World's Worst Area's Of Turbulence?

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

What are the worst area's of Turbulence in the World? I have had some pretty bad bumps over Ghana!

Has anyone else had bad turbulence over Africa and around the Equator?

Thanks ;)
BAe 146

[DB6]

The approach to runway 28 at Dundee in a Northerly :D ;) :{ :ok:

[SkySista]

I once heard that Perth in W. Aus is supposed to be pretty bad for wind shear.... anyone care to comment? Also isn't Meekatharra supposed to be one of the world's worst to land at?

[411A]

Well, for starters, BOAC had part of a wing chucked off on a Boeing 707 over Mt. Fuji a long time ago, so I guess that qualifies....:uhoh: :uhoh:

[T O G A Boy]

Bay of Bengal is certainly one of the most turbulent areas. never been there and witnessed smooth conditions.

[slingsby]

I agree with TOGABOY with the bay of bengal being one of the worst areas. I've never flown through that area without some very lumpy weather especially towards the western side near RGN or Nicobar islands. It is not unusual to see banks of thunderstorms hundreds of miles wide, their tops being well over FL400, other times there are just a few CBs but they are pretty impressive. Nevertheless lumps and bumps aplenty.
Last year we had one particular episode for over 30 minutes, and that was after we had plotted our way around the worst of it. The cabin crew reported nearly every call light on for extra sick bags. The aircraft behind (QR I think) declared a medical emergency due to a woman going into prem labour. We spent the next 15 mins on RT relay just so he could divert to BKK.

[Fly3]

I would concur that Perth can be very exciting when the wind is out of the north east and that the Bay of Bengal is also pretty bad at times but my worst experience was in mid Pacific a few years ago when rates of climb and descent varied from +1500fpm to -1500fpm and speed varied up to 30 kts. Lots of sick bags in use that day to!

[Notso Fantastic]

Heading up the Bay of Bengal to CCU in the 70s in a VC10, I remember our Doppler telling us we were 150 miles X track desperately trying to steer around an ocean's worth of monstrous Cbs in the dark, all flashing and banging and shaking us to pieces. I remember looking at the control system hydraulic power control unit indicators and all 11 were showing amber lights- meaning starved of oil (as it was all levitated)! When a bad monsoon moves up into that area, it can be a place very not-to-be!
There is always a westerly jetstream blowing along the N African coast which has its moments, but the worst I have always found is in the Indian Ocean- the monsoon there seems to be more powerful than other oceans, or maybe because it is my regular stamping ground.

[BEagle]

The turbulence invariably starts at 1 min prior to Refuelling Bracket 1!

Or when the cabin staff are half-way through serving meals.

[West Coast]

"Or when the cabin staff are half-way through serving meals"

Especially if you don't like them. I'm told its a bitch to push a beverage cart uphill.

[Pickled Dill]

.........or usually about 5 seconds after you turn the seat-belt sign off!

[ZFT]

411A

<<Well, for starters, BOAC had part of a wing chucked off on a Boeing 707 over Mt. Fuji a long time ago, so I guess that qualifies>>

Far worse than that - It snapped the fuselage in half just aft of the flightdeck.

[Captain Mercurius]

I used to fly quite often to Perth .

Sometimes, at 01:30 in the morning clear sky, always there was Moderate Turbulence to Severe beginning at 5.000 agl.
Northerly winds up to 60 KIAS, gradually decreasing as we loosed altitude near to Rwy 21.

I had my worst severe turbulence and associated wind shear in my life during an approach to Rwy 03 in a crystal clear night.
We did a Go-Around, and passing 3.000 feet, it was smooth and nice again.

Next attempt we landed on Rwy 06, with serious turbulence on final below 3.000 feet.

I think they closed the Rwy that night after our landing.

I never ever found nice and smooth conditions flying through Bay of Bengal, because there are always huge CB’s, especially during Moonsoon season.:{

And since communications with Colombo and Calcutta remain on HF made our lives miserable every time we needed to deviate.

However, I have found that flying over China on winter, one can find some rough atmosphere sometimes.

I think that it is my Karma.:ugh:

Mercurius

[openfly]

In 30 years of flying, including the Bay of Bengal, clear air always the worst!

