened. Using my favorite in-air flying tool, FlightAware.com, I often keep tabs on my plane's flight route, and I can confirm that during my cross country trip, the pilot flew about 20 minutes out of his way in an attempt to weave through the worst of the storm. I appreciate that. Even my skeptical reporter's sense tells me pilot pressure isn't the reason for turbulence.
I do wonder if crowded skies have something to do with it. A phenomenon called "wake turbulence" could be contributing to the problem. If you've ever been in a boat and been bounced around by another boat's wake, you know what this is. Airplanes leave rough air behind as the fly, particularly during takeoff. Wake turbulence probably isn't a factor in most mid-air surprises, but it certainly could have something to do with rough patches as you approach or leave airport airspace.
Plenty of folks blame global warming for extra turbulence, the same way they blame global warming for crazy weather patterns. As with all global warming claims, there needs to be more evidence, but it certainly is a logical claim to examine. In fact, I wonder if there were genuine data on rough air, would that be a newly persuasive argument in the quest to do more to protect the environment?
As with all these genre of stories, the Internet could be to blame. That is: Perhaps this is a story of increased reporting, not increased incidents. People who find rough air harder to stomach have a large megaphone to complain about it now. Maybe there are no additional turbulence incidents than 20 years ago, but media simply makes us more aware.
Thank you, pilot, for threading the needle and flying around these storms.
I'm going with choppier air myself. I don't see it getting any better any time soon. But let me make some clear statements for fellow beleaguered travelers.
* I won't stop flying. There's no reason to. I'll just drive or take the train more often, whenever that's a reasonable possibility.
* Even in these dramatic turbulence incidents, the injury rate is very, very low. Only four passengers out of 265 were hurt on that Philly-Orlando flight. Passengers who had their seat belt secured properly said it kept them safe.
* In other words, fasten your seat belts, passengers. Airplanes are like roller-coasters when they hit rough air. You wouldn't ride a roller coaster without engaging a restraining device. Just keep it clicked, like you do in your car. Even if things feel smooth. You'll keep yourself safe, and you'll keep your fellow passengers safe. I was unable to find reliable stats on this, but I think of the 200-ish passengers injured by turbulence in the past decade in the U.S., very few had their seat belts on.
* It's time to track this problem and make the data public. Pilots report turbulence all the time. You see the reports in the picture above from TurbulenceForcasts.com. Why aren't these logged, filed, and used to generate reports? There's a lot to learn from what's going on in the air above us.