A 73-year-old British man died and more than 70 people were injured May 21, 2024 in what passengers described as a terrifying scene aboard a Singapore Airlines flight that hit severe turbulence, triggering an emergency landing in Bangkok.Storms, cold and warm fronts, and the movement of air around mountains can all cause turbulence in the air that planes fly through.
“While meteorologists have excellent tools to forecast turbulence, they are not perfect,” said Thomas Guinn, professor in the aviation department at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. Clear-air turbulence is defined by the Federal Aviation Administration as “sudden severe turbulence occurring in cloudless regions that causes violent buffeting of aircraft.”
The agency says clear-air turbulence is typically found close to jet streams and associated with wind shear — sudden changes in the speed or direction of the wind.Turbulence continues to be a major cause of accidents and injuries despite a steady improvement in aviation accident rates, according to a 2021 report by the US National Transportation Safety Board.