Viral photos remind us why we wear seat belts on a plane
Digital Reporter
Thursday, April 14, 2016, 6:08 PM - Viral photos circulating Facebook show just how destructive airplane turbulence can be, while serving as an important reminder to wear a seat belt while in-flight.
At least five crew members and one passenger required medical treatment after their Thai Airways Boeing 777 experienced severe turbulence on a flight from Jakarta to Bangkok Monday.
Kru P’Birth, and employee of the airline, uploaded shocking photos of the aftermath to Facebook.
They have since gone viral.
One photo shows luggage, trolleys and other items tossed around the cabin while passengers grip their seats.
Photo Source: Facebook/
A second photo, which The Weather Network has chosen not to publish due to its graphic nature, shows an airplane seat covered in blood.
According to P'Birth, the passenger, who was not wearing his seatbelt, was thrown in the air by the turbulence and hit his head.
Thai Airways has issued a statement on the incident, apologizing to passengers while crediting the pilots for navigating the difficult flight conditions.
The company has paid for the medical expenses of the staff and passenger that were injured.
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What is turbulence?
Flying is considered one of the safest forms of travel, but sometimes it can be a bumpy ride.
"As a jet flies through the air, it mostly encounters smooth wind flow, which translates into a smooth flight for the crew and passengers," writes Weather Network digital meteorologist Scott Sutherland.
"However, on some flights, the smooth ride is interrupted by periods of shaking, jostling and sometimes stomach-churning rises and falls. These are the effects of turbulence, as the plane flies through pockets of rising, falling and rolling air, typically called eddies.
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The severity of the turbulence is based on how big these eddies are, the strength of the wind shear (the differences in wind speed and/or direction between the outside of the eddy and the inside), and how quickly the plane flies through them."
Usually, turbulence amounts to nothing more than a small rattle -- but when it becomes severe, a plane can be lifted or dropped several hundred metres or more.
"Most times, the crew is able to warn passengers about these encounters well in advance, due to weather forecasts, reports from other planes and the knowledge and experience of the flight crew," Sutherland writes.
"However, there are times when the plane can fly into this kind of trouble with little to no warning at all."
Source: News.com.au
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