1. B707 500 miles off Newfoundland in severe turbulence, two galleys broke loose, pax and crew injured, then the yaw damper failed, rolling to 40 degrees of bank, had to make an emergency descent. How the aircraft stayed together I will never know.

2. B707 over North Africa in severe turbulence all the flight instruments failed...bar the standbys...no idea what mach we were doing...em desc into smoother air. Turns out from the flt recorder we descended at .94 mach! (seemed a bit noisy).

3. B737-200 just north of the Alps, heading north, NW jetstream of 150kts. In mod/sev turb aircraft, was descending at 1500fpm instead of climbing at 800fpm, to maintain speed. A following company a/c had 2 cc injured, one with a broken ankle, the other with a compressed vertibrae.

Weather or Ts turbulence is mostly finite, and avoidable, and you know when it will end! Clear air can be so unpredictable as to duration and severity. Turbulence on an approach is where the skill and judgement comes in...the fun bit!

[Notso Fantastic]

One thing I have noticed- turbulence these days seems to be generally far less than back in the 70s/early 80s. In the VC10 then we were always rattling and banging our way around, but since I have been flying those same routes on the 747 (27 years), I get the impression that it's no big deal anymore......or have I answered my own question?

[SR71]

Paul Crickmore recounts on Pg 128 of Lockheed SR-71 - The Secret Missions Exposed a story of a SR-71 crew flying 974 in July '68 where they ran into storms in the Gulf of Tonkin with the tops of the clouds at 79,000ft! They overshot them at M=3.2 @ 80,000.

Now thats a Cb!

:ok:

[Paracab]

Notso,

Could that be due to improvements over the years in equipment used to predict/display poor Wx en route ?

Just a thought, I may be well wide of the mark.

[Six Lima]

Down in my part of the world, Wellington NZ provides good fun in the regular gale force winds; both northerly and southerly.

[Capt Fathom]

'turbulence these days seems to be generally far less than back in the 70s/early 80s'

I think the turbulence is getting worse! Or am I just getting old and impatient. :ugh:

[srjumbo]

If you fly over the North Atlantic enough and hear the Americans, and latterly the Canadians too, clogging up 123.45 you'd think that the worst turbulence is with them. Funny thing but flying beside these chaps their turbulence reports are always worse than we Brits seem to experience. A frightened nation perhaps?
Possibly not the wost turbulence but there always seems to be some activity at night routing overhead Charleston. At thirty odd thousand feet you can still be IMC and the radar just can't quite pick up some isolated CBs. Although not dangeous it can get extremely tedious after a couple of hours.

[Right Way Up]

Srjumbo,
Thats unless its sports night, then you get the constant american sports results service.

[nwaflygirl]

737 Pilot,
Ask and you shall receive:
Northwest's Turbulence Plot (TP) system has given Northwest the best turbulence avoidance system of all U.S. carriers, a fact that has been well documented. TWA's retired Chief Pilot Bob Buck known world- wide for his down-to-earth language on how-to-fly and related weather books, not to mention his deliberate thunderstorm and icing penetrations as safety-advancing research — calls the TP program "a program that is admired worldwide" and "(giving Northwest) the most enviable safety record as to turbulence in the industry." Painstaking, careful calculations — not wild guesswork — shows Northwest saves some $700,000 a year, more than $22 million in the 32 years since the system was developed. Well-documented cases demonstrate how, where and why others experienced fatal accidents while transgressing Northwest TP "do not fly" areas. This system was awarded Air Transport World's Airline Tech Management award in 1999.

See: www.ll.mit.edu/AviationWeather/WW-10196.pdf/
It's a PDF file, you need Adobe www.adobe.com

[QSK?]

I have done a number of flights (as a pax) between Durban and Johannesburg. Some of them have been very rough.

[ionagh]

No-ones mentioned the Sea of Japan??

I remember many a ride Anchorage - Narita that was more than uncomfortable:ugh:

One a/c got 'changed' at Anchorage, nothing mech but so many pax had been violently :yuk: ........

Twas not pretty

[PPRuNeUser0172]

On the Leeward side of the Rockies in a stonking westerly with severe to moderate turbulence solidly between FL250 -350

Nice

[Farrell]

Worst....well, BEST turbulence of my life, which had cc's strapped back in after a courageous sprint up the cabin to clear trays of food in business class......was on an Aer Lingus A321 from Heathrow to Dublin.

