After SIA, Qatar passengers suffer injuries from severe flight turbulence; is global warming warning us again?

SINGAPORE: Less than a week after Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 was forced to make an emergency landing in Thailand due to sudden and severe turbulence that left one dead and dozens injured, another incident of turbulence made the headlines.

A May 26 Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin fell hundreds of feet suddenly, causing injuries to twelve passengers and crew members on board, eight of whom were brought to hospital upon landing in Ireland.

Due to both incidents, many are turning their eyes toward global warming as one of the causes of severe turbulence, which, as recently demonstrated, can prove deadly.

A passenger on another recent SIA flight recorded his experience with turbulence.

@premiummallsingapore

I am now enroute London Heathrow to Singapore Changi, flying over Thailand. Darn, turbulence also happening like SQ321. Now all scared of turbulence! #sq321 #sia #Singaporeairlines

♬ original sound – Premiummall Singapore

Scientists started sounding the alarm about the link between climate change and turbulence nearly a year ago.

In June 2023, researchers from the UK’s University of Reading published a study showing how turbulence—especially clear air turbulence, which is more difficult for pilots to detect and avoid—has increased as the planet has warmed up.

For example, on one busy route in the North Atlantic, turbulence increased by 55 per cent between 1979 and 2020 while global warming accelerated.

“Following a decade of research showing that climate change will increase clear-air turbulence in the future, we now have evidence suggesting that the increase has already begun.

We should be investing in improved turbulence forecasting and detection systems to prevent the rougher air from translating into bumpier flights in the coming decades,” said Prof Paul Williams, one of the study’s co-authors.

Since turbulence is associated with weather events, the more severe the weather, the more turbulence can be expected.

The study also found that the more greenhouse gas emissions, the warmer the planet gets, which translates to increased incidents of turbulence and instability.

Prof Williams has also said that severe turbulence turns people who do not wear seatbelts into projectiles.

“For anyone not wearing a seatbelt, it would have been a bit like being on a rollercoaster without any restraint in place — it would have been terrifying.”

Prof Mark Prosser, who also authored the study, said that global warming may cause instability in the jet stream. “Planes like to fly with the jet stream, but where planes like to fly is also ironically where all the turbulence is,” he said.

On Sunday, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the effects of climate change on different forms of transportation “a reality” that is “already upon us.”

Noting that there has been a 15 per cent increase in turbulence, he said that protocols for dealing with them should be re-evaluated “in the face of the reality that these things are more frequent and more severe than before.” /TISG

Read also: ‘I honestly thought we were going to die’ — Passenger says on flight that returned to Singapore after extreme turbulence