Air travel turbulence has increased in recent years and will become even more frequent in the coming years.
The natural cause of turbulence is a change in the speed and direction of the wind in the atmosphere in certain areas. When the plane gets into such air currents, it can shake quite a lot. In recent years, there have been more and more reports of such incidents on commercial flights. After one of them, flight attendants even began to demand a ban on carrying babies in their arms.
Scientists at the University of Reading in the UK have published a study confirming that the vertical wind shear in jet streams has greatly increased since the first observations in 1979. This is associated with global climate change.
“We have collected a large amount of scientific evidence that turbulence is increasing due to climate change. An invisible form of turbulence called open-air turbulence is due to wind shear. We expect further increases in wind shear in the coming decades, possibly with a doubling or tripling the number of severe turbulence events,” said researcher Paul Williams, professor of atmospheric sciences in the department of meteorology at the University of Reading.
There have been several incidents of severe turbulence in recent months. In early March, 7 people were hospitalized after a Lufthansa flight from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany, hit heavy air currents. There were 184 people on board, including crew members. The plane was forced to change routes but eventually landed safely.
In December 2022, a Hawaiian Airlines flight en route from Phoenix, Arizona to Honolulu, Hawaii encountered severe turbulence, injuring 25 people. According to the airline, there were 278 passengers, 8 flight attendants, and 2 pilots on board. The turbulence was so severe that it damaged the aircraft’s interior.
On most commercial flights, children under the age of two are allowed to sit on their parent’s lap during the flight. However, recent cases of extreme turbulence are of concern to the AFA-CWA Flight Attendant Association as injuries will occur more frequently if this trend continues.
So, one baby on board a Lufthansa flight sat on his mother’s lap and flew out of her arms, Independent reported. A passenger told a British newspaper that the plane went into a “free fall” and people were “flying into the air”, some even hitting the ceiling. Because now flight attendants are in favor of a ban on the transportation of children in their arms.
“It is not known exactly when the situation with turbulence may worsen. But it is no secret that climate change is proceeding at a rapid pace. Climate change caused by human activities by 2050 could triple the number of strong turbulences,” the scientists add.