Storm Question

[mickeevans]

Not sure if I am posting into the correct post!

I have just been reading about wind problems at airports regarding landing problems and it reminded me of a flight we took last December and I wondered if anyone could shed some light on what happened.

The flight was on the 15th of December 2006, Miami to London Heathrow, ETD Miami around 2000Hrs on American, i believe the Flight number was 56. All went well until we were around the Boston area turning towards Nova Scotia not sure of exact location but I believe aircraft start to swing right some distance past there towards Ireland & Great Britain.
We hit severe turbelance and I mean severe the plane was a 777 and it was up and down side to side and the noise was teriffic, it sounded as though the noise was coming from outside. This went on for a good hour and more, according to the seat monitor screen the plane continued to fly at 34000 Ft and more of less the same speed all the way through it with no attempt to fly above below or around. I have been travelling all over the World for the last 30 Years and this was the worst and longest duration turbelance I have encounted apart from a take off from Greenland some years ago.

Could anybody shed some light on what caused the buffeting and why the airline flew straight through it, the passengers in the main were afraid ( including mself a seasoned flyer). flight deck made no mention of what was happening during the time or at the end of the flight.
Very interested if anyone could shed some light on possible happening:rolleyes: .
Many Thanks

[what next]

Hello!

If you look at the North Atlantic Jetstream Archives, you can see that during Dec. 15, 2006 there was an area of strong winds (nearly 150 kt) and high wind gradients more or less in the area where your flight met the turbulence. The charts are for the 300 mBar surface, which corresponds more or less to 30.000 ft altitude.

This is the chart for 1800Z:
http://virga.sfsu.edu/pub/jetstream/jetstream_atl/big/0612/06121518_jetstream_atl_anal.gif

And here, you can create an animated chart for the whole day:
http://squall.sfsu.edu/scripts/jet_atl_big_archloop.html

To me, it looks as if there was really no way around this on your flight route, but then, I do not fly long haul myself, so someone better qualified than myself will certainly be able to explain, why your crew took you right through this!

Greetings, Max

[llondel]

I remember being on a Untied flight from London to Chicago and it was a bit bumpy. I was listening to the on-board ATC feed and pilots of various aircraft at a whole range of altitudes were asking for a change in flight level to avoid the turbulence, only to be told that it was widespread and there wasn't an available level that didn't also have reports of bumpy air. So it's quite possible that there really was no option but to keep going.

Usually all that happens is that the seat belt sign gets turned on and one of the cabin crew tells everyone to go and sit down and belt up, I don't remember having an announcement from the front about the subject, I assume they're more interested in keeping the aircraft the right way up and pointing in the correct direction.

Will the autopilot handle severe turbulence or does it get airsick and let the pilots fly the plane themselves?

[ollycopter]

Nothing beats flying into Innsbruck during the heavy storms a couple of weeks back.. We were tossed about like a Schwanzen stueken at a peep show.. Auto pilot had no chance and we flew it by hand. 100kts G/S captured and decending and a good 50kt during short final.. I remember seeing several extra PFDs as my eye balls shot around in my scull. The thing is its fun.. People get all het up about turbulence but if you could see the aircraft from an outside side view it would be hardly moving about at all.. Enjoy the ride, you are not going to fall out of the sky.

[huckleberry58]

Sometimes there is no way to get around it and it seems so in this case. Normally the guys will ask for a 'ride report' (reports from other aircraft flying in the area) and climb/descend to their flight level if possible. If there aren't any then just make an educated guess with whatever info you have available and change altitude. If you're stuck at your level then there's not much you can do but to just slow down, put the belt signs on, suspend the service and ride it out. B777 have stiff wings so doesn't 'absorb' the turbulence as well as something like the 747 for example.