Where is clear air turbulence most common? How dangerous is “clear sky turbulence”: NTV investigation. Actions of pilots when entering a turbulence zone

As a result of the incident on board the Aeroflot airliner flying from Moscow to Bangkok, more than 20 passengers received various injuries. According to airline representatives, the cause of the incident was turbulence. clear skies.


The airline's press secretary, Maxim Fetisov, noted that the pilots were unable to warn passengers about the danger in advance: “The Boeing 777 plane, 40 minutes before landing at Bangkok airport, entered an area of ​​short-term severe turbulence, as a result of which several passengers were injured. The situation the plane encountered is known as "clear air turbulence." Its main feature is that it does not appear in the clouds, but in clear skies with good visibility, where weather radar cannot detect its approach. Therefore, the crew has no way to warn passengers about the need to return to their seats. The victims were provided with assistance. Representatives of Aeroflot together with the consulate Russian Federation in Bangkok are in contact with the victims.”

The Russian Embassy in Thailand told TASS that, according to doctors, the lives of the victims are not in danger. But some passengers required serious medical assistance, TASS correspondent in Thailand Aleksey Skovoronsky reported: “Diplomats worked on the spot, translators arrived to help. Not everyone required hospitalization; some assessed the damage to their health and the possibility of further travel; others had layovers. Two passengers required surgical intervention by doctors. According to the Russian Ambassador to Thailand, Kirill Barsky, Aeroflot representatives notified him that all necessary assistance and compensation would be provided.”

Videos made by eyewitnesses after the plane landed appeared on the Internet.

Posted by Rostik Rusev (@krlrgstk) Apr 30, 2017 at 9:42 PDT

Video source: Instagram/krlrgstk

As Aeroflot notes, clear sky turbulence is a common occurrence. About 750 such cases are recorded every year.

The airline also stated that its representatives, if necessary, cancel hotel reservations, reschedule check-in dates and reissue tickets for transfer passengers. The carrier bears the associated costs.

According to the law, tourists in such cases do not have the right to demand money for a disrupted vacation, noted lawyer Alexei Gordeychik: “The flight was international, where insurance and the amount of compensation are determined by a separate convention. And within this size you can act, but this is mainly related to compensation for harm. If there is no fault of the carrier itself, then in fact this is a force majeure situation. They are entitled to decent insurance compensation - not under voluntary insurance, but under carrier liability insurance, and this is more than the payments provided for by domestic legislation. But I don’t think passengers will be able to sue for something like a free holiday.”

Aeroflot's liability is insured by Alfastrakhovanie. Its official representative told Kommersant FM that the insurer works in close cooperation with the airline and will bear all costs of providing medical care to the victims.

Everyone has probably heard that the Aeroflot plane shook while approaching Bangkok so much that 27 passengers were injured. Pilot Lyokha described in detail what this phenomenon of “clear sky turbulence” is. And also that there are no air pockets and why you shouldn’t be afraid of turbulence. It will be very useful for those who suffer from aerophobia to read.

Original taken from letchikleha c Clear sky turbulence.

Another horror story from the media shocked the country.
"A plane crashed" "Creepy" air pocket"One step away from death"
Over the past three days, such headlines have not left the main printed pages, TV screens and Internet news feeds.
"The worse and scarier the better!" This slogan, apparently, has become the cornerstone of all rating channels and publications. Only the lazy did not suck up this news in horrific detail.
It is useless to fight something like this.

There is a very cool song from the children's movie Buratino, which is “a hundred years old at lunchtime,” but it very accurately reflects today’s reality:
"...As long as there are fools in the world,
Therefore, we can get away with living by deception.
What a blue sky
We are not supporters of robbery:
A fool doesn't need a knife, You'll lie to him like three boxes -
And do with him what you want!"

