This week’s Singapore Airlines turbulence event was extremely rare, but passengers should not be complacent.
Even turbulence much less severe than that experienced by flight SQ321 can be dangerous and uncomfortable.
Former veteran pilot here. Terry Tozerauthor of Confessions of an airline pilot: why planes crashand Nicky Kelvin, managing editor of The boy with the points travel site, reveals where you should sit for maximum comfort and safety during turbulence and whether you should wear a seatbelt throughout the flight.
Terry also reveals how pilots plan ahead to avoid turbulence and how, during his 20-year career in the air, he never experienced turbulence as severe as the ordeal suffered by SQ321.
Where is the best place to sit on a plane?
Former pilot Terry Tozer and The Points Guy’s Nicky Kelvin reveal where you should sit for maximum comfort and safety during turbulence
Terry told MailOnline Travel: “The plane is suspended by the wings, so think of the rest as a diving board.” The place where you will feel the least turbulence is on the wing.
But that won’t stop you from being completely affected.
“I used to feel like I was on top, we got the worst of it.” In a long, thin plane, the ends rise and fall more than the center.’
Don’t sit near the kitchen
Nicky said: “Passengers can choose to sit in the middle of the plane, over the wings, for a smoother ride, but also away from the galleys, which contain many items that can become projectiles during extreme turbulence.”
Choose a window seat
Nicky said: “Consider a window seat to avoid being directly under the overhead bins, which can open during extreme turbulence.”
Should you wear a seat belt throughout the flight?
Terry said: ‘Yes. Unless you’re buttoned up, if the plane goes down, you go up. So the secret is to keep your seatbelt fastened.
“On a long-haul flight it’s difficult because you have to get up and go to the bathroom and the cabin crew have to move around all the time, so there’s no 100 per cent safe way to deal with it, but you can limit your risks.
‘I never sit there without my seatbelt on. I don’t see why you would do it.
Anticipate the probability of turbulence
Terry told MailOnline Travel: “The plane is suspended by the wings, so think of the rest as a diving board.” The place where you will feel the least turbulence is on the wing.
Nicky said: “Understand where extreme turbulence is most likely to occur, such as around the equator and the northern jet streams over the Pacific and Atlantic.”
Passengers can also check if turbulence is expected on their route via the website. Turbli.comwhich uses the same data sources that pilots and airlines use to plan their flights.
Turbli.com displays expected turbulence on interactive maps and, once the flight number has been entered, via a static turbulence graph for the trip, with a summary of how smooth it will be.
Turbulence is the last thing you need to worry about. Short of an extreme event, all it will do is spill your coffee and it will be uncomfortable.
How rare is dangerous turbulence?
Terry told MailOnline: ‘An event like Singapore Airlines is very, very rare. I have only encountered turbulence that gave us a level change of a few thousand feet on one occasion in a career spanning about 20 years.
“That was in a 20-ton, four-engine Dash 7.
‘The turbulence, caused by the storm activity, lifted it 300 meters and then we dropped 300 meters.
‘And that wasn’t as bad as the Singapore Airlines event.
“We knew the storm was there and we gave it a wide berth, we were 15 miles downwind, but we still had turbulence coming from above.”
He added: ‘Turbulence is the last thing to worry about. Apart from being an extreme event, the only thing it will do is spill your coffee and it will be uncomfortable. It won’t make the plane roll over.
Can pilots anticipate turbulence?
Terry said: “When you show up for work you get a folder with all the information you need to make your flight, and inside it will be the weather folder and in it there will be weather information about your route – it will highlight areas where meteorologists suspect that There could be clear air turbulence and it will also show you where convective activity, such as thunderstorms, is expected.
‘In the area where the Singapore Airlines flight was, it is well known that quite aggressive storms can occur.
‘You have a weather radar that allows you to see them. But what you can’t see is turbulence that is not associated with a storm cell: clear air turbulence.
«The meteorologist could mark on the map that it is likely to be a certain area; This happens when there are two masses of air moving in opposite directions. For example, near the bottom of a jet stream there will almost always be turbulence. Because it goes faster than the air around it, which stirs everything up.
Terry revealed that planes report turbulence to air traffic control, which is then reported to other planes on the same airway.
The planes can then try to change levels or make small changes in direction.