Most of us are return flyers and understand that with flying comes turbulence. Turbulence s often uncomfortable but not dangerous. I like to think of this frequent uncomfortibility as the anticipated pot hole on the way to work. Well the recent turbulence that was experienced from a Jetblue flight was much more than a pothole.
Injuries In The Air
Thursday evening a JetBlue Flight 429, headed from Boston to Sacramento experienced some rough turbulence that sent 24 to the hospital. 22 customers and 2 crew members were taken to the hospital for an evaluation. The flight had to be diverted to Rapid City, South Dakota, at about 6:30 p.m. A passenger on the flight state he saw a woman in front of him rise almost 2 feet in the air from not wearing her seat belt. “I literally grabbed her out of the air to hold her to the seat,” the passenger said, a software engineer from Sacramento. Other passengers looked at this experience as a bad dream that they were waiting to wake up from. People were hitting their heads left and right another passenger recalled.
What causes turbulence?
Just in the United States there are an estimated 58 injuries each year due to turbulence. But what causes turbulence? Different weather situations can cause different types of turbulence. Clear air turbulence is the most common type of turbulence you will experience. There is no way to detect this ahead turbulence on a radar or weather forecast. The only way we can try to avoid it is by relying on reports from other air crafts. It is the job of your pilot to find the smoothest path as far away from turbulence causing situations.