I never give any comments to the media about aviation accidents and events for one simple reason; they almost always distort the meaning of what was said and reshape the information received in their own way, to suit their own or someone else’s interests. (verified) That’s why I’m better Here I will try to explain what “Clear Air Turbulence” is, whether it is dangerous and how to behave on an airplane.
It hurt.
So
Air transport, like any other (railway, sea, road, horse, teleportation...), is a subject of increased danger, increased risk, both for their passengers and drivers, and for third-party road users. Now I will not touch on everything else except the sky (we are talking about flights).
A lot is known about the planet's atmosphere. Of course, not all, but still enough to move around in it as safely as possible. (not absolutely safe, but as much as possible!)
It is known that the atmosphere consists of gas (there is all kinds of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and other gases). Chemistry is responsible for the composition, physics is responsible for the properties. IN this moment We are interested precisely in the properties of the atmosphere.
For many years, smart people observed the atmosphere, made statistical records, invented and carried out experiments, tried to predict the weather and figure out why it rains in summer and snows in winter. All this led to the emergence separate science- METEOROLOGY (scientific and applied field of knowledge about the structure and properties of the earth’s atmosphere and the physical and chemical processes occurring in it.) It must be said that this science has stepped quite far and many things and processes occurring in the planetary gas envelope have become very well understood and predictable.
For aviation, knowledge about the sky is the most important knowledge! It is impossible to create an aircraft (a balloon, an airship, an ekranoplan, an atmospheric aircraft...) without understanding what happens to it in the air and what effect this very air has on a foreign object that finds itself in its environment. And therefore, all heavenly chariots are calculated and built in such a way as to ensure their compatibility and integration into the sky, according to the tasks, goals and functions to be performed by these aircraft in flight. It is because of this passenger airliner does not look like a combat fighter, and a hot air balloon looks like a kite. So how and what affects flight?
The main parameters of the sky are: Temperature, pressure, humidity. These are the very three pillars on which the rest of the cuisine of the atmosphere rests. All these parameters are constantly changing, which leads to various processes in the air that directly affect aeronautics. (wind, pressure, cyclones and anti-cyclones. Hurricanes, Typhoons, rain, snowfall, frost, drought, etc.)
I'll open it for you terrible secret, the principle of airplane flight is based on the difference in air pressure under the wing and above the wing. The principle of flight hot air balloon there is a difference in air temperature inside the ball and outside. The airship stays in the air because the gas inside the balloon is different from the atmosphere and is lighter than the air around it. The kite flies because the wind blows and a rope holds it! As soon as you remove these principles from the flight equation of your celestial unit, it will immediately crash to the ground! (no one has yet canceled the force of gravity! Teleportation and antigravity are a little more complicated, but everything is also explainable, but more on that next time)

You've listened to (read) the blurry introductory part about "Clear Air Turbulence." Let's move on to specifics.

