Turbulent Flight Causes Injuries

By Capt Ron • February 24th, 2010
Seat Belts for Taxi,Take Off and Landing
Image by BenSpark via Flickr

If you have a fear of flying, it’s very possible that you spotted the story in the media over the weekend about the United Airlines flight ( Washington Dulles to Narita, Japan) that encountered turbulence resulting in passenger injury.

Sixteen people were injured on this flight after it encountered unexpected turbulence while flying over Alaska.  A quick review of this event makes several realities clear.

This encounter occurred on a Boeing 747-400, one of the largest passenger-carrying aircraft in service.  True, a larger airplane will often give you the smoothest ride, but a smooth ride cannot be guaranteed.

Although the sixteen passengers were thrown from their seats and injured when they struck the ceiling of the airplane, the rest of the 250+ passengers who were wearing their seat belts were unharmed.

Flight attendants are often injured while on the job.  Why?  They do lift the occasional heavy carry-on bags for the passengers who can’t; they handle their own bags too, and these are often quite heavy.  This causes many back and shoulder injuries.  The injuries that the chiropractor can’t fix almost always come from turbulence.  A large part of the flight attendants’ job involves passenger service, and to do these necessary tasks, the flight attendants must walk through the cabin, often pushing a service cart.  While in the galley, the flight attendants are standing in front of a coffee maker and sometimes several hot ovens.  When an unplanned encounter with turbulence occurs, anyone not sitting in their seats, with their seat belt fastened, is subject to finding the ceiling in an unexpected and injuring manner.

A couple of observations come to mind after this incident:  Most importantly, stay in your seat, and wear your seat belt when you are seated.  Doing this will protect you from injury.  Second, all aircraft are subject to encounters with turbulence, even jumbo jets like the Boeing 747.

It is absolutely true that turbulence is terrifying to the fearful flyer; perhaps doubly when the encounter causes injuries.  Remember that the airplane was not damaged by the turbulence, and the passengers who were seated with their seat belts fastened were not among those who were injured.

Our guest blogger for today was Capt. Ron’s friend, Capt. John.  You can look for Capt. John in the flight deck seated with his seatbelt fastened.  He has been flying since 1983 and has logged 20,000 hours. He assists Capt. Ron in the live Phoenix classes when his flying schedule permits.

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Related posts:

  1. Fear of Turbulence and Pilot Announcements
  2. Can Planes Crash from Turbulence?
  3. Fear of Flying and Flight Attendant TLC
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