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The cause of the turbulence is under investigation. Singapore Airlines said the Singapore-bound flight from London encountered severe turbulence about 10 hours after departure.<\/p>\n
Death by turbulence rarely occurs, but severe encounters are not uncommon, according to Larry Cornman, a physicist and project scientist with the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften, for something like this, it\u2019s just wrong place, wrong time,\u201d said Cornman, who studies small-scale motions of the atmosphere that could endanger aircraft.<\/p>\n
Out of millions upon millions of flights, turbulence has caused 185 serious injuries from 2009 to 2023, <\/strong>the latest year with publicly available data, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.<\/p>\n The agency, which requires airlines to report injuries and deaths, categorizes a serious injury as any that requires more than two days of hospitalization; involves any internal organ; or results in bone fractures, second- or third-degree burns, severe hemorrhages, or nerve, muscle or tendon damage.<\/p>\n Of the reported incidents from 2009 to 2022, at least 129 crew members and 34 passengers were injured.<\/p>\n Turbulence-related deaths can be caused by heart attacks or head injuries if a passenger\u2019s head strikes the ceiling or gets hit by falling luggage, Cornman said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnything that could cause a death on the ground can certainly cause it inside an aluminum tube at 35,000 feet,\u201d he said, adding that seat-belted passengers should still feel safe in the skies.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese large transport aircraft are built quite strongly. They will not fall apart or come out of the sky due to turbulence,\u201d Cornman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said initial reports appear to indicate that the Singapore flight encountered clear-air turbulence \u2014 the most dangerous type because it cannot be seen and is virtually undetectable with current technology.<\/p>\n \u201cOne second, you\u2019re cruising smoothly,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cThe next, passengers, crew and unsecured carts or other items are being thrown around the cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n Nelson and a group of researchers say such incidents of clear-air turbulence \u2014 which is difficult to forecast and avoid because it is not associated with storms \u2014 are on the rise due to climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n