Free Republic

At least 30 people were injured on Monday after an Air Europa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flight hit turbulence over the Atlantic, sending passengers flying out of their seats with one man appearing to have gotten stuck in the overhead bins. Passengers aboard Flight UX045 from Spain to Uruguay shared harrowing video of the damage and aftermath caused by turbulence, with one customer uploading a video on X showing a man stuck in the overhead luggage compartment. The man’s feet could be seen poking out of a bin after he was allegedly hurled up there by the turbulence, with a group...

A pilot on a Hawaiian Airlines flight said a plume-like cloud “shot” in front of the plane moments before severe turbulence that left more than two dozen people injured and damaged the aircraft last month, federal officials said Friday. The pilot, a captain on the Dec. 18 flight from Phoenix to Honolulu, said conditions were smooth and on-board weather radar showed no turbulence as they flew above a layer of cirrostratus clouds at an altitude of between 37,000 and 38,000 feet, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report on the incident. Just after 10 a.m., when the...

The "Outnumbered" panelists took aim at CBS News Tuesday after the media outlet credited climate change for severe turbulence on a recent flight bound for Hawaii. Dr. Nicole Saphier, a Fox News medical contributor, warned the issue shouldn’t be "chalked up" to climate change without solid evidence. CBS raised eyebrows with a quote from Taylor Garland, spokesperson for the Association of Flight Attendants, after 36 passengers were injured and 11 hospitalized due to turbulence. "Severe weather increases chances of turbulence, and due to climate change, these kinds of incidents will only continue to grow," Garland said. Saphier, however, pushed back...

For decades, physicists, engineers and mathematicians have failed to explain a remarkable phenomenon in fluid mechanics: the natural tendency of turbulence in fluids to move from disordered chaos to perfectly parallel patterns of oblique turbulent bands. This transition from a state of chaotic turbulence to a highly structured pattern was observed by many scientists, but never understood. For decades, physicists, engineers and mathematicians have failed to explain a remarkable phenomenon in fluid mechanics: the natural tendency of turbulence in fluids to move from disordered chaos to perfectly parallel patterns of oblique turbulent bands. This transition from a state of chaotic...

Turbulence can be an uncomfortable and unpleasant experience. And climate change is about to make it an increasingly common one, according to a new study. Using supercomputer simulations of the atmosphere, researchers at the University of Reading, in England, looked at the future of severe turbulence. "Our new study paints the most detailed picture yet of how aircraft turbulence will respond to climate change," Paul Williams, who undertook the research, said in a statement. "For most passengers, light turbulence is nothing more than an annoying inconvenience that reduces their comfort levels, but for nervous fliers even light turbulence can be...

She said: “We were at least three hours into the flight, everybody had eaten and was asleep. “It was very quiet. There seemed to be lots of children on the flight. “Then out of the blue the plane just dropped and everybody who was unbuckled went flying.” She said people flew headlong into the ceiling of the plane, suffering cuts to their heads. A few passengers had broken bones, she claimed. ... The flight attendant across from me, she slammed her head. She’ll need stitches.” The plane plummeted twice, Ms Boriack said, and during the second fall many of the...

An American Airlines flight from Miami to Milan has been diverted to Canada, with reports of injuries on board. Flight AA206 has been cleared to land at St John's International Airport in Newfoundland. There are paramedics on the ground waiting for the plane's arrival. Canadian newspaper The Telegram reports there are five ambulances at the airport, and "there are people with serious injuries on board". This is a developing story. More information will be added as it comes to hand.

A group of passengers who departed San Francisco yesterday aboard Cathay Pacific Airways landed in the hospital after the plane hit some mega turbulence, tossing passengers from their seats. CBS delivered the scary news this morning, detailing the overseas trip which got a lot bumpy as the plane cruised over Japan. The 747-400, which was carrying 321 passengers and 21 crew members, encountered the turbulence near Hokkaido around noon Hong Kong time Tuesday. It lasted about two minutes. At least one passenger described the flight as a roller coaster ride. Passengers were tossed from their seats, and some were thrown...

Wikipedia/skinnylawyer United Airlines Boeing 737-800 This plane is similar to the aircraft that hit a pocket of violent turbulence enroute from Denver, Colo. to Billings, Mont. on February 17, 2013. A United Airlines flight on its way to Billings, MO encountered severe turbulence on its descent, injuring three crew members and several passengers. The Boeing 737 carrying 114 passengers departed from Denver at 11:57 a.m. on Monday and landed at 1:23 p.m.Several people were rushed to area hospitals.At least one person remains in critical condition while 5 have been treated and released."At the time of the incident, skies over...

A United Airlines Boeing 747-400, registration N173UA performing flight UA-897 from Washington Dulles,DC (USA) to Tokyo Narita (Japan) with 227 passengers and 18 crew, was enroute overhead Alaska about 70nm east of Anchorage descending from FL320 to FL300, when the airplane encountered turbulence causing injuries to 18 people on board. The airplane continued to Tokyo's Narita Airport, where the airplane landed safely about 7 hours later. Japanese Police reported, that one passenger received serious injuries (fractured leg), 17 occupants received minor injuries. Japan's Transport Ministry reported, that the airplane was descending from FL320 to FL300, when it encountered the turbulence...

