What's up with the woman who fell during turbulence?

Re: What's up with the woman who fell during turbulence?

feeds@kickapps.com (Capt Tom Bunn MSW LCSW) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:25:15 PST

Like Leslie says, injuries in turbulence are so rare that passengers who see the seat belt sign on flight after flight and nothing come of it (other than some bumps they could walk around in) eventually decide there is no reason to respect the seat belt sign.

And, indeed, passengers who ignore the sign and use the toilet rarely suffer any harm at all. In fact, as a pilot, I used the toilet when the seat belt sign was on - the toilet right behind the cockpit door - routinely because it was usually available when the seat belt sign was on. And, in all my years of flying, I never had any difficulty using that toilet during turbulence. I did always keep one hand on the ceiling just in case, but never had a moment when I had to hold pressure against the ceiling in turbulence. Again, that is the front toilet - the rear is a different story because the rear of the plane moves around a lot more than the front. I would be very cautious about trying to use the real toilet in...

Re: What's up with the woman who fell during turbulence?

feeds@kickapps.com (cacik) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:15:52 PST

I feel better about turbulence after having read a ton of posts on this board. I figured that she should have been buckled in but wasn't and that the turbulence probably wasn't as bad as I thought. Thank you for your comments and reassurance.
Cacik

Re: What's up with the woman who fell during turbulence?

feeds@kickapps.com (Leslie) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:34:23 PST

Yeah, it's all a matter of being belted in. A quick Google News search for the story showed that the woman was in the lav at the time and disobeyed seatbelt signs urging people to return to their seats. If you are belted in, turb is never a cause for worry.

During one of my many captain-meets -- one of the things Capt. Tom/SOAR recommends -- a captain told me he'd recently had a flight attendant disabled by a fall during a couple of seconds of moderate turb. He decried the disrespect many passengers had for the seatbelt sign, and during his welcome announcement to passengers, he recounted the FA story: "She broke her back and now she's on six months disability because of two seconds of moderate turbulence. Please stay in your seats with the seatbelt buckled when the seatbelt sign is on."

Turbulence isn't dangerous to the plane. It can be dangerous to passengers who aren't belted in.

Re: What's up with the woman who fell during turbulence?

feeds@kickapps.com (OneAnt) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:05:44 PST

cacik-
Welcome to the board.

First of all--and the the pilots here can attest to this--"extreme" turbulence is VERY VERY rare. I'm skepical that what was experienced would be classified as "extreme." Severe maybe. Even that is quite uncommon.

Second, without knowing anything about the injured woman (was there anything that might have made her more susceptible to falling), even moderate turbulence can be dangerous to anyone not seated and belted if they lose their footing and tumble.

Third, at NO time was the plane in any danger, regardless of the level of turbulence.

Last, planes don't "drop" (as in an absence of lift) during turbulence, but rather are pushed down by air currents. Even those sudden descents aren't very large; usually mere feet.

I've experienced turbulence before that I thought was severe but turned out to be moderate (I asked the the pilot when we deplaned--NOTE:...

What's up with the woman who fell during turbulence?

feeds@kickapps.com (cacik) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:19:56 PST

Hi everybody, I'm new here. I read a little blurb the other day about a woman on a Continental flight in TX who fell during extreme turbulence and broke her neck and is not paralyzed....I know that is definitely not likely to happen...but how bad must that turbulence have been? The news reported that the plane 'fell' during turbulence.

Thanks