Turbulence is one of the most terrifying parts of air travel: tourists often feel helpless during shaking. However, now flying in an airplane may seem even more terrible, because, as it turned out, during turbulence, pilots do not control the liner. Pilot Eser Aksan Erdogan shared shocking details about the flights, Dip.org.ua reports.
According to the 32-year-old, who mostly flies the Boeing 737s of the Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus, the pilot in charge of flying the airliner needs to think not only about when the aircraft stops shaking but also about following the route.
“In severe turbulence, we do not control the aircraft. This does not mean that it will turn upside down or anything like that, it’s just that at this moment the ship is not under our control, but it is still flying. This is temporary. Then we are back in control and we need to gain or lose altitude or whatever condition the plane is in, we have to fix it. But it doesn’t matter that much, we don’t fall a few kilometers down or anything like that – it just doesn’t happen. It seems so. But this is not happening, ”she reassured.
Pilots will try to avoid turbulence if they can, but in reality, this is not always possible. The worst type of turbulence is known as “clear air turbulence”, which is impossible to predict. It is for this reason that passengers are advised to always wear their seat belts.
By the way, in May, there was a terrible incident: 15 passengers of a SpiceJet flight heading from Mumbai to West Bengal suffered as a result of severe turbulence and failure to use seat belts.
“Turbulence in clear skies is the most difficult. We cannot see it and predict for sure. We do not know at what moment it will start, so it is not possible to fly around it. It is for this reason that we always tell passengers that they must wear their seat belts, even if the “fasten seat belts” sign is off, you still need to put on your seat belts. There are still other types of turbulence, for example, mechanical turbulence during a thunderstorm. If the aircraft is moving during a heavy thunderstorm, it is obvious that the weather will be stormy and it will cause serious blows to the liner. In mountainous directions or when flying over mountains, mechanical turbulence occurs – we can foresee this, ”added the pilot.
It is no secret that the main threat to passengers during turbulence does not come from outside, but from inside the cabin when people and objects fly around the cabin. Although damage to an aircraft after turbulence is rare, pilots should still record it so that specialists can check the aircraft for damage or malfunctions.
“Things are scattered, people fall, and the like. This is the biggest problem for tourists during turbulence. This is why they get injured, at the same time, damage to the aircraft is not common, especially from the outside, ”she added.
Recall that recently in South America an Airbus aircraft that fell into a turbulence zone during a thunderstorm with hail, an exceptional case occurred: the nose of the plane fell off. However, the pilots managed to land the aircraft, and no one was injured among the passengers.