BY Quora. Just like the wind, turbulence isn't an on or off thing; it's a spectrum. How do pilots detect turbulence? In addition, turbulence can be widespread as well as very localized. The taller the clouds and the faster they are growing, the worse the probable turbulence. Especially in the clouds. The worst example of that would be a thunderstorm.
This kind of turbulence occurs when wind is obstructed by objects like mountains or buildings. The wind flow becomes disturbed and turns into irregular wind patterns and eddies. This is because CAT usually occurs in cloudless regions at high altitudes, thus being undetectable. CAT can cause the aircraft to buffet while in flight and injure passengers if severe enough. Although this kind of turbulence is difficult to detect ahead of time, there are many safety measures you should take.
Before taking flight, make sure to study the forecast wind shear, jet stream areas, and take note of any sudden change in temperature. Planes themselves are engineered to take a remarkable amount of punishment, and they have to meet stress limits for both positive and negative G-loads.
Over the whole history of modern commercial aviation, the number of jetliner crashes caused by turbulence, even indirectly, can be counted on one hand. I remember one night, headed to Europe, hitting some unusually rough air about halfway across the Atlantic.
It was the kind of turbulence people tell their friends about. Fewer than forty feet of altitude change, either way, is what I saw. Ten or twenty feet, if that, most of the time. Any change in heading—the direction our nose was pointed—was all but undetectable. I imagine some passengers saw it differently, overestimating the roughness by orders of magnitude. We can also request higher or lower altitudes, or ask for a revised routing. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Indeed, one of the worst things a pilot could do during strong turbulence is try to fight it. Some autopilots have a special mode for these situations.
Rather than increasing the number of corrective inputs, it does the opposite, desensitizing the system. Avoiding turbulence is a combination of art and science. We take our cues from weather charts, radar returns, and those real-time reports from other aircraft.
Larger carriers have their own meteorology departments, and we get periodic updates from the ground. Some indicators are unmistakable, and relatively easy to avoid. For example, those burbling, cotton-ball cumulus clouds—particularly the anvil-topped variety that occur in conjunction with thunderstorms—are always a lumpy encounter.
Flights over mountain ranges and through certain frontal boundaries will also get the cabin bells dinging, as will transiting a jet stream boundary. But weather is always changing, and predicting the where, when, and how much of turbulence can sometimes be a guessing game. When we hit those bumps on the way to Europe that night, what info we had told us not to expect anything worse than mild chop.
Later, in an area where stronger turbulence had been forecast, it was smooth. You just never know. There are definitions for each degree, but in practice the grades are awarded subjectively. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.
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