New York - America's aviation system could be at risk of collapsing by the beginning of next year. --snip- .. there is agreement among airline officials and analysts that Washington and the two presidential candidates need to recognize the severity of the crisis and take some action now to avert an economically crippling collapse in the near future. "Unless something is done to move toward some kind of fix, we're going to see every one of our major airlines in bankruptcy," says Robert Crandall, former chairman of American Airlines. ... As a result of the spike upward in oil prices,...

<p>A man is suing JetBlue Airways Corp. for more than $2 million because he says a pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet for more than three hours on a flight from California.</p>

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was up 60 points at its intraday high, ended down 76.08 points, or 0.6%, at 13231.01. The declined marked an unimpressive followup to Tuesday's delirious 319.54-point rally and served as a reminder of the previous four-day selloff. Traders said Wednesday's selling demonstrated that investors still harbor deep fears about how several aspects of the U.S. economy will shape up in the months ahead, especially consumer spending, which boosts many companies' profits. One troubling sign for everyday Americans resurfaced Wednesday. Crude oil, which fell in each of the last two sessions, took off again on...

TOKYO: Turbulence hit a KLM flight bound for western Japan Thursday, injuring 16, including two seriously, officials and a news report said. The plane encountered turbulence about two hours after taking off from Amsterdam, Transport Ministry official Toshiharu Osumi said. He said that 16 people were injured, but the extent of the injuries were not immediately known. Kyodo News agency reported two were seriously injured. The pilot apparently decided that the injuries did not require immediate attention, Osumi said.

Fortune-teller: Year of Pig not so amicable (AP/chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2007-02-16 20:53 HONG KONG - Sunday marks the start of the Chinese New Year and it's a lucky one for those starting out in life. But the rest of us are in for a rough ride. Expect epidemics, disasters and violence in much of the world. "The Year of the Pig will not be very peaceful," said Hong Kong feng shui master Raymond Lo. Feng shui is the ancient Chinese practice of trying to achieve health, harmony and prosperity by using specific dates, numbers, building design and the placement of objects....

If you've ever fantasized about joining the infamous mile high club, fantasy could become reality much faster than you think. An Atlanta-based company called Mile High Atlanta now offers couples the opportunity to travel into the skies for a romantic getaway — complete with a custom-fit bed, brand new sheets and a complimentary bottle of Champagne. The founder, corporate pilot Bob Smith, says he and his business partner conceived the idea five years ago as a way to make some extra money on weekends. He has piloted more than 75 flights, with couples from all parts of the country paying...

WE'LL CRASH WE'LL CRASH EXCLUSIVE What stewardess yelled as plane hit turbulence 28 February 2006 By Stephen Moyes A STEWARDESS kept screaming: "We're going to crash," when a packed jet hit turbulence at 30,000ft causing panic among passengers. The cabin crew member shouted out three times as travellers were tossed around and trays, drinks and bags flew through the air. Passenger Paul Gibson, 30, said: "She began screaming every time the plane shook. "She shouted at the top of her voice, 'We're going to crash! We're going to crash! We're going to crash!'" Virgin Atlantic flight VS043 hit bad weather...

Sailors who traditionally dumped barrels of oil into the sea to calm stormy waters may have been on to something, a new study suggests. The old practice reduces wind speeds in tropical hurricanes by damping ocean spray, according to a new mathematical “sandwich model”. As hurricane winds kick up ocean waves, large water droplets become suspended in the air. This cloud of spray can be treated mathematically as a third fluid sandwiched between the air and sea. “Our calculations show that drops in the spray decrease turbulence and reduce friction, allowing for far greater wind speeds – sometimes eight times...

40 Hurt as Plane Runs into Turbulence Some 40 passengers and crewmembers were hurt when a Korean airliner flying from Bali, Indonesia to Incheon International Airport suddenly lost altitude in turbulence.  Korean Air and the Seoul Regional Aviation Administration said Thursday that Korean Air Flight 630, which took off from Bali's Denpasar Airport at 4:15 a.m., ran into "clear air turbulence" while cruising at 38,000 feet just before entering Malaysian airspace. The aircraft suddenly dropped about 100 meters. Four of the 257 passengers sustained injuries like cuts to their foreheads when they hit their heads on the overhead baggage...

A new generation of ground-based telescopes could be up to 10 times the size of existing instruments and have vision 40 times as sharp as the Hubble space telescope.Astronomers have been hailing the plans, as a European project to build an Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) enters a design testing phase. An ELT is vital if the pace of astronomical breakthroughs is to continue, say experts. The plans were outlined at the UK National Astronomy Meeting in Birmingham. Concepts for ELTs include the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) being considered by the US and Canada; and the Euro50 and Overwhelmingly Large Telescope...