Singapore flight turbulence tragedy

[Freespirit44]

Posting for traffic.

Since I have heard the news I am absolutely terrified.

I am a VERY anxious flyer. For this reason I haven't flown in over seven years.

The news of this tragedy has triggered me as i have a short haul flight next week from the UK.

Anyone else feel the same?

They think the turbulence was caused by a tropical storm forming over Myanamar. So not likely to still be there tomorrow.

I wear my seatbelt at all times now after hearing about that poor American woman who got sucked out of the window because some fusilage hit and broke the window.
Absolutely horrendous and sad.
I can't even sit near the window now.

This doesn’t seem to cause me (additional) anxiety either. Rather the opposite, tbh.

The vast majority of passengers apparently survived without permanent and or grievous injuries. People had been walking around, weren’t wearing a seat belt and most of them still did not receive severe injuries despite the severity of the turbulence.

I hope I don’t sound callous (I am aware that this must have been terrible for the people involved and I am not disregarding the gentleman’s death). But looking at this with the bigger picture in mind? I find the outcomes quite comforting!

@Freespirit44 It's very exciting you are going away next week! How old are your DCs and have they flown before? Where are you going?

I fly alot and have been a nervous flyer as I said upthread. But i love going places and concentrate on that. I'll also just pop a recommendation here for possible ear pain for the DCs on the descent, My older DS has sensory issues and the ear pain for him was quite extreme. We did the usual stuff - chewing gum etc and using a vicks nasal inhaler to clear his airways but the real difference came via these little things linked below- I buy mine from Amazon but they can be bought at some pharmacies I believe. You pop them in about 30 minutes before landing (or when starting the descent) and they filter the air and lessen the air pressure. I thought they were a bit of a placebo but they work a treat for my DS and I bought adult ones for myself for the last 2 flights I went on (including to Australia) and they are wonderful IMO. I first heard about them on MN and I really recommend them.

• re turbulence- it will happen at some point but as others have noted it is so incredibly rare for anything major like this. I'd get your Dcs settled, have a glass of wine and read. DS1 is quite scared of flying and he now does word searches as he needs to concentrate.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EarPlanes-Original-Earplugs-Filtering-Protection/dp/B0849562BY/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2YNN947E0ERHD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8G14SFvuHG91SJeuCAD-joh8wXjuY5anp0GZlZaOheoqxPWPEuYS5Du0fBbFJz9_kAEMUZvqr_WnfVDaV6fe4rkzLOPRc01cGB0kLUkR_tCfn7dJDKumxcdsqcFpqaFnR1E5dQAg6KYqHKuyoP6nZSoSamIolVTAjyUcWZnztzUhhVYD3_AsjsvdScRv2qBUG-GPtx1ta4aMaruyw3r7sKnHb5q7N2YLTXjVMgf2QF-CWz4npuaReq08MmxynP8k8uQ_4CtH4mWvlTyel9jQz65PrE81hQ2gPbDgzlc8GkU.a58fc5XA_YuL5y-_OUDf2ejR1oUsHV0pMK-KaJfy-BY&dib_tag=se&keywords=earplanes+kids&qid=1716353897&s=drugstore&sprefix=earplanes+kids%2Cdrugstore%2C175&sr=1-4

So people keep saying, but funnily enough I think the sudden 6000ft drop might have had something to do with the heart attack.

Where is the evidence that the plane lost 6000 feet? This seems very unlikely. In reality it was possibly only a few feet of lift that was lost, as it only needed to be far enough for the passengers to move from their seat to the top of the plane which is about 7 feet. Without a point of reference turbulence can feel you are moving about much more than you actually are. So as frightening as this must have felt, and as awful as it is that a person died and others injured, claims like this are not helpful to anyone.

OP and others who have a fear of flying, try not to listen to what is being reported on the news and here as there just isn’t the evidence to back up these claims. Yes, there was severe turbulence, but claims like the plane having a 6000ft drop are just so off that it will fuel your fear, and is probably not even close to the truth.

It’s not minimising it - it’s offering advice that keeps you safe.

@SheepBeepBeep

Pretty sure that's the figure the news was giving out yesterday.

It said that in the news and I guess the plane instruments probably provide the evidence.

Altitude is monitored by all those little clock-like instruments in the cock-pit. I should think it’s a key coordinate when flying.

The man died of a heart attack...he already had a heart condition. This story has had the daily mail treatment

You should always wear your seatbelt when seated in case of unexpected turbulance anyway

The plane didn't crash it would have been perfectly safe if passengers followed the safety advice

Camt help someone with a heart condition actually having a heart condition ....