The atmosphere is heterogeneous and therefore, any aircraft located in it is subject to its influence. It can chatter (shake) anytime and anywhere, regardless of the flight altitude, the terrain over which we fly, the presence of clouds, wind, or time of day. There are clear zones and signs in the sky where there is a 146% chance that the plane will shake.
First. These are primarily clouds.
Clouds are the same air, but extremely saturated with water. This means that the density of the cloud is much higher than the density of the gas surrounding it. The temperature and pressure there are different. This in turn leads to instability of air masses near and inside the clouds themselves. The more powerful the cloud, the more powerful and diverse the processes occurring within and nearby.
First of all, this is the direction and strength of air flows. Up. down, sideways. The speeds of gusts and currents reach colossal values. Ascending and descending currents rush a huge mass of air in different directions. An airplane caught in such a mess will be thrown like a chip in a stormy mudflow. (But we know that “A tank won’t crush a flea!” The plane itself, in principle, doesn’t even give a damn about where it is thrown and thrown, because it is in the flow itself and tightly connected with it.)
The danger in large, thunderclouds comes from a completely different direction. There, inside, not everything is so smooth and even. There the air turns into water and ice, and ice is already serious. In addition to the danger of damage to the aircraft body from hail (it will break into pieces, oh hello!) there is the danger of severe icing. The rate of ice growth on the load-bearing surfaces of an aircraft is cosmic! Icing for an airplane is like tying a brick to a small fishing float! To put it simply, it will turn aircraft into a piece of ice. There is no need to step on the tail of a sleeping snake, and if possible, it is better to walk around it than to step on it. We always avoid storm clouds and never push our luck. (but if you still got there, and this sometimes happens, then this does not mean at all that everyone, fucked up, has sailed! You just need to leave the unfriendly area as quickly as possible. This is taught, and we know how to do it. And once again: Chatter , this is the most innocent thing that a thunderstorm threatens!)
The next place where it always shakes is the mountains.
When flying over mountainous areas, the turbulence (instability) of the atmosphere is always increased. This is due to vertical and horizontal changes in wind direction. Well, everything is simple here. The wind blew straight and blew. Bam! Mountain on the way! The wind began to bend upward and to the side. The air flow swirls and swirls and rises, disturbing the calm atmosphere.
Do you know the difference between a tsunami and just a huge wave? The height of the tsunami wave may not be very large, but the mass of water that the tsunami carries and that follows this low wave is such that it is astronomical in size. A wave 2 meters high turns out to be almost endless! She goes and goes, and destroys everything in her path. At the same time, just a huge wave, even 10 meters long, does not cause any particular damage, just as it surged and ended. So it is with air currents in the mountains. The wind blows and blows, bends and bends, and rushes upward. This entire gas mixture rises high above the mountains and shakes the plane. (But we know that “A tank won’t crush a flea!” The plane itself, in principle, doesn’t even give a damn about where it is thrown and thrown, because it is in the flow itself and tightly connected with it. The plane becomes part of this flow!)
Further.
Coastline.
Where the sea ends and the mainland begins, the likelihood of roughness is very high. The fact is that the heating of the earth and water is not the same, (remember that one of the main indicators of the atmosphere is temperature), the air also does not warm up equally, and at this junction of cold and hot “depressions” arise (there is such a concept in meteorology, about this you can read in more detail yourself if you are interested. There is a lot of material on the Internet.), which in turn leads to the emergence of vertical and horizontal flows. You need to understand that these flows are not just flows similar to streams or even rivers, but air masses of unimaginable size! Millions, billions of tons of indignant gas! (But we know that “A tank won’t crush a flea!” The plane itself, in principle, doesn’t even give a damn about where it is thrown and thrown, because it is in the flow itself and tightly connected with it. The plane becomes part of this flow!)
Where else can it shake?
Probably many of you have experienced it yourself: the whole flight was calm, but when descending and landing, almost at the very ground, it starts to throw? That's right! This is called thermal flows (or "thermals"). Glider pilots are very familiar with this phenomenon. The nature of this turbulence is the same, uneven heating...
Well, now the sweetest part: "The turbulence of this very clear sky"
You may believe it or you may not, but this is a fact (just like the fact that the earth is round. I saw it myself!) in the sky there are rivers, rivulets, streams. Only the size of these rivers and streams is monstrous! Thousands of kilometers long, tens of kilometers high and hundreds of kilometers wide. The flow speed in these currents can reach half a thousand kilometers per hour! (Once I saw and experienced a wind whose speed was 400 km per hour over the Baffin Sea (this is between Greenland and Canada)) And now imagine, you are riding a bicycle along a path between residential areas, whistling your favorite melody, no you don’t suspect, and suddenly the houses end, and you run around the corner at speed, and there’s a gusty wind! How will you feel? That's it!
