Pilots reveal the best place to be when a plane hits turbulence

Turbulence is the most common cause of injury to air passengers, and unsettles even the most frequent fliers - as passengers on an Air Canada flight this week found out to their detriment when the aircraft dropped violently, injuring 37 - but is it really something to be afraid of?

Air tends to flow as a horizontal snaking river called a jet stream. A jet stream can sometimes be thousands of miles long but is usually only a few miles wide and deep. Depending on the direction of travel, our flight planners either avoid or use these jet streams to cut fuel costs, as they can flow up to 250 mph.

So I'm not accused of sugarcoating, I concede that powerful turbulence has, on occasion, resulted in damage to aircraft and injury to their occupants. With respect to the latter, these are typically people who fell or were thrown about because they weren't belted in. About 60 people, two-thirds of them flight attendants, are injured by turbulence annually in the US. That works out to about 20 passengers. Twenty out of the 800 million or so who fly each year.

Is turbulence more likely on certain routes? Steve Allright: Any airport is at the mercy of strong winds on any given day. The same applies to jet streams on any given route, although there is generally more chance of turbulence crossing the ITCZ when flying south across Africa, for example. Steve Allright: Flight crews around the world share a common classification of turbulence: light, moderate and severe. The definitions are laid down in our manuals and help us to make an assessment as to what our course of action should be.

Just have your seat belt fastened at all times...

Where else can you be? Sitting on the wings?🧐

In a different plane?

I your seat with a seat belt on

In your seat with seatbelt on 🤷🏼‍♀️

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