Climate change is making the skies less friendly. Prepare for a future where you always have your seatbelt on
[...]
‘Clear-air turbulence’ is taking us by surprise
Global warming is altering the math on these issues. Over the past four decades, vertical wind shear over the North Atlantic has increased 15%, according to research. This results in more unstable air at play within the jet streams that move across the U.S., often at the same altitudes where commercial and private aircraft commonly travel–and the researchers noted that the busy transatlantic flight corridor will be similarly affected.
[...]
Clear-air turbulence, so named because it’s not part of any storm system and therefore isn’t visualized before a plane flies into it, can be wildly problematic. The planes themselves withstand the force remarkably well, but passengers and crew–especially those who aren’t wearing seat belts at the time of the encounter and get thrown around in the cabin–can be left with significant injuries and trauma. You should plan for a future in which you’ve always got your seatbelt on while flying.
“Pilots get basically no training on weather radar, or even weather (itself), after basic training,” says Malmquist, an international pilot for three decades and a visiting instructor at Florida Tech’s College of Aeronautics. “And the problem is that weather is complex, and we’re learning new things.”
“The weather radar systems that the manufacturers are producing now are very different from what they were building 10 and 20 years ago, and there’s almost no training about how to use the new type of systems,” Moss says. “Pilots are Type-A motivated, and they’ll find the information and study it on their own, (but) the airlines certainly are not providing that training.”
[...]
Enhanced training on weather radar won’t solve all of that, but it certainly makes sense in a world already dealing with the escalating evolution of climate change and its effects on weather patterns.
[...]