If you know that there will be wind around the corner (and this can often be determined visually by dust, leaves, and debris rushing around the corner), then of course you will take action. Either don't go there, go around, or be prepared for the wind to blow!
Same with Clear Sky Turbulence. This phenomenon has long been known and easily explained and, alas, it is not uncommon! There are even signs and places where you are likely to run into it, but they are too unpredictable.
Where are you most likely to encounter this phenomenon?
Typically, this is the boundary of the air flow at the entrance and exit to and from the flow. But the trouble is that it is almost impossible to see this flow with a modern radar, but it is even very difficult to feel its influence on yourself. If everything is simple with clouds and precipitation, then the direction and strength of the wind is a problem. There are weather maps that are issued by special bureaus constantly, with a certain frequency. They indicate the direction and speed of the wind at altitudes, indicate areas with an increased probability of turbulence, but all this is very, very approximate, since the atmosphere is too unstable and indicate the exact point with coordinates on the map where strong turbulence will occur and at what time - It's just not realistic. Approximate area and time period - yes, specific place and time - no! Statistics show that most often, airplanes get into such trouble over the oceans and when flying near the equatorial region of the earth. They fall where cyclones originate and where temperature changes are very fleeting and significant. Is it possible to somehow predict and avoid falling into these areas? Hardly ever. (or stop flying) You need to understand that no “Air Pits” actually exist. Air flow inseparable! There are areas in the sky (that appear and disappear) where several phases of the physical state of the atmosphere converge at one time and in one place. For example, a powerful upward or downward flow suddenly intersects with the boundary of the air flow and then a “ass with a handle” arises. But it is fleeting and changeable, this bad thing, just like the flow will shift in ten seconds, and the upward gust will disappear.
You can list for a long time the places and causes of bumpiness, but for an ordinary passenger this is somehow not very interesting, because he pays money for the fact that he wants to move from point “A” to point “Z” quickly, safely and comfortably. And he has the right to do so! But you still need to know what can await him, my beloved passenger. "Forewarned is forearmed!"
So. What about the plane? How does he cope with these shocks?
And the plane is made for this purpose, to live in this heavenly carousel. It is much easier and safer for an airplane to fly in the sky than on the ground! Don't believe me? See:
The B-777 weighs 350 tons! (THREE HUNDRED FIFTY TONS KARL!) Of this weight, 140 tons of liquid fuel, which fills the tanks and sways inside the tanks - glug-glug. Heavy engines, which can move a tank weighing 50 tons with their jet! (each engine!) hang under the wing and are secured with only three bolts. The fuselage itself with seats, suitcases, passengers, chicken and beer. Wings filled with fuel right down to the tonsils. This entire farm stands on the ground, on just three thin supports - the chassis and the earth - mother attracts all this to herself with a force of 350 thousand kilograms! (take a glass ball and place it on the point of a needle and press on top of it. What is it like?) What happens when the plane flies? What happens is that air begins to hold all this heavy crap! Every millimeter, every atom of the iron monster, the air flows around and supports with tenderness! Wings, stabilizer, fuselage, all this lies softly on the air flow! So where is it easier for an airplane?
A? What? Are their wings flapping? Ha! That's how they should wave!
Just for fun, take a good, high-quality, graphite, modern spinning rod and try, without tying bait to it, to wave it like crazy. Will you break it? I think it’s unlikely, get tired of waving! (I'm a fisherman myself, I know what I'm talking about)
The plane is akin to a glass ball that was thrown into a stormy spring stream. (It’s not for nothing that I mentioned the point of the needle and the glass ball) What will happen to such a ball if there are no stones or other balls on its way? Well, absolutely nothing! The ball will happily jump through the waves, squealing with pleasure.
Now comes the worst part!
Place mice in this glass ball, jumping along the waves of serene happiness... Can you imagine what the poor mice will experience?
Epilogue
(But we know that “A tank won’t crush a flea!” The plane itself, in principle, doesn’t even give a damn about where it is thrown and thrown, because it is in the flow itself and tightly connected with it. The plane becomes part of this flow!)
My dear passengers, the world is complex and not always friendly, but the world is fair and favorable to those who play by its rules.
Don't cross the road at a red light. Walk around the front of the tram, don’t walk under the cornice where icicles are dripping, wear a life jacket while in a boat, don’t drink hawthorn tincture for three rubles, don’t grab exposed wires, wear a seat belt when sitting on an airplane...
DO NOT STAND UNDER THE ARROW!
Good luck to you and have a good spring mood...
Your Pilot Lech.