Morning…

Since some seem to be giving the plunge numbers credibility again..

It’s very clear journalists and a lot of others didn’t understand what was seen on flight radar and other tracking sites.

They mistook a fairly standard 6000 foot descent at a rate about 2000 feet per minute that happened shortly after the turbulence as a “plunge”. That to my and many other peoples eyes looks deliberate steady descent might have been to get below turbulence or part of the start of the diversion

Flight radar released more detailed data of the actual turbulence encounter later yesterday and it was essentially the result of what might be described as a very erratic 400 foot climb from the assigned level.

Now a 400 foot altitude excursion forced by turbulence might not sound like enough to cause the damage we’ve heard about but it is a very big deal.

I flew for many years and rarely saw more than plus/minus 100 feet from the assigned altitude on the flight deck instruments.

Flight radar has its limitations, but the detailed data it published last night won’t be far off the reality. The actual authoritative numbers will be extracted from the flight data recorders on the aircraft and will end up in any published report.

Most journalists don’t have the expertise to do accurate reporting on the nuts and bolts of things, they don’t have the technical knowledge, they can’t sort from the wheat from the chaff and then of course there’s the rush to publish… I suspect that might apply to a lot of topics.

The news reports yesterday were caused by journalists misreading the data. The 6,000 ft drop was a normal descent by the pilot. The severe turbulence event involved the plane moving up and down within a window of a few hundred feet over a period of a minute and a half. It’s not the “drop” that causes people to be flung out of their seats it’s the change from ascending to descending. It’s just like if you go over the crest of a hill at speed in a car. Things get flung upwards. You experience the same thing on roller coasters that go over a dip at speed. There are even “zero gravity” flights that do this deliberately so that people can experience the feeling of weightlessness.

Tbf to a Times Radio journalist they did explain some of this about the drop and indicated it had been somewhat misreported

Probably. Timimg is all. You may well go to the gp for a flu jab and have your first fit just before it is administered. If it happened 2 mins after having the jab, you'd imjediately think the jab was to blame.
People die of natural causes on a plane. People are sick, faint and have breakdowns on a plane, with or without turbulence

I used to fly a lot due to my work and I have only experienced this once. Oddly enough it was on a relatively short flight. It wasn’t as extreme as the Singapore air incident sounds but still caused chaos in the cabin. Worse because a meal had just been served. Everything flies up the air. I didn’t because I always keep my seatbelt loosely fastened, but my meal did. So did the meal carts and they are heavy. I don’t know how nobody was badly hurt or scalded. Not that I remember anyway.

Thanks…

and I think TBF just once to the journalists in this case they were not helped by some slightly irresponsible flight tracking site watchers with a social media presence who spotted the descent and promptly went on line to post nonsense. You’re then into the “a lie is half way around the world……” scenario.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the folks at Flightradar come out with a clarification/extra data of an incident so quickly - I wonder if they felt there was a chance their credibility would suffer.

I have done once it with no ill effects. The same flight.

Not the norm though.

Ah I hadn’t seen any of the clarification. It did seem an incredible drop…

Unfortunately BBC Radio 4 was still peddling the 6 thousand foot drop twattery this morning.

I worked as cabin crew ages ago. Anyone who gets nervous in turbulence might like what one of our captains used to tell passengers when a flight turned bumpy: ‘Nothing at all to worry about - it’s just like driving over cobblestones.’
You could see people visibly relaxing - the super-tight grips on the armrests loosening.

Though having said that, as they usually tell you anyway - always keep your seatbelt fastened while seated!

One tragic death in flight makes the global news whereas road traffic death would only make the local news on a slow news day - I think this tells you a lot about the relative safety.

Boeing planes are dangerous

I have never done a 14 hour flight and doubt I ever will but if I go out for the day I can go 12/13 hours without going to the loo. I drink quite a bit too (tea, coffee and/or water).

My bladder just seems to shut down when I am not at home. At home I go about every 5 hours

Waht? All of them?

I don't think you get much choice over which plane your airline chooses to put you on.

After reading the first post on this thread yesterday evening I kept my seatbelt on for the entire flight. It was a bit bumpy and the seat belt light came on. I expect the pilot was being extra cautious after yesterday's news.

We had a bumpy landing in low visibility as well, but all was fine.

On a separate note, there have been issues with Boeing recently. Some whistle-blowers from the company have been badly treated I understand.

I think yesterday’s issue was due to turbulence. But I have wondered for many years how few plane crashes we thankfully have. And I hope that standards remain high and there is no complacency. Some reports suggest Boeing has not been prioritising safety. Now that would be a bigger concern for safety for me than a sudden bout of turbulence.

Bollocks