Dec 17, 2014, 6:00 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
Turbulence incidents, reports, discussion master thread
DEFINITION: Aircraft turbulence (American Meteorological Society)
Irregular motion of an aircraft in flight, especially when characterized by rapid up-and-down motion, caused by a rapid variation of atmospheric wind velocities.
This can occur in cloudy areas (particularly towering cumulus and lenticular clouds) and in clear air. Turbulence is the leading cause of nonfatal passenger and flight attendant injuries. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) classifies aircraft turbulence as follows:
Light: Causes slight, erratic changes in altitude and/or attitude, and rhythmic bumpiness as occupants feel a slight strain against seat belts.
Moderate: Similar to light, but of greater intensity, with rapid bumps or jolts, and occupants feel a slight strain against seat belts.
Severe: Turbulence that causes large, abrupt changes in altitude and attitude, and large variations in airspeed, with the aircraft temporarily out of control. Occupants are forced violently against their seat belts and objects are tossed about, with food service and walking impossible.
Extreme: The aircraft is tossed about so violently that it is practically impossible to control, and structural damage may occur.
Incident:.AA 280 ICN - DFW on December 16 2014 local time, operated by a Boeing 777-223ER and carrying 240 passengers and 15 crew, was subjected to a prolonged period of moderate turbulence and two minute-long sessions of severe turbulence near Japan. The aircraft diverted to NRT, where four passengers and one crew member were taken to hospital for evaluation and treatment; no serious injuries were reported.
The other passengers were bussed to a local hotel, and another aircraft took them to their DFW destination today. The aircraft was taken out of service for inspection for possible damage.
(Summary by JDiver from news sources and member calexandre, who was on board.)
Originally Posted by AA spokesperson Andrea Huguely
“American Airlines Flight 280, a Boeing 777-200 from Seoul (ICN) to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) has diverted to Tokyo (NRT) because of turbulence during the flight. There are 240 passengers and a crew of 15.
Link to in-cabin raw video footage on YouTube
Link to Dallas Morning News article
Link to CNBC article
Link to (UK Daily) Mail Online (gets it all wrong -"Boeing 747-200") but decent graphics, including map
Link to Tokyo TV 50 video and interviews with two passengers (Japanese language)
Link to weather.com video taken on flight and explanation of probable turbulence source
Link to to video off Boeing destructive 777 wing test (exceeded 153% of expected highest stresses expected)
Turbulence incidents, reports, discussion master thread
Dec 17, 2014, 8:23 pm
#61
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AA Platinum, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 136
there are multiple copies of it on the youtubes now.
here is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3rTVFB5r8E
here is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3rTVFB5r8E
glad everyone was ok
Dec 17, 2014, 9:17 pm
#62
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SBA & LAX
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, BA Lifetime Blue, Marriott Gold, and many others
Posts: 1,152
Yikes - brings back bad memories of a Jan 1995 DL flight from LAX to DFW (yes - those good old days when Delta had a DFW hub also) - coming at the end of a long day after a transpac SQ flight - the 30 mins of extreme turbulence seemed like hours - although it wasnt as bad as this
glad everyone was ok
glad everyone was ok
Hopefully none of the injuries on this flight were severe. I've been through a lot of turbulence in both airliners and small planes, but thankfully nothing like this, and I'm in the camp of those who don't want to watch that video!
Sounds like AA did as good a job as possible dealing with everything.
Dec 17, 2014, 10:27 pm
#63
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Severe: Turbulence that causes large, abrupt changes in altitude and attitude, and large variations in airspeed, with the aircraft temporarily out of control. Occupants are forced violently against their seat belts and objects are tossed about, with food service and walking impossible.
Extreme: The aircraft is tossed about so violently that it is practically impossible to control, and structural damage may occur.
Extreme: The aircraft is tossed about so violently that it is practically impossible to control, and structural damage may occur.
Dec 18, 2014, 2:26 am
#64
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
Programs: AS MVP Gold100K, AS 1MM, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz PC, Marriott Titanium LTG, CO, 7H, BA, 8E
Posts: 42,953
Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
Wow. Saw this on the news tonight- I'd be utterly freaked out.
And thanks to the Fter onboard contributing ^ Always interesting to hear a first hand report- complete with photos.
And to think I'm booked on AA280 in April!