Today, turbulence is a very pressing problem for aircraft, at the same time, a person, unfortunately, cannot control the vortex chaotic wind flows. As a rule, turbulence poses a serious danger to aircraft, however, for the most part, any negative consequences for aircraft can be avoided, but passengers often suffer, receiving a number of injuries and injuries due to the strong shaking of aircraft.

Turbulence after.

It is still possible to reduce the threat to the life and health of passengers by applying in practice very interesting idea, based on a number of laws of hydrodynamics. The idea is very simple and lies in the fact that the passenger seats available in the aircraft cabin should be provided with hydraulic dampers, which will operate at the slightest vibration of the passenger airliner, thereby reducing inertia and saving hundreds of passengers from injury and possible injuries.

Schematic diagram of the operation of a damping passenger aircraft seat

As is known, liquid is an incompressible medium, and the use of a hydraulic damper built into the passenger seat will avoid shaking of the passenger seats if the aircraft enters even a zone of severe turbulence. The chaotic movements of the aircraft will be dampened by the hydraulic medium, that is, if the plane swings sharply down, then according to the laws of physics, the passenger in the seat must remain for a moment at the point from which the plane deviated, and vice versa, with a sharp rise, the passenger will begin to squeeze into the seat. The two cases considered are rather particular, however, given the chaotic movement of the aircraft during turbulence, strong vibration will be created, during which a person may be injured. The use of a hydraulic damper will dampen these vibrations, thereby minimizing any possible harm, creating safe conditions for passengers.

Among other things, the current development has another very interesting purpose - passenger seats equipped with damping elements are extremely effective in the event of forced or emergency landing, for example, when the landing gear fails, when the aircraft lands on unprepared terrain, etc. Hypothetically, the seats used will also make it possible to protect passengers in the event of a plane crash, however, only in a situation where there is no subsequent fire, explosion, etc.

Kostyuchenko Yuri especially for the site

Atmospheric turbulence

The speed of movement of air and particles suspended in it changes in space and time. Ordered and turbulent movements of air masses differ primarily in scale. Large-scale motion is considered orderly, while small-scale motion is considered turbulent. It is impossible to draw a clear boundary between them: it is conditional and depends on the task and measurement methods.

Turbulent movement of air masses is characterized by disorder of the velocity field in time and space, the presence of inhomogeneities or turbulent vortices that affect the behavior of the aircraft. A spectrum of vortices of different sizes (scales) is created. The reciprocal of the scale is called the spatial frequency, similar to how the circular frequency w in radio engineering is the reciprocal of the oscillation period. The distribution of turbulent energy over spatial frequencies, which is called the turbulence spectrum, is its sufficient full description. The value of e, as a dimensional parameter of the turbulence spectrum, characterizes its intensity.

The nature of turbulent motion in the atmosphere is such that the energy of large-scale vortices is transferred to smaller-scale vortices - the vortices seem to be crushed. This continues until the vortices become so small that their kinetic energy is entirely used to overcome the viscosity of the air and turns into heat. This process of turbulent motion occurs continuously as long as large-scale vortices are replenished with energy from atmospheric energy sources associated with differences in temperature and pressure. The conversion of turbulence kinetic energy into heat is called turbulence kinetic energy dissipation (TKED). The quantity e, in its physical content, is the rate at which the kinetic energy of turbulence of minimal scale is converted into heat. The higher the v, the higher the intensity of the turbulence.

Turbulence is not observed throughout the entire atmosphere at the same time and not at all altitudes. It occurs under the influence of thermal and dynamic factors. Therefore, it is customary to distinguish between thermal and dynamic turbulence.

Thermal turbulence occurs as a result of uneven heating of the earth's surface and large vertical temperature gradients. This type of turbulence is typical for the lower half of the troposphere (up to 3-4 km). Its intensity depends on the time of year, the period of day and the stability of the atmosphere. Greatest intensity is observed during the day in the warm season in cold unstable air masses, as well as in a blurred pressure field - in saddles and cyclones.

