How to stay safe during turbulence, according to pilots

Pilots share their expert tips on how to stay safe during turbulence on a flight. Photo / 123rf

One minute, passengers may be sleeping, eating, or enjoying an unremarkable flight. The next: chaos.

That’s the scenario that unfolded in repeated high-profile incidents of turbulence in recent months. Last week, more than 30 people were treated for injuries after an Air Europa flight hit turbulence while travelling from Spain to Uruguay. In May, one person died and dozens were hospitalized after a Singapore Airlines jet encountered “sudden extreme turbulence” while flying near the coast of Myanmar.

Patrick Smith, an airline pilot for three decades who runs the Ask the Pilot blog, said in an interview that he gets questions from the public about turbulence “every day, all the time.” He thinks there isn’t a good understanding of what turbulence is, what it can and can’t do, and how pilots deal with it. But he gets why travellers might be uneasy.

“If you’re predisposed to flight anxiety, rough air is going to make the experience more nerve-racking,” he said.

While extreme incidents can happen, experts say planes are built to withstand the forces of turbulence and that pilots are trained on how to respond to it. Passengers have little control about the conditions their planes are facing, but safety experts and current and retired pilots told The Washington Post that there are some safety tools fliers can take into their own hands.

Always buckle up

Experts agree: Seat belts are passengers’ main recourse for staying safe during turbulence. Flight attendants and regulators say children under two who could fly free as lap babies should instead be buckled into a seat approved for use on planes. Hassan Shahidi, CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, said people who are not buckled up suffer most of the injuries caused by turbulence.

“Every safety professional that I know, when we’re on an airplane, if I’m not up walking around for a reason, then my seat belt’s at least loosely fastened,” said John Cox, a retired airline pilot and an instructor at the University of Southern California. “The evidence is literally overwhelming that you can reduce the likelihood of injury.”

He said there’s still some risk: Another passenger could fall onto a buckled person during turbulence, or a serving cart could get loose.

“The higher number of passengers with their seat belts fastened reduces the likelihood of injury to everybody on the airplane,” said Cox, who also founded the aviation consulting firm Safety Operating Systems.

Doug Moss, a retired airline pilot, aviation instructor and safety consultant, said in an email that passengers should stay buckled whenever seated, even if the seat-belt sign isn’t lit. But they should definitely take it seriously when it is lit.

“Many times, the weather may actually be smooth and the sign is on. More likely than not, that means that the pilot has reason to be expecting turbulence,” Moss said. “Just because the air is smooth at one moment doesn’t mean that turbulence isn’t only seconds ahead.”

Pick the right seat

The seat you pick won’t keep your plane from hitting rough patches, but it could determine how much motion you feel.

Pilots say those in the back of the plane will bear the brunt of turbulence because the tail is designed to move, while the area over the wings or in front of them will feel more stable. Smith said the difference might only be mild, but the centre would have the smoothest ride.

Kathleen Bangs, a former airline pilot and a spokeswoman for the flight-tracking service FlightAware, said a window seat is a good option for fliers who are nervous about turbulence because they can see obvious weather conditions out the window. They would also be more protected if the overhead bins open and items start flying around.

Given how rare that level of turbulence is, however, Smith cautioned that choosing a window seat for turbulence-safety purposes might be “unnecessarily cautious.”

Do your research (with a caveat)

Several apps or websites, such as Turbli, Fly With Courage and Turbulence Forecast, provide travellers with weather forecasts and turbulence outlooks along a flight path.

Bangs said she often uses those apps when she flies to test them out. But she also will check FlightAware to see what route the pilot has filed and whether there is a diversion to avoid bad weather.

“People can kind of get their head in the game and feel a little more empowered about what’s going on,” she said.

For some, knowledge might be power - but pilots also warn that checking forecasts can cause passengers to panic unnecessarily. Airlines have more information than those sites to work with, and pilots often will adjust to avoid areas where turbulence is expected.

Smith said he urges friends who are nervous fliers to avoid the apps.

“Airplanes don’t always fly the route that you think they’re going to fly, the altitude that you think they’re going to fly,” he said. “These things are often decided on or revised on short notice to avoid the areas of roughest air.”

Travellers may also reassure themselves that turbulence is not likely to hurt them: The Federal Aviation Administration says there were 184 serious injuries on US airlines because of turbulence from 2009 to 2023. Most of those injured were crew. The FAA does not track incidents of turbulence more broadly.

“There isn’t a one-stop shop if you will, a centralised database that captures these turbulences that occur,” Shahidi said.

Take in-flight precautions

Once you’re on your flight, pay close attention to what the flight attendants and pilots are telling you.

“It is important to follow the cabin crew instructions at all times,” Shahidi said. “They’re there for the safety of the passengers.”

Bangs said to be “conscious” of what possessions you have out, especially if bumps are expected. If by some chance you had an empty seat next to you, she said, you wouldn’t want to place a laptop there in case you hit turbulence “and that thing goes flying.” In a safety video about turbulence posted in May, the FAA advises passengers to “make sure loose items are stowed properly.”

Bangs was on a flight once when the pilots made an announcement in the middle of meal service about a rough patch ahead. They told everyone to put their meals on the floor and tray tables up. Bangs said the turbulence wasn’t that memorable, but the warning was.

Cox said he would give passengers a heads-up if he knew there was turbulence ahead that the plane couldn’t get around. He said electronics can be pretty well stowed, but liquids are tougher to contain.

“You probably don’t want a cup of hot coffee in your hands,” he said.

Understand pilots’ tools

Pilots have more information at their fingertips than passengers - and that includes reports from other pilots who are encountering turbulence in real-time. Some forms of turbulence can come without warning when skies are clear, but many others relate to factors such as weather or nearby mountains.

Moss said in his email that pilots review weather reports before departure to identify where shears in the winds might create turbulence so that they can modify their routes or be prepared for rough air. They also use weather radar on board to identify conditions that could make for a bumpy ride. Air traffic controllers share reports of abnormal weather, often provided by other pilots.

It all means pilots have better information now to warn them about potential problem areas.

“This is the exciting part of the future, where pilots will be able to see, in real-time, all the areas in the country where turbulence is being recorded, giving the pilots a greater ability to either avoid the area or at least to know when the seat-belt sign should go on,” Moss wrote.