The terrifying reason why the pilot who was flying the Singapore Airlines flight which experienced such extreme turbulence that one passenger died and several others were injured has been revealed.
The flight, which took off from London's Heathrow Airport at 10.17PM local time on Monday, encountered "sudden severe turbulence" over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar at an altitude of 37,000 feet, around 10 hours into its journey and in the middle of meal service.
Footage shared by passengers aboard the flight showed chaos inside the cabin with items strewn across the floor after the incident, with one man being declared dead while over 70 were injured when the plane unexpectedly dropped 6,000 feet.
An expert has now revealed why the pilot would not have been able to avoid the patch of turbulence or route around it.
The plane, which was heading to Singapore, had 211 passengers on board, including 56 from Australia, 47 from the UK, and four from the United States, as well as 18 crew.
Emeritus Professor Jason Middleton, who was head of the UNSW School of Aviation from 1995 to 2017, explained why it isn't as simple as the pilot avoiding patches of turbulence to prevent such incidents.
He told News.com.au: "If the pilot had thought there was a problem, he or she would have suspended meal service."
Middleton revealed that despite what passengers may believe, aircraft do not have a turbulence monitor to pre-warn of potential disturbances, and this is why he only ever removes his own seatbelt when he needs to go to the toilet.
He explained: "The [weather] radar doesn’t show turbulence, the radar only shows rainfall, it only shows water droplets."
Pilots will avoid patches of heavy rain or thunderstorms that do show up on the radar, however, just because an area shows up as clear on the monitor does not mean there are no clouds or turbulence in that area, it just means there are no water droplets big enough to be detected by the equipment.
This could be one reason for the sudden extreme turbulence experienced on board, as Middleton revealed that if they were already flying within clouds without rain, visibility ahead would have been impacted.
Due to the cloud cover, pilots would be "lucky to see a few hundred meters" out of the cockpit window, as he explained: "You can’t see what’s coming ahead, the weather radar is showing there is no precipitation, there’s no way known that the pilot can actually figure out ... he or she might suspect there’s turbulence because they’re already getting some but they don’t know exactly where it is and can’t avoid it."
However, the sudden turbulence could also occur in clear skies without clouds, as clear air turbulence can be caused by jet streams, which are narrow bands of strong winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere. reaching up to 120-150km/h (75-93mph).
Turbulence would then occur where between the strong winds and weaker winds below, which happens in "absolutely clear air" which may not contain any water vapor at all.
Todd Lane, an atmospheric science professor at Melbourne University, also told the outlet that while thunderstorms are a well-known cause of turbulence, the clear air around a storm can also have a lot of turbulence too.
This can occur up to 100km (62 miles) away from the storm itself, which can often cause sudden and unexpected turbulence as the air is smooth and the seatbelt signs are usually off.
He added that episodes of turbulence as bad as that experienced on the Singapore Airlines flight are "quite rare", but that 97 percent of injuries related to turbulence are down to people not wearing their seatbelts on board.
Lane added: "It has to be a significant vertical deviation of the aircraft or big turbulence event for people to get injured like this.
|What we more commonly experience is the smaller choppy turbulence where you’re not going to fly out of your seat, it’s just uncomfortable."
The area in which the plane was flying at the time, the Intertropical Convergence Zone, an area near the equator, is also known for turbulence due to many storms in the area.
After hitting the patch of turbulence, the pilot declared a medical emergency and the Boeing 777-300ER was diverted to Bangkok.
Geoff Kitchen, 73, tragically died as a result, with preliminary reports suspecting he may have suffered a heart attack.
Of those on board, 143 were taken to Singapore on a relief flight, while 79 passengers and six crew members remained in Bangkok, including those receiving medical care as well as their family members who were on board.
Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said the airline was fully cooperating with an investigation into the incident, adding in a statement: "On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased passenger.
"We also deeply apologize for the trauma experienced by all passengers and crew members on this flight. We are providing all possible assistance and support to them, along with their families and loved ones, during this difficult time.
"The wellbeing of our passengers and staff is our utmost priority."
Our thoughts remain with Mr. Kitchen's family at this heartbreaking time, as well as those injured in the incident.
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