With thermal turbulence in the atmosphere, both disordered and ordered ascending and descending air movements occur, creating cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds, modocumulus and cumulonimbus clouds.

Dynamic turbulence is created due to the friction of moving air against the rough relief of the earth's surface and the heterogeneity of air flows in speed and direction.

The friction of air against the earth's surface in flat and mountainous areas causes the occurrence of dynamic turbulence mainly in the lower layer of the troposphere (up to 1-1.5 km). In mountainous areas it can spread much higher (up to 7-9 km).

Dynamic turbulence occurs in layers of the free atmosphere with great variability in wind characteristics and is observed more often where there is convergence or divergence of air flows, curvature of their direction, as well as in areas of jet streams. It can also occur in the form of ascending and downdrafts as a result of wave movements at the boundary of the inversion and isothermal layers. Its intensity depends on the speed of vertical and horizontal wind shears.

Although thermal and dynamic turbulence are created as a result of the action of different factors, they can influence the nature of air flows both separately and simultaneously, increasing the intensity of the turbulent state of the atmosphere.

Turbulence causes the vertical transfer of heat, water vapor and solid particles in the atmosphere, and wind gustiness. Turbulent exchange significantly influences the conditions of formation, evolution and microstructure of clouds, precipitation and fogs, which create difficult meteorological conditions for flights.

Intense turbulence occurs under clear and cloudy skies. Since it is one of the cloud-forming factors, let us consider its physical characteristics in a clear sky (“turbulent field”).

There are several types of clear air turbulence:

    1) mechanical turbulence, caused by the influence of unevenness of the earth's surface on air currents and sometimes enhanced by its unequal heating;

    2) mountain waves, which by origin are a special form of turbulence of the first type (due to the specific impact on aircraft flights, mountain waves are considered separately);

    3) turbulence of jet streams;

    4) turbulence in the layers internal to the free atmosphere.

Turbulence in a clear sky is a meteorological phenomenon dangerous for aviation due to its sudden impact on the aircraft. Some aviation accidents occurred as a result of aircraft entering areas of dangerous turbulence under cloudless skies.

Turbulization of air flows in a clear sky is associated with the existence in the atmosphere of layers with significant vertical and horizontal gradients of wind speed and air temperature.

Under conditions of stable temperature stratification, the occurrence of TJN can be explained by the loss of stability (increase in amplitude and subsequent destruction) of gravity or gravity-shear waves (over mountains - mountain waves) and the transfer of energy from wave movements to turbulent ones.

In the troposphere, the probability of an aircraft hitting a nuclear power plant is quite high; it depends on geographical latitude. In the middle and upper troposphere of temperate latitudes, this parameter is approximately 10% of the total aircraft flight time, in southern latitudes - 15-20%. In the stratosphere, this probability is much lower and in the 10-20 km layer is approximately 1%.

When entering the PTZ zone, aircraft are most often subject to weak and moderate bumpiness, the integral frequency of which in the troposphere is 95%, and only in 5% of cases can strong bumpiness be observed.

Turbulence video

The horizontal dimensions of the nuclear power plants vary within fairly wide limits, especially in the troposphere, reaching in some cases several hundred kilometers. However, for 80% of cases in the upper troposphere of temperate latitudes, the length of turbulent zones does not exceed 140 km. In the stratosphere, TN zones have significantly smaller horizontal dimensions. At an altitude of 10-20 km, the horizontal length of turbulent zones (80% of cases) in the temperate latitudes of the CIS territory is less than 80 km, and in the lower stratosphere over the USA - up to 40 km. This means that when a supersonic aircraft crosses PTZ zones in cruising mode, bumpiness is observed for several seconds or tens of seconds.

TN zones can be continuous (solid) and in the form of separate intermittent cells with quite sharp boundaries. Continuous zones of TAN have greater repeatability.