Wow. Saw this on the news tonight- I'd be utterly freaked out.
And thanks to the Fter onboard contributing ^ Always interesting to hear a first hand report- complete with photos.
And to think I'm booked on AA280 in April!
Dec 18, 2014, 7:11 am
#65
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: PHL
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Lifetime Plat, SPG Plat, AMEX Plat, Hertz PC, Travels too Much Platinum
Posts: 3,290
I haven't seen much in the way of reports on the condition of the structure of the plane. Presumably it'll undergo some thorough checks in Japan, but has anyone heard of whether the airframe took damage beyond its contents?
Dec 18, 2014, 7:44 am
#66
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: LHR
Programs: AA EXP/1MM
Posts: 119
Update on the comp question: there are 50k extra bonus miles in my account this AM, labeled "customer service bonus." Looks like AA is being proactive; I certainly haven't complained to them.
ETA: Also got full EQMs for both the aborted trip and the rescheduled.
ETA: Also got full EQMs for both the aborted trip and the rescheduled.
Dec 18, 2014, 7:51 am
#67
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: AA Advanatge
Posts: 474
Yeah definitely never been in anything that bad, nor would I want to be!
I've found that the Northern Pacific consistently has bad turbulence. When I flew back from Hong Kong - DFW earlier this fall - for some reason we took a southerly route on the outskirts of a typhoon and the turbulence was bad. We had water flying and some stuff moving around, but nothing like the pictures seen here. Also had some passengers making noises and looking nervously out the window (but it was night). The biggest concern I had with that route was just how far away from land we were at the time (well south of Japan). If we got caught in something similar to what this video had - not sure where we could have landed.
I wonder if there are issues with AA's NorPac routings?
Feel for the passengers and hopefully they at least got some good comp out of it.
I've found that the Northern Pacific consistently has bad turbulence. When I flew back from Hong Kong - DFW earlier this fall - for some reason we took a southerly route on the outskirts of a typhoon and the turbulence was bad. We had water flying and some stuff moving around, but nothing like the pictures seen here. Also had some passengers making noises and looking nervously out the window (but it was night). The biggest concern I had with that route was just how far away from land we were at the time (well south of Japan). If we got caught in something similar to what this video had - not sure where we could have landed.
I wonder if there are issues with AA's NorPac routings?
Feel for the passengers and hopefully they at least got some good comp out of it.
Glad she got on the ground safe. If they truly feared structural damage I don't see them flying her so quickly, not even ferrying.
Cheers,
AA77$
Dec 18, 2014, 8:55 am
#68
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Thanks for keeping us abreast the entire time!
Dec 18, 2014, 9:04 am
#69
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
I wonder if an incident like this could trigger an early C check at HAECO? How many hours the airframe had toward C check already?
Dec 18, 2014, 9:11 am
#70
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: AA
Posts: 14,741
Sounds like AA really stepped up to the plate on this one. Sorry you had to go through this.
Dec 18, 2014, 9:14 am
#71
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Austin,TX (AUS)
Programs: AA, UA
Posts: 767
The worst turbulence I've experienced was on an AA flight DFW-NRT, about 2 hours from landing in NRT. Though not as severe as this incident, it was bad enough to force the crew to remain seated and they cancelled the meal service.
Dec 18, 2014, 9:36 am
#72
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: QLA
Programs: SBUX Gold
Posts: 14,507
Wow, glad to hear that calexandre and everyone else aboard is ok. I read about AA280 the day it happened, just crappy Internet kept me from posting earlier. I was on the LAX-PVG flight a few days ago, and the pilot made it a point on the PA to tell us that we were delayed 15 min from departing and would arrive 45-60 min later because a) we were taking on extra fuel because b) we would fly at 28K feet (and thus slower than normal with more fuel burn) to avoid turbulent air from a winter storm. We just got some light bumps, and after seeing this story, I'm definitely not complaining about missing the Shanghai Circus!
Dec 18, 2014, 10:32 am
#74
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
) with ThreatTrack radar and is installing apace. Beats the heck out of any cappuccino machine or on board snack bar, IMO. Given the many comments sprinkled about regarding Parker's alleged parsimony, AA is certainly doing the right thing here.
(I wonder if ThreatTrack would have helped in this instance?)