Unusual??? Maybe someone can add to this.

[slim_slag]

It can get slightly bumpy in the back when flying in the tropics, but these wide bodied long haul jets seem to do OK. Local flights in 737s are a bit more bumpy in the back, but don't know whether thats because they are smaller or because the local flight crew are more confident around storms than those visiting from afar, so get closer.

But for real turbulence on scheduled flights you cannot beat the 19 seat turbo-props that shuttle you from Denver to the ski-towns over the continental divide. Those things take off into the nastiest winter blizzards and head west, straight for the 14000ft high wall called the Rockies 40 miles away, crossing at the MEA a few thousand feet above the peaks. Once you have had your bones broke going up on the lee side, they come down into the valleys on the west and start hunting for the localiser on some untowered airport with some automated weather system - or even worse a ramp-rat with a radio :)

More often than not the weather is below minimums and we get to hold a few thousand feet above the ground at some VOR, being thrown around like a rag doll in some horific snow storm, the boots on the wings working like the clappers, pilot doing mental gymnastics calculating his inbound leg.

Half the plane are saying prayers to a new found god, the other half are crazy Texans on their ski-holiday, whooping and hollering like they are on the back of a wild bull that's just had the rope around it's nuts tightened hard.

The the skipper comes on saying 'Well folks, sorry about the ride back there, just an average days work here in Colorado, looks like there is a break in the weather and we're going for it'!

Plane breaks off and slams into some nasty wind shear, up and down she goes, total white out through the windows, teeth falling out, seat belt about to snap and all of a sudden it's clear and a few seconds later a lovely greaser of a landing.

Captain makes sure he is standing at the aircraft door before the seat belt sign is turned off, big grin on his face, and as we all stagger off he is high-fiving everybody.

If they cannot get in after half an hour holding they head back to Denver and that's when it gets real scary, cos that's when they say the only way you will get there tonight is on the bus....

[srjumbo]

Cowboys or what........

[Fly3]

Over central China at 12,000 mts was pretty exciting two nights ago.

[Georgeablelovehowindia]

slim_slag: Ah, that would explain why paxing on United between Denver and Las Vegas, the signs came on at the slightest tremor.

Just about the worst turbulence I ever encountered was climbing out of Las Vegas and flying through what we think was the rotor off Mt Charleston.

Just about equal was descending into Turin on Dec 26 1999 (the day of the Great Storm in France). Ditto rotor Mt Blanc. The 300 mb wind was 300/180, if my memory serves me well. The 757 ahead of us had to day-stop due to some of the cabin crew suffering fractured limbs.

The aircraft in both cases was a DC-10. The flight engineer was also with me on both occasions. He says he'll fly with me anywhere ... but only out of curiosity!

[wawkrk]

Read somewhere that the worlds worst turbulence is over Japan.
This was well documented many years ago when the US dropped the atom bombs. The weather patterns were examined in great detail before the attack and possible severe turbulence was one of the problems.
Once when flying from Krakow to Warsaw in 735. The cabin crew were collecting the rubbish during decent at about 20,000ft. Seat belt signs were on.We went into a cloud and all hell broke loose. The crew were spreadeagled in the aisles holding the seat frames, pax were screaming, we were thrown about like rag dolls with no chance to stay on the seats.
It lasted for about 5 minutes but seemed like hours.
I was not happy as I had to go back up in an ERJ to Milan but it was ok.

[haamdhanimaid]

Around Beirut can be pretty hairy too..

Remember a GF flight on 767 where a crew member landed on seat armrest and broke it, another one cracked the ceiling..quite a few crew members were injured and they were all made to operate straight back.

Nice. :(

[Old Smokey]

In my experience, Japan takes first place for Clear Air Turbulence, and the New England Tableland in Australia for Thunderstorms. Like so many others here, have had many 'bad' trips across the Bay of Bengal, but never a terrible one. The damned B of B even insists on giving it's share of clear Air Turbulence in non stormy days (rare).

It's all a bit subjective about where you've been.

O.S.

[A-3TWENTY]

Severe turbulence is encountered during the approach depending on the wind...