The Singapore Airlines flight that encountered severe turbulence last week dropped 178ft in fewer than five seconds, according to a preliminary investigation using the aircraft’s black box flight recorder.
The “rapid” changes in gravitational force (G) while in the air “likely caused the injuries to the crew and passengers”, according to a chronology of events compiled by the investigations body of Singapore’s ministry of transport, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, and Boeing and released on Wednesday.
Singapore’s ministry of transport said in the statement that the investigation by the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau of Singapore was ongoing.
One person died, probably of a heart attack, and dozens were hurt when Flight SQ321 from London to Singapore on May 20 experienced sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar. The flight was diverted to land in Bangkok, Thailand.
Some passengers suffered severe spinal and brain injuries and as of Tuesday 28 were still receiving medical treatment in Bangkok.
The abrupt changes in gravitational force over 4.6 seconds of the flight “resulted in an altitude drop of 178ft, from 37,362ft to 37,184ft”, the bureau said.
Singapore Airlines acknowledged the preliminary investigation findings and said in a statement that the airline was “fully co-operating with the relevant authorities in the ongoing investigations”.
The airline is covering passengers’ medical and hospital expenses, as well as any additional assistance they may need. The airline has declined to comment on reports that it has given some passengers envelopes of cash.
Turbulence that is severe enough to disrupt flights or injure passengers is rare, and modern aircraft are designed to handle it without structural damage.
But scientists have warned that turbulence is becoming more common as climate change impacts weather patterns and the earth’s atmosphere.
Severe clear-air turbulence in the north Atlantic, one of the world’s busiest flight paths, has increased 55 per cent since 1979, according to Paul Williams, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading.
His forecasts show that this type of turbulence, which does not show up on weather radars and can hit without warning, will double or even triple in some parts of the atmosphere in the coming decades.
The Singapore Airlines incident was followed by another incident days later involving Qatar Airways. Twelve people were injured as a result of turbulence during the flight from Doha to Ireland on May 27.
As with the Singapore Airlines incident, the turbulence occurred during meal service and lasted less than 20 seconds, according to passengers. Despite the incident, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner — flight QR017 — landed safely and on schedule just before 1pm local time.
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