Hiding in plane sight: the invisible turbulence that can strike out of a clear blue sky — SkimNews
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- Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 hit severe clear-air turbulence on 21 May 2024 over Myanmar en route from London to Singapore, killing one passenger and seriously injuring 79 of the 210 aboard in just 21 seconds, with unbelted passengers slamming into the cabin ceiling at 1.5G.
- University of Reading researchers analyzing four decades of atmospheric data (1979–2020) found severe clear-air turbulence increased 55%, moderate turbulence 37%, and light turbulence 17%, with a projected 27% increase under 1.5°C warming and 56% under 2.75°C warming.
- IATA has been collecting real-time turbulence observations from more than 30 airlines operating 3,700 aircraft since 2018, using AI modelling to deliver near-time turbulence predictions to participating carriers including United, Qatar, Etihad, ANA, and Lufthansa.
- A Qantas Boeing 737 encountered severe turbulence on approach to Brisbane in May 2024, injuring three cabin crew (one with a broken ankle); the Australian Transport Safety Board criticised the airline for allowing a crew member with an undiagnosed concussion to return to work on subsequent flights.
- Todd Lane, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Melbourne, explained that the atmosphere holds 7% more water vapour per degree of warming — and that water vapour is 'the fuel of thunderstorms' — directly linking global heating to more severe convective turbulence.
- Engineer Ignacio Gallego-Marcos built turbli.com, a publicly accessible turbulence forecasting site now serving 300,000 monthly users, after noticing no turbulence forecasts were available to the public during a 2017 Madrid–Stockholm flight.
Why it matters: For commercial aviation, a single 21-second turbulence event killing one and injuring 79 on SQ321 — combined with a documented 55% rise in severe clear-air turbulence over four decades — shows a previously rare hazard becoming routine. Carriers like Qantas and Singapore Airlines are overhauling crew protocols, while IATA's 3,700-aircraft data-sharing system and emerging Lidar-based sensors race to detect a phenomenon that remains invisible to conventional radar.
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