Experts reveal why your quick, cheap flights will soon have more turbulence
TURBULENCE is becoming more frequent on flights, according to travel experts, which is bad news for those of us who are afraid of air travel.
However, bumpier flights could actually be cheaper for passengers, meaning that those who want to save money might have to put up with their journeys being a little shakier than they might like.
Pilots will use jet streams – fast-flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmosphere at high altitudes – to increase the speed of their journeys.
Faster journey times means less fuel used, which reduces the cost of the flight.
However, scientists have discovered that the amount of wind shear – sudden changes in wind speed and direction – found in the jet streams has increased significantly over the past 40+ years.
That means that those fast, cheap flights, are also becoming bumpier.
Paul Williams, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading in England, explained that passengers might have to put up with turbulence to keep journeys shorter and cheaper.
He told Wamu: “Since satellites began observing in 1979, the amount of wind shear has grown by 15 per cent.
“That’s the trade-off. The airline saves fuel and passengers arrive early. But it might be a bumpy flight.”
Following a study at Reading university in 2019, Lead author Simon Lee revealed that climate change was playing its part in the increase in wind shear.
He said: “Temperatures have risen most rapidly over the Arctic, whilst in the stratosphere – around 12 km above the surface – they have cooled.
“This strengthens previous projections for increased clear-air turbulence, as we can see an increase in one of the driving forces has happened already.
“This has serious implications for airlines, as passengers and crew would face a bigger risk of injury.”
What makes the increase in turbulence a little scarier is that fact that it’s clear air turbulence, which is a lot more difficult to predict that other types of turbulence.
Pilot Eser Aksan E revealed the scary truth about flying through clear air turbulence to Sun Online Travel and what it’s like to be behind the yoke during a bumpy flight.
She said: “There’s clear air turbulence and that’s the most difficult one. We cannot see it. We don’t know where it is, and there’s no way we can fly around it.
“That’s the dangerous one because we cannot anticipate it, it just happens.
“That’s the reason why we always tell the passengers they have to have your seatbelt on, even if the seatbelt sign is off, you still need to wear your seatbelt.”
Meanwhile, a former flight attendant has revealed the worst spot for turbulence on a flight from the UK to the US.
And Sun Online Travel has mapped the areas where you’re most likely to experience turbulence, so you can book flights that avoid it.