Sheffield, the School of Aeronautics in Fort Lauderdale, has some insights on turbulence. Anyone who has flown a few times has experienced their fair share of bumpy skies, rocky clouds and inflight turbulence. Flight dispatchers are having issues predicting the rough skies when planning flight paths and safety protocols. Traditionally when it comes to turbulence, flight dispatchers worked with flight hazard forecasts that give very general descriptions of turbulence. Usually ranking on a light, moderate and severe scale. But there are problems with these forecasts.
Flight hazard forecasts cover a large geographic area. In that way, the general ranking of turbulence does not get specific enough to know which parts of a turbulent sky will be severe even though the surrounding area is moderate or light. This means that these forecasts are generally more open to interpretation. The interpretation stems from, among many things, the way you or I might define the term moderate. And then there’s context. Is the turbulence moderate for small planes or large airbuses? So this puts a lot more guess work into the hands of the flight dispatcher.
Not to worry too much however. During the flight, more accurate predictions are gathered and communicated between the flight crew and the flight dispatchers. So while you’re in the air you are being monitored very closely, it’s the preflight plans that are the issue at this point.
So why would the level of turbulence have an effect on airlines? While it may seem like a small issue, turbulence matters to airlines. For one, they want to the ride to be as comfortable as possible for all their passengers. And on the other side, most of the work compensation claims from airline employees stem from injuries received during inflight turbulence. So all those bumpy skies are costing airlines more than you might expect.
This entry was posted in News & Regulations. Bookmark the
permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
Inflight Turbulence Major Problem for Flight Dispatchers
Sheffield, the School of Aeronautics in Fort Lauderdale, has some insights on turbulence. Anyone who has flown a few times has experienced their fair share of bumpy skies, rocky clouds and inflight turbulence. Flight dispatchers are having issues predicting the rough skies when planning flight paths and safety protocols. Traditionally when it comes to turbulence, flight dispatchers worked with flight hazard forecasts that give very general descriptions of turbulence. Usually ranking on a light, moderate and severe scale. But there are problems with these forecasts.
Flight hazard forecasts cover a large geographic area. In that way, the general ranking of turbulence does not get specific enough to know which parts of a turbulent sky will be severe even though the surrounding area is moderate or light. This means that these forecasts are generally more open to interpretation. The interpretation stems from, among many things, the way you or I might define the term moderate. And then there’s context. Is the turbulence moderate for small planes or large airbuses? So this puts a lot more guess work into the hands of the flight dispatcher.
Not to worry too much however. During the flight, more accurate predictions are gathered and communicated between the flight crew and the flight dispatchers. So while you’re in the air you are being monitored very closely, it’s the preflight plans that are the issue at this point.
So why would the level of turbulence have an effect on airlines? While it may seem like a small issue, turbulence matters to airlines. For one, they want to the ride to be as comfortable as possible for all their passengers. And on the other side, most of the work compensation claims from airline employees stem from injuries received during inflight turbulence. So all those bumpy skies are costing airlines more than you might expect.