Posted on Apr 6, 2023
Airline passengers could be in for a rougher ride, thanks to climate change
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https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/ [login to see] /turbulence-climate-change
In March, Ingrid Weisse, her husband and two young sons were aboard Alaska Airlines 889 from Portland, Ore., on a flight home to Hawaii when the Boeing 737 began buffeting so fiercely that it felt as if the plane would shake itself apart.
"It got really, really violent," says Weisse. There was lots of screaming in the cabin. A flight attendant was hit by an ice bucket that became a projectile. So many people got sick from the sudden changes in altitude that flight attendants had to hand out more vomit bags, she says. Midway through the approximately 45-minute ordeal, one frightened passenger yelled out, "Please tell us this is normal!"
For Weisse and her family — all frequent flyers — it was like nothing they had ever experienced. Clearly the passengers aboard their flight were rattled, but so were the flight attendants. Before disembarking in Honolulu, one of them confided to Weisse that it was the worst turbulence she'd seen in 23 years on the job.
In March, Ingrid Weisse, her husband and two young sons were aboard Alaska Airlines 889 from Portland, Ore., on a flight home to Hawaii when the Boeing 737 began buffeting so fiercely that it felt as if the plane would shake itself apart.
"It got really, really violent," says Weisse. There was lots of screaming in the cabin. A flight attendant was hit by an ice bucket that became a projectile. So many people got sick from the sudden changes in altitude that flight attendants had to hand out more vomit bags, she says. Midway through the approximately 45-minute ordeal, one frightened passenger yelled out, "Please tell us this is normal!"
For Weisse and her family — all frequent flyers — it was like nothing they had ever experienced. Clearly the passengers aboard their flight were rattled, but so were the flight attendants. Before disembarking in Honolulu, one of them confided to Weisse that it was the worst turbulence she'd seen in 23 years on the job.
Airline passengers could be in for a rougher ride, thanks to climate change
Posted from npr.org
Flying
Travel
Climate Change
Science
Posted 1 y ago
Responses: 3
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."One thing being looked at is the use of lidar, or light detection and ranging, a sort of radar that uses light instead of radio waves. It's an existing technology, but there are a number of hurdles to overcome to make it work for detecting clear-air turbulence, he says.
Nelson, president of the flight attendants union, says changing procedures so that cabin crew members remain buckled in during critical parts of a flight would also help. "There's been recommendations from the NTSB to have flight attendants sitting down earlier on descent and staying [seated] longer on ascent, which is oftentimes where we encounter these issues as we're flying through the various altitudes," she says.
Still, there is a simple, already proven safety device. "The seat belt, you know, it's old technology," Pettit says. "There's nothing exciting about it. But the data really points to it working."
..."One thing being looked at is the use of lidar, or light detection and ranging, a sort of radar that uses light instead of radio waves. It's an existing technology, but there are a number of hurdles to overcome to make it work for detecting clear-air turbulence, he says.
Nelson, president of the flight attendants union, says changing procedures so that cabin crew members remain buckled in during critical parts of a flight would also help. "There's been recommendations from the NTSB to have flight attendants sitting down earlier on descent and staying [seated] longer on ascent, which is oftentimes where we encounter these issues as we're flying through the various altitudes," she says.
Still, there is a simple, already proven safety device. "The seat belt, you know, it's old technology," Pettit says. "There's nothing exciting about it. But the data really points to it working."
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As an old weather guesser PO1 William "Chip" Nagel I tend to keep up with this stuff and there is no doubt that wind shear and turbulence are increasing, anybody that thinks climate change is not real is living in La-La Land
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And another bummer —> my go to air travel magazine stopped publication! Good news = the Surf Rider Foundation is still shreddin’ it for the environment.
https://www.surfrider.org/mission
https://www.surfrider.org/mission
Surfrider Foundation
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