Is Climate Change turning the skies more treacherous, making air travel a ‘shaky affair’? If reports are right, it is true though not scary at the moment. A series of extreme turbulence incidents in early 2023 has air travellers in the US wondering why the seatbelt sign has been left on so much lately. Last week alone, turbulence was responsible for: at least seven injuries aboard a transatlantic Lufthansa red-eye, the aborted landing of a North Carolina-bound Southwest flight, and a passenger death on a business jet traveling between New Hampshire and Virginia. Research shows that the chances of having a turbulent flight are increasing and that a changing climate might be the culprit. • Climate change makes atmospheric air currents more unstable and winds faster, causing rockier skies. • It’s also elevating the risk of clear-air turbulence, which appears out of the blue and gives pilots little time to order passengers to buckle up. Take heart, extreme turbulence is still very rare and not usually dangerous. Only 146 people were seriously injured by severe turbulence between 2009 and 2021, according to the Federal Aviation Administration — and most were not wearing their seatbelts. Airplanes are designed to withstand intense shaking, while pilots are trained to safely navigate intense wind.
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Climate change makes atmospheric air currents more unstable and winds faster, causing rockier skies
