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Speed Bumps Of The Sky | |
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COOL TRAVEL MAIL'S
TRAVEL TIPS
Tips & Advice for the Seasoned and Armchair Traveler Alike!
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http://www.CoolTravelMail.com
July 1, 2008
I was standing up from my seat in during an Air Jamaica
flight over the island's mountains some years ago, when
it suddenly felt as though a giant hand reached down from
above and slapped us toward the earth.
It was like being in an elevator and having the cable
snap. My head slammed against the overhead baggage
compartment and I came down hard on the armrest of my seat.
The cabin was immediately filled with the murmur of people
commenting about the "air pocket" we'd hit, and estimating
we'd dropped in altitude by anywhere from a couple of
hundred to thousands of feet.
In reality, our free-fall probably cost us fewer than 20
feet.
This week's topics include:
* THE TRUTH ABOUT TURBULENCE
* SPEED BUMPS OF THE SKY
* FLYING THROUGH FLUID
P.S. If you're interested you can now post comments on this
and recent issues on our forum at... Travel Tips Forum
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THE TRUTH ABOUT TURBULENCE
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Turbulence is one of the most unnerving things passengers
experience while flying. It can change the tone of an
otherwise carefree flight, put nervous flyers even more on
edge, and conjure images of things like deadly wind-shear
accidents for even well-seasoned flyers.
Part of the problem isn't so much the phenomenon itself, but
the mythology that has grown up around it.
There is, for example, no such thing as an "air pocket".
In the self-help book "Flying Without Fear", author Duane
Brown explains that "air pocket" is just a term thought up
during World War I by a journalist trying to describe
turbulence.
The phrase creates images of a giant, invisible hole that a
plane can tumble into. In fact, I've heard people refer to
it as an "air hole".
In reality, it's more like a speed bump.
According to Capt. Meryl Getline, an airline pilot and
columnist for USA Today, flying through rough air isn't much
different from driving your car over a rough road or being
in a boat in choppy waters. It may be bumpy, but it doesn't
seriously affect the flight's course or altitude unless the
pilots request a change of one or both in an effort to
reduce the amount of turbulence.
Taking measures to smooth bumpy flights is not really
related to safety, and has nothing to do with the pilot's
concern about the impact turbulent air can have on the
aircraft, Getline wrote in a recent column. It's all about
giving passengers a more comfortable ride.
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SPEED BUMPS OF THE SKY
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Airplanes rarely experience a dramatic drop in altitude, and
turbulence rarely causes gains or losses in altitude of more
than 10 to 20 feet, she said. That is not, however, what it
feels like to the passengers, many of whom are nervous about
flying to begin with. Getline said reader queries about how
much altitude is lost because of turbulence is one of her
most frequently asked questions.
The fact is, when an aircraft is at cruising altitude, it's
normally on autopilot, which electronically locks onto its
course and altitude, she wrote. It feels like you're
plummeting, because the change happens over such a short
period of time.
Turbulence is uncomfortable because it can leave you feeling
more out-of-control of the situation. A vicious circle is
created as you feel more alarmed and then overreact to
subsequent motions of the plane.
Remind yourself that your feeling a loss of control does not
mean that the plane and the pilot are not in control. Try
not to fight and resist the plane's movements during
turbulence—try to go with them, reminding yourself that
there is nothing abnormal or dangerous about such motions
even though they can feel jarring.
So just what is turbulence anyway?
It's basically what happens when different masses of air
moving at different velocities smack into each other.
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FLYING THROUGH FLUID
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One of the best explanations I've seen comes from Tim Miner,
a top-rated professional pilot who flies for a major airline
and is the former head of weather studies at the U.S. Air
Force Academy. In an interview with USA Today weather editor
Jack Williams, Miner described it this way:
"The air that we fly in is a fluid flowing around a spinning
Earth...If you look at a stream or river flowing, you can
imagine our flowing air behaving in many of the same ways.
Sometimes a stream encounters a rock or other physical
obstacle in the way and it has to change direction. The flow
is no longer smooth and anything riding on the fluid would
experience turbulence. Mountains and large thunderstorms can
create vertical motions in the atmosphere flowing around and
over that could force an aircraft to experience wild
vertical rides."
In the air, many of the obstacles that cause eddies in the
flow are invisible.
Clear air turbulence occurs when there are no clouds around.
This means there is no obvious sign that the air is
turbulent.
Ron Nielson, a pilot and creator of Fearless-Flight.com,
describes clear air turbulence as the result of the air
that is disrupted around the jet stream.
"At the innermost part of the jet stream, called the core,
the velocity may be as high as 250 mph. As you move away
from the core, the velocity drops off so that at the edge it
may be only 50 mph.
"At each point at which two differing velocities rub against
each other, eddies form causing the airflow to be disrupted
from its nature to want to be smooth. Now imagine we are
flying through this area in our airplane. The variability in
the disruption will cause variations in the lift produced by
the wings causing the airplane to bounce."
Sometimes, passengers will see the wings of an airplane flex
with that bounce.
Not to worry. Modern planes are very strong, well made
machines that are strictly regulated. They can handle a lot
more than you would think. Today's technology and training
are very advanced and minimize threats to flying.
Well, that's it for this week, group. Thanks again for
reading, and please keep those comments, complaints and
questions coming in.
You can send me an e-mail message at: Email Pierce
Until next week, thanks for reading.
Your Tipmeister,
Pierce
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