And, ok - I already know you’re rolling your eyes at this. Does Turbulence Mean the Plane’s Going to Crash? Despite the fact turbulence can be horrifying - and that climate change might be increasing its frequency - it’s not a real source of danger. I talked to a couple of experts to break down just how real threats from turbulence are. So, the “extreme turbulence” news stories that have surfaced last year - the United flight from Denver to Billings in February that injured five, including one flight attendant that was admitted to the ICU December’s American Airlines flight from Seoul to Dallas that left 14 hurt and prompted a diverted landing to Tokyo - definitely triggered some flashbacks. Dark purple on the radar, and it’s panic mode. (And to predict how much I’ll be spending on alcohol. And today, my once blasé attitude about flying has devolved into religiously checking days ahead of time and combing Twitter at the gate, just to know when to expect another perceived brush with death, and how intense it will be. No explanation from the captain or anyone else. ‘Twas bad.Ībout a half hour later we stabilised.
I mentioned the shattering glass, right? Yeah. The American flight attendant, in no attempt to hide panic from his voice, shouts over the intercom for us to buckle up and “hold on!” Then he doesn’t wait for the onboard Japanese and Chinese attendants to translate. Around 45 minutes into the 14-hour journey, the sky went slate grey and the plane started lurching and shaking. We took off under partly cloudy conditions in the afternoon in Japan. Until that white-knuckled trans-Pacific odyssey from Tokyo to Minneapolis a few years ago, whose sounds of passenger sobs and shattering glass left me now dreading even the slightest aerial jolt.
I’ve flown since I was in diapers, many, many times, with zero bouts of aerophobia. I have a very personal interest in this question, having been semi-traumatised on a terrifying flight whose tumbling felt like that of a rag doll in a clothes dryer cranked to turbo. It’s turbulence - but how dangerous is it, actually?
0 kommentar(er)
