Considering that at one time, you could find a piano bar in a 747, a shower on an airplane while in the air at 43,000 isn’t that far of a reach. but I wonder what happens if you hit a rough patch of air in the shower? Drop down seat in the shower? Waterproof seat belts? Speculate all you want after watching this video of the new Emirates A380 with shower spa. Other features include a fully stocked bar, and apparently, a rubber duck is included.
Good news for those of you who like a smoother ride. Although subtle, the jet streams have been slowly shifting towards the poles gradually over the past 20 years.
Here are two great approximations of turbulence near the jet stream. While the jet stream can cause a turbulent flight, it can also be smooth. This is why turbulence is so hard to predict.
While this PDF document is heavy reading, it is a fascinating read if you have the time. The document has an interesting excerpt that states that most turbulence is proportionately over reported and smooth flights are under reported.
In-situ data provides a better representation of turbulence statistics in the atmosphere (Dutton (1980), Sharman et al. (2006)). Figure 1 shows that over 99% of in-situ reports are reports of null turbulence. If this distribution is representative, at any time at most 0.01% of the atmosphere at upper levels should contain MOG turbulence. In contrast, about half of PIREPs report null turbulence, 27% report light, 17% report moderate and 1% report severe; thus, pilots substantially underreport the null events. In-situ data overcomes this uncertainty by reporting data every minute during flight.
Poorly executed planning at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 has left many travelers in misery as over 15,000 pieces of luggage pile up due to a multitude of factors:
Lack of parking for baggage handlers
Computer systems that did not allow baggage handlers to login
Poor training of baggage handlers on procedures regarding new baggage system
CrankyFlierposted a fascinating video of a undular bore, which may have caused the severe turbulence on Air Canada Flight 190, that injured 10 passengers and forced the plane to make an emergency landing to treat the passengers.
AeroChannel, a new website that predicts how long it will take you to get to the gate of your airplane, has written an article on turbulence.
Explaining the turbulence, the pilot said they had hit a significant amount of windshear on the approaches. On the flight back, Snyder noticed the same crew working onboard the plane. When he mentioned to one of the flight attendants that he had been on the “windshear” flight, her face turned ghostly white. “I’ve never been so scared before,” the flight attendant confessed. And then she said, “I thought we were going to crash.”
Read about the turbulence experienced by CrankyFlier on a flight to Charlotte, and also learn more about turbulence including some turbulence encounters that people have had.
Among all the hype that is Apple and iPhone, a rather amusing commercial indicates that a pilot with an iPhone knows more than the dispatchers for the airlines, simply by looking at the radar. See below:
One thing you can do with your iPhone is visit Turbulence Forecast while waiting at the gate. The site has been fully tested and works well. When the captain doesn’t tell you how the flight will be, you’ll still know.
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