Turbulence – one of the most terrible words for the people suffering from a phobia of flights. Actually this phenomenon is safe as for all history of flights there was no accident which was only the result of hit in a turbulence zone. It is natural process which is compared to the strain experienced by the moving car or train.
Turbulence zone
The turbulence arises at change of speed of a current of gas in the atmosphere and other parameters – pressure, temperatures, the directions of wind, waves of various sizes are as a result formed. Air masses in that case gain non-uniform properties: they are various on structure, have different density. This absolutely natural property of the atmosphere which can be observed not only in air: the turbulence can arise also in liquid therefore this phenomenon often meets in currents of the rivers.
There are also other types of turbulence: optical, chemical, quark-glyuonnaya.
In air the turbulence can arise for several reasons. First, often ahead the flying plane because of the movement of faces of the wings causes turbulences, forming a turbulence zone. Secondly, such zones appear in places where air unevenly got warm and has different temperature – usually it is observed near the Earth's surface. And one more of the most frequent causes of turbulence – a meeting various on density and other characteristics of air masses.
Thus, the turbulence zone often meets in clouds. Pilots compare them to holes and potholes on roads when driving the car – in a clear weather the flight is similar to movement along ideally flat highway, and in cloudy days when flying through clouds it will be obligatory to shake as in air there are descending and ascending streams. Also often zones of turbulence meet over mountains or big reservoirs.
There are also turbulence cases with the unspecified reason, they are called turbulence of the clear sky.
Whether the turbulence is dangerous?
All pilots surely say – the turbulence is one of the safest phenomena which the plane when flying can collide. The movement in a zone of turbulence causes unpleasant feelings – vibration, jolting, but passengers often exaggerate their scales as their vestibular mechanism cannot estimate the impact of this jolting on safety of flight. At design of planes of loading, arising at turbulence, are surely considered, in a design the large supply of durability on cases of the most difficult and dangerous situations is put.
The most dangerous that can occur at hit in a zone of turbulence is the injuries arising at not fastened passengers.
Despite safety of zones of turbulence, for pleasant flight it is important to get to them as seldom as possible therefore at an opportunity the pilots try to bypass them. But most often completely it is not possible to save passengers from jolting – even in a quiet clear weather such zones occur in the path.