Singapore Airlines Incident: What to Know About Turbulence

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Singapore Airlines SQ321 flying from London to Singapore experienced severe turbulence on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The incident left one person dead on the spot and dozens of others injured. The Boeing 777-300ER plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, at 03:45 p.m. local time.

Turbulence is a natural phenomenon that can occur during any long-haul flight, but it could range from simply annoying to terrifyingly fatal. Severe turbulence can rattle a plane so violently that it rises and falls as much as 100 feet (30 meters) at a time. This phenomenon is unpredictable as it’s weather-related. However, severe turbulence is likely to occur more frequently as climate change continues to alter weather patterns. 

What is turbulence

Turbulence jolts the plane up and down at varying levels. Severe turbulence causes items to fall, passengers to rattle inside the cabin, and emergency oxygen masks to fall out. 

Citing the Daily Mail, David Birch, head of the Center for Aerodynamics & Environmental Flow at the University of Surrey, said that this is all caused by the flow of air. "When you experience turbulence on an aircraft, this is because the aircraft has flown into a region of disturbed air, filled with swirls and eddies,' he said. as quoted on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. 

Similar to boats on a choppy sea, he said, the plane is pushed around by the moving air. The disturbance is ranked on a scale from light, which causes slight, erratic altitude changes, to severe, where the plane oscillates violently and is practically impossible to control. 

This not only makes flying uncomfortable but can also cause structural damage to the plane and even harm passengers. 

Causes of turbulence

Choppy air that is perceived as turbulence can be caused by various factors. Birch explained that turbulence can be caused by natural phenomena such as normal atmospheric wind patterns, or due to other aircraft nearby.

One of the most common causes of severe turbulence is ‘mechanical turbulence’, common around mountains and other physical obstructions. When the wind hits the mountains, it forms like a wave, breaking the air and causing turbulent air. However, some violent turbulence is caused by thunderstorms that create huge vertical currents of violent air. According to the National Weather Service, these currents can cause planes to rise or fall between 600 and 1,830 meters at a time. 

In addition, commercial planes could experience strong currents called jet streams. Paul Williams, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Reading, says this is also called ‘clear air turbulence’. "It can be difficult to avoid because it doesn't show up on the weather radar in the flight deck," he said. 

Chronology of Singapore Airlines' Severe Turbulence

Singapore Airlines left UK's Heathrow Airport on Monday at 10:17 p.m. local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew.

However, the flight experienced extreme turbulence while near Myanmar’s aerospace, a region currently being hit by extreme tropical thunderstorms. 

Aviation weather reports show that thunderstorms reaching a height of 51,000 feet are currently spread over the western region of Thailand. 

According to reports, the plane is believed to have plummeted suddenly for several minutes in extreme turbulence at an altitude of 31,000 feet. It is possible that the increased air currents caused by the tropical storm caused intense turbulence that forced the aircraft down. 

This is one of the reasons why passengers are asked to store all bags in lockers above or below the seat. "these objects can become potentially dangerous in the unlikely event that the cabin is caused to shake around," Birch said. "Likewise, if you aren't wearing your seatbelt, you could be injured in much the same way as you would in a car even in a minor collision," he added. 

According to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), there were 163 serious injuries due to turbulence between 2009 and 2022.

MILA NOVITA

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