Tag: turbulence Posts

Intertropical Convergence Zone

Tips

On my original flight from Houston to Buenos Aires I commented on the fact that we hit some turbulence near the equator. It was probably about 2am for me and I was a bit groggy from ativan, so I didn’t really take too much notice. But I thought at the time that it may be related to crossing from the nothern hemisphere down to the southern hemisphere. Sure enough, there’s a region of unstable air around the equator called the Intertropical Convergence Zone which often causes turbulence for flights crossing between the two hemispheres. Sometimes the turbulence isn’t so bad, but I’ve read reports of some flights having nearly six hours of turbulence on crossings. When I hit the open skies again in about two weeks, I’ll hopefully be able to sleep through the transition. I actually have a little vial of “happy traveler” pills, including a few anti-anxiety pills […]

Air Canada Emergency Landing

 Journal

Just read that an Air Canada flight from Victoria to Toronto was forced to make an emergency landing in Calgary due to turbulence. Apparently the plane hit a patch of turbulence that sent a pile of people into the ceiling. I would have probably shit my pants had that happened on my flight. My last flight to Kelowna was pretty bad, and my glasses came off at one point, but thankfully my head didn’t encountered the ceiling. Half a dozen passengers were badly injured after an Air Canada plane bucked in midair on a flight across Canada, probably because of heavy turbulence. A spokesman for Calgary Emergency Medical Services said a number of passengers had been taken off the plane in stretchers with head and spinal injuries. They were in stable condition despite “potentially life threatening” injuries. One passenger said the bumps had been over in seconds. “It happened very […]