Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 338 posts

Re: One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence

#301

Post by globular-toast »

rob74 wrote: post #71
sva_ wrote: post #61

> "So I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling," 28-year-old student Dzafran Azmir said. > "Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it." That's why I try to keep my seatbelt on…

Yup... I still don't understand why people decide to not put on their seatbelt while being seated. It's not like you have a lot more freedom of movement without the seatbelt? And it might just save your life in events like this one.

I think it's something to do with being rebellious. Of course at work they do what they're told while building wealth for someone else. But something that really only benefits them... Nah. I've run into a lot of people like this, sadly.

Re: One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence

#303

Post by mrb »

standardUser wrote: post #189
PaulRobinson wrote: post #8

Tragic, horrid and going to make a lot of nervous flyers more nervous. I've been through some pretty heavy turbulence in my time, but thankfully nothing this severe. I've been through enough though to know that a lot of people don't take it very seriously. I've been on flights with screaming passengers, and _very_ quiet British Marines, both in reaction to some pretty nasty air, and I'm always surprised that turbulen…

A great tip I heard long ago for nervous flyers - whenever their is turbulence, look at the flight staff. If they're going about business as usual and look otherwise relaxed, which is almost always the case, you've got nothing to worry about. Consider them turbulence experts, and if the experts aren't concerned you don't need to be either.

Bad tip. Case in point: on this very flight, 9 of the 18 crew members had moderate injuries (https://apnews.com/article/singapore-airlines-flight-turbule...)

Re: One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence

#304

Post by ragazzina »

krisoft wrote: post #135
voisin wrote: post #53

> Turbulence is most commonly caused by aircraft flying through cloud but there is also "clear air" turbulence which is not visible on a jet's weather radar nor is it possible to predict. Is this actually impossible for some theoretical constraint or have we just not invested in the R&D?

Sibling comment from thedrbrian explains it very well while it is unlikely to see clear air turbulence (CAT) with our current weather radars. Of course if cost would be not an object we could detect these events. One possible solution would be to fly companion drones ahead of the jet. They could then detect CAT quite easily by just running into them. The spacing is critical with this scheme. If the probe drone is too…

What kind of propulsion can push a drone 900km/h for 12hours?

Re: One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence

#305

Post by navigate8310 »

mayd wrote: post #286

For all the pontificating in this thread about the need to follow safety advice regarding the wearing of seat belts (and bicycle helmets!) at all times, please note the following from the BBC report: > the London-Singapore flight suffered a sudden drop as a meal service was under way. Meal service is probably the single most vulnerable moment to encounter turbulence. How many of the safety-first-at-all-times brigade…

Maybe passengers would buckle their belts at all times, however cabin crew is the most vulnerable during meal service. Also, are the pilots required to wear belts at all times?

Re: One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence

#306

Post by mpalfrey »

mayd wrote: post #286

For all the pontificating in this thread about the need to follow safety advice regarding the wearing of seat belts (and bicycle helmets!) at all times, please note the following from the BBC report: > the London-Singapore flight suffered a sudden drop as a meal service was under way. Meal service is probably the single most vulnerable moment to encounter turbulence. How many of the safety-first-at-all-times brigade…

I'm flying LHR -> MEL on Friday on Singapore Airlines (on a 777 actually for LHR -> SIN).

I tend to keep my seat belt fairly loosly fastened throughout the flight. At least once I've experienced bad turbulence around where this flight had it - enough to make me hold tightly onto things and for service to be stopped. Usually I need a few trips to the bathroom during the flight though and if nothing else, a chance to stretch my legs (20 hours on planes in 24 hours means walking around is important).

Be interesting to see if anything is different on board (either with crew or fellow pax). RIP to the guy who died.

Re: One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence

#307

Post by blangk »

cafebeen wrote: post #233
andybak wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen turbulence like this. And until fairly recently I didn't know it was really possible. So it's a bit like "why don't people wear a welding mask while cooking?" It was never even a risk that I had considered before.

It’s more like keeping a fire extinguisher in your kitchen. Some people may never need it, but grease fires happen often enough to plan for it.

A fire blanket may be easier for the kitchen

Re: One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence

#308

Post by rkangel »

scoofy wrote: post #235
ghaff wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Loose seatbelts are probably fine. That’s what I do. Presumably that keeps me from getting launched into the ceiling. A lap belt is a compromise anyway. Aircraft crew use more as do car drivers for that matter.

Right but what's the point? If the belt is on very loose, you give your body a chance to gain momentum, which will be redirected when the seat belt catches you, which would lead to serious injury. The belt doesn't need to be on tight, but it should be relatively snug. It's just one of those things that is trivial to do, with a very, very low probability to save you from injury, but costs nothing, so why not...

I'd rather redirect my momentum into soft webbing spread across my lap, than into my head impacting an overhead bin.

Re: One dead as London-Singapore flight hit by turbulence

#309

Post by Rastonbury »

mrb wrote: post #303
standardUser wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A great tip I heard long ago for nervous flyers - whenever their is turbulence, look at the flight staff. If they're going about business as usual and look otherwise relaxed, which is almost always the case, you've got nothing to worry about. Consider them turbulence experts, and if the experts aren't concerned you don't need to be either.

Bad tip. Case in point: on this very flight, 9 of the 18 crew members had moderate injuries ( https://apnews.com/article/singapore-airlines-flight-turbule... )

Most of the crew are usually not wearing a seat belt
Post reply on HN