The thickness of the TAN zones, as well as the horizontal dimensions, fluctuates within significant ranges depending on the geographic latitude, altitude and aerosynoptic conditions. In the middle and high latitudes of the CIS (85-90% of cases), the thickness of turbulent zones in the troposphere does not exceed 1000 m, and in the stratosphere - 350 m, therefore, the TNT zones have a pronounced spatial anisotropy. These are flat formations, the coefficient of spatial anisotropy of which (the ratio of the thickness of the turbulent zone to its horizontal length) with an 80% integral repeatability is for the upper troposphere of mid-latitudes.

Turbulence video 2

On May 1, 20 minutes before descent, an Aeroflot plane flying from Moscow to Bangkok entered a short-term zone of severe turbulence. Passengers who were not wearing seat belts received varying degrees of injuries, 25 of whom were hospitalized after landing. 15 Russians still remain in a Bangkok hospital, the Russian Embassy in Thailand reported.

Aeroflot: “Clear sky turbulence arose unexpectedly”

According to the commander of flight SU 270 Moscow - Bangkok, Alexander Ruzov, the overload lasted about 15 seconds, and after half a minute the airliner was brought onto the desired trajectory. This happened thanks to the competent actions of both the brigade and the crew, Ruzov noted in a telephone interview with one of the Russian TV channels. However, he expressed regret that passengers who were not wearing seat belts were injured.

The Aeroflot press service explained that the plane found itself in so-called “clear-sky turbulence.”

The Aeroflot press service explained that the plane found itself in so-called “clear-sky turbulence.” It does not appear in the clouds, but in a clear sky with good visibility, and the weather radar does not report its approach.

“Therefore, the crew does not have the opportunity to warn passengers about the need to return to their seats,” explained a representative of the airline. According to his information, in the world civil aviation About 750 cases of clear-air turbulence are recorded per year.

Aeroflot covered the costs of treating injured passengers. On Tuesday, this was confirmed by the President of the All-Russian Union of Insurers, Igor Yurgens. According to him, the limit of the air carrier's liability insurance contract is enough to pay all compensation.

Aviation experts: “This is an amazing case that needs to be investigated”

However, some experts doubted that the Aeroflot airliner actually encountered “clear air turbulence.” For example, military meteorologist, reserve lieutenant colonel Evgeny Tishkovets, in an interview with NSN, said that phenomena such as clear-sky turbulence are very easy to predict.

“The crew should have been informed of what lay ahead. Either they were informed and they violated the instructions, or they were not notified of this.”

“This can be calculated in several ways, and using computer technology there are no problems at all. The crew should have been informed of what lay ahead. Either they were informed and they violated the instructions, or they were not notified about this,” Tishkovets said, noting that he personally examined the upper layers of the troposphere at that moment and did not see any clear-sky turbulence.

Aviation expert Oleg Panteleev, who heads the AviaPort agency, believes that the version of an aircraft malfunction in this case is not justified and is not motivated by anything.

“Unfortunately, cases where intense air currents throw or bring down planes several hundred meters are quite common in aviation. And there are a lot of victims from this all over the world. I believe that Aeroflot passengers got off lightly,” Panteleev shared his opinion with Public Control.

He recalled that all airlines, without exception, recommend their passengers to remain fastened - even if the “Fasten seat belts” sign is not lit. This minimizes the risks if the ship gets into a turbulence zone.

Honored Pilot of Russia Vadim Bazykin called the incident that happened with the Aeroflot plane surprising and requiring a thorough investigation. According to him, clear-sky turbulence can be predicted because it often occurs at the border of water and land - or in mountainous areas, where there is a difference in the temperatures of air masses: warm air goes up, cold air goes down, intersecting, they form a “chatter”.

Clear-sky turbulence can be predicted because it often occurs where there is a difference in air mass temperatures: warm air goes up, cold air goes down, intersecting, they form a “chatter”.

“We were not told such beautiful terms as clear-air turbulence, and were taught that if you see a bumpy situation, first of all turn off the autopilot, because, fighting with air currents, it only aggravates the situation, and it is not difficult to level the plane manually. The pilots of flight SU 270 Moscow - Bangkok turned off the autopilot after 15 seconds. Why it’s so late, we need to figure it out,” Bazykin told Public Control.

