By Shawn Gallagher
If you’ve ever been on a flight, you most likely have encountered a form of turbulence. According to the National Weather Service, turbulence is an “irregular motion of the air resulting from eddies and vertical currents.” In simpler terms, it’s caused by sudden shifts in movements of air.
Here are a couple of videos from a flight I took during a big storm. Turbulence can be expected during poor weather like this, as the thick clouds and strong winds cause rough air.
When Does Turbulence Become Dangerous?
Turbulence can be categorized into different groups depending on how strong it is. Most of the time we hear about light, moderate, and severe turbulence.
Light Turbulence
Light turbulence happens on almost every flight. It can cause slight bumps and can be annoying if it keeps going for a long time, but it usually doesn’t cause issues in the cabin or interruption of service by the flight attendants.
Moderate Turbulence
Moderate turbulence will have more shifts and changes in altitude and airspeed compared to light turbulence. It can be difficult to eat or navigate through your in-flight entertainment. Moderate turbulence is still quite common.
Severe Turbulence
Severe Turbulence results in large variations in altitude and airspeed. These sudden large shifts in turbulence can be dangerous for passengers in the cabin, as people can be whipped out of their seats if they don’t have their seatbelts on. Luggage and other items such as plates and electronics getting thrown around the cabin also pose a danger to passengers. Severer turbulence is rare.
One incident I’m always reminded of when I think about severe turbulence is an American Airlines flight from Seoul to Dallas back in 2014.
We can see in the video that the biggest dangers in the cabin were the plates that flew up from the rough shaking, or the flight attendants that got injured because they weren’t in a seat with a seatbelt on. The aircraft itself keeps flying, albeit a bumpy ride. The flight eventually diverted to Tokyo because of the injuries.
Should I Be Worried When I Encounter Severe Turbulence?
No. Although severe turbulence can be dangerous inside the cabin, it rarely causes an issue for the plane itself, and crashes because of it are almost unheard of.
There isn’t anything we can do about turbulence. It’s a natural part of our weather, and pilots will do their best to avoid storms and reported areas of rougher air. The best thing we can do as passengers is to keep our seatbelts on whenever we’re seated, even when the sign is off. You never know when the flight can experience a sudden drop in altitude, throwing passengers up to the ceiling of the cabin. There’s a reason why airlines say so in their safety video!