Aeroflot 777 hit by severe turbulence
 

The press report, as usual, doesn't make clear exactly what happened. Maybe more information will emerge. Meanwhile, in view of other incidents, one does wonder whether another heavy - maybe an A380 - passed above them?

There's aftermath video on BBC. And the usual expected comment that all injured were not wearing seatbelts....

What I gathered from the story. CAT one hour out from landing. The seatbelt sign was off, PAX who were injured did not have their seatbelt on.

More likely to be the CB that they flew through.:E

Anyone got the radar? Why keep the sign off if it looks ominous ahead?

It's hard to go to the toilet with the seat belt on, and to serve drinks etc.

Here is the FR24 plot:

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/f...su270/#d3c81af

And the FlightAware plot:

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/.../VTBS/tracklog

On the track logs from both sources an event is visible at about 2355Z. The plane is about to cross the coast of Burma at FL350.

A first glance at the FR24 data shows the altitude climb by about 700 feet and then return to FL350. Groundspeed drops to 492 knots and rises to 522 knots. Vertical speed fluctuates between 1300 fpm down and 2000 up. The event seems to last perhaps two minutes before things stabilize prior to starting down for landing. Usual disclaimers about hobbyist ADS-B data apply.

The closest A380 I see is EK374 DXB-BKK at FL 390. But it's about 150 miles ahead and its track to BKK is well to the west of SU270's position.

Sigwx did not show much of anything in terms of CAT or Cb in the area at the time.

Reputable sources are concurring that they did indeed penetrate the very worst part of CB, which reached 14,000 feet above them while they were in it. Apparently they did attempt to deviate so why this occurred is known only by the crew.

Looking at the F24 replay, the two flights in front of it on the same track both took diversions in the exact area where it happened, so it seems fairly clear this was likely a CB. The aeroflot does seem to have begun a diversion, but obviously not by enough and they obviously hugely underestimated the ferocity of the weather they were flying through if they didn't put seatbelt signs on.

So the Russians obviously translate CAT into Cumulonimbus Air Turbulence...

Aeroflot flight video to Thailand shows extreme turbulence | Daily Mail Online


"Caution" this rag is not known for the accuracy of it's reporting ;)

It is often not appreciated how there can be very severe turbulence between towering Cb well clear of actual cloud. Similarly, there can be significant threat from hail in the gaps between the storms. So do not be hasty in disparaging the flight crew in this case for flying into a Cb - just flying within 20 nm can be too close.

Possible, it'd be interesting to see a satellite of the area if it can be accessed anywhere?

I have some scepticism about passenger accounts that immediately describe the weather situation, seems a bit unusual to me. Especially after having spoken to Russian authorities...

Also rather disappointed to see the captain mentioning pax not wearing seatbelts being injured as if it was their fault. Highly unprofessional. Seems to be there's an effort to create a narrative here.

Article on Aviation Herald suggests Russian crews don't use the weather radar as they fear it will irradiate their man hoods

Accident: Aeroflot B773 near Bangkok on May 1st 2017, turbulence injures 25

http://i.imgur.com/CmaZA9Gl.jpg


Taken from this tweet. Quite clearly shows some attempt at deviation..apparently not successful.

Thanks! So they were in clear air...right up until the moment they weren't and they punched into the storm. It doesn't even look like there were a lot of cloud layers around to make seeing and avoiding difficult. All very strange.

At which point on the plot of their path is the sat image from?

You mean at what time? The person who put it together says that it's the image from the exact time of the incident.