British passenger dies after severe turbulence on London-Singapore flight

RandAlThor@lemmy.ca to World News@lemmy.world – 114 points –
British passenger dies after severe turbulence on London-Singapore flight
theguardian.com
10

Clear air turbulence is why you should always keep your seat belt fastened when seated.

This is why you fasten your seatbelt when that light comes on.

Reading the article, it looks like there was barely any warning, because it was the type of turbulance that is extremely difficult to detect. Additionally, it seems the dead man had his seat belt on; he died of, as far as they can tell, a fear heart attack, as the plane essentially fell off a midair cliff, dropping 1800 meters (6000 feet) in three minutes. That's over 10 meters (30 feet) a second).

A 3-minute drop would definitely take my thoughts beyond "turbulence" to "falling out of the fucking sky." Heart attack indeed.

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This is the best summary I could come up with:


The airline said the Boeing 777 carrying 211 passengers – mostly from Australia, Britain, New Zealand or Singapore – and 18 crew members encountered severe turbulence on its way from Heathrow.

At a press conference, Kittipong Kittikachorn, the general manager of Airports of Thailand confirmed that one person had died and that seven were in a critical condition, mostly with head injuries.

In a statement, the airline said: β€œFlight SQ321 encountered sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy basin … The pilot declared a medical emergency and diverted the aircraft to Bangkok.

Another passenger, named only as Andrew from London, told BBC Radio 5 Live: β€œDuring the few seconds of the plane dropping there was an awful screaming and what sounded like a thud.”

Passengers were being kept in a special part of Suvarnabhumi airport and given dinner, before a new Thai Airways flight carrying on those able to travel was expected to take off for Singapore later on Tuesday evening.

Two crew onboard a British Airways flight returning from Singapore to London in June 2023 sustained broken legs after being thrown around the cabin during severe turbulence over the Bay of Bengal.


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