At the same time, the expert noted that there are several ways to determine the clear sky turbulence zone. For example, according to data from weather stations that mark different currents and wind directions, or according to ground speed.

The Investigative Committee of Russia is conducting a pre-investigation check into what happened on board a plane flying from Moscow to Bangkok on May 1. Based on its results, a decision will be made to initiate a criminal case.

In addition, the Federal Air Transport Agency will investigate the emergency.

Passengers: “This feeling when you fly from floor to ceiling and are not in control of the situation, but people, things and seats are flying nearby”

They are unlikely to be able to forget what the passengers of the ill-fated flight experienced.

“Three hours ago I was on a plane flying from Moscow to Bangkok. Suddenly we found ourselves in a zone of turbulence. It was so terrible that people were thrown around like crazy. There is blood everywhere, people with broken bones, noses, open fractures, children with head injuries, I could go on and on. Thank God we are all alive. I really hope that Aeroflot will do right by the victims. The airline staff did everything to help the people on board. As for the pilot, I can say he saved us all. Honestly, I have never been so scared,” he wrote in Instagram passenger flight SU 270 Moscow - Bangkok Rostik Rusev. He attached a video to his post taken on the plane after passing through the turbulence zone.

“Unfortunately, my first news from Tay is this... We were on this flight and sat at the very back. And we saw all this horror with our own eyes... This feeling when you fly from floor to ceiling and have no control over the situation, and people, things and seats are flying nearby. By a lucky coincidence, we escaped with bruises. This is truly an accident; there were people with open fractures lying nearby. All tail section the plane is covered in blood. It can't be described in words. We're fine as long as we're in the hospital. Medicine in Thailand is at the highest level,” another passenger on the Aeroflot plane named Margarita said on her Instagram.

05.07.2018, 12:50

Clear-sky turbulence is the most unpleasant and undesirable type of eddy drifts that appear unexpectedly in a cloudless space with excellent visibility. The plane finds itself between air currents that vary greatly in direction and speed, temperature and density. At this moment he seems to fall into a hole and begins to shake. The consequences of this can vary from passenger injuries to an aircraft crash.

This type of turbulence is very difficult to detect in advance - both visually and using radar, lidar, because the low pressure area is impossible to see in the clear sky. However, in May 2018, Russian scientists announced that they had learned to predict clear-air turbulence using a special device that monitors the change in muons.

When charged particles enter the atmosphere, they interact with nitrogen and oxygen atoms, resulting in muons. Every minute, an average of 120 of them fall per square meter of earth. Muons, passing through the atmosphere, lose their energy, and these losses depend on the density of the atmosphere. If a void or low-pressure area is encountered along the way, the muons lose less energy, which will be immediately detected. Thus, by the nature of changes in the muon flux, atmospheric processes can be monitored, described and predicted.

To detect these particles, scientists built a special device gigantic size, which is called “Muon Hodoscope” or “Hurricane”. The installation consists of large-area detectors (about 11 square meters), which register approximately two thousand muons every second. There are eight such modules, they are located on top of each other, which makes the installation a bit like a layer cake.

Eight recording planes of the installation form a picture, like an X-ray, which allows you to tell from which side the particle arrived in real time. Therefore, one complex is enough to see the sky within a radius of hundreds of kilometers and predict not only areas where clear-sky turbulence may occur, but also natural disasters such as snowfalls, storms, tornadoes and hurricanes, several hours before their manifestation, when all other methods are still powerless.

Today, scientists work closely with weather services and compare their forecasts, including those received traditional ways. This is necessary to confirm the accuracy of the method, after which muon diagnostics can officially enter the service of meteorologists. We will not get rid of hurricanes, tornadoes and turbulence, at least “forewarned is forearmed.” Thanks to accurate forecasts, it is possible to restructure the flight path of an aircraft and prepare for natural disasters, which means avoiding disastrous consequences.

 

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