On August 4, Korean Air flight 197 from Seoul to Ulaanbaatar encountered severe turbulence injuring 14 passengers and crew about one hour after departure from Incheon Airport, while flying near Tianjin Airport in China at an altitude of 34,100 feet.
The turbulence struck suddenly during the meal service, causing trays and unsecured items to be thrown about the cabin. Passengers described the scene as chaotic, and a passenger hit their head on the ceiling before falling into the aisle.
Despite the turmoil, none of the injuries were reported to be serious. Korean Air stated that ten passengers and four flight attendants suffered back and neck pain. The airline provided anti-inflammatory painkillers on the flight, and a medical team treated the injured upon arrival in Ulaanbaatar.
Photos shared on social media showed the aftermath, with meal trays and debris scattered across the cabin. The turbulence lasted around 15 seconds. The aircraft, a 24-year-old Airbus A330, continued its return flight to South Korea with only a slight delay.
몽골여행 5박 6일 시작
ㅎ 기내식 다먹을즈음 난기류 시작해서 비행기가 급하강해가지고 사람들 비명지르고 식판 다엎어지고 난리남ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 1초간 아 죽나..? 싶었네 요즘 난기류가 심하다고 들었는데 진짜네요 pic.twitter.com/KtHNKefMYv— 티슷/커미션 메인트윗 (@pinkteest) August 4, 2024
The airline has recently started ending in-flight services 40 minutes before landing, instead of the previous 20 minutes, to reduce the risk of turbulence-related injuries, and they just stopped serving hot instant noodles. These measures follow a fatal turbulence incident on a Singapore Airlines flight in May, which resulted in the death of a 73-year-old British passenger and injuries to dozens more.
You should seriously keep your seat belt fastened whenever seated.
This is really scary, but every day, people succumb to fatal car accidents. Air travel, even with extreme turbulence, is still much safer.
You can keep your seatbelt fastened if you want, there’s a 99.99% chance it makes no difference because your flight won’t experience anywhere near the level of turbulence where having your seatbelt fastened will protect you.
having just returned from Asia and multiple flights, I can tell you that I experienced far more turbulence than I have seen in other regions of the world.
Many parts of Asia are unusually hot.
and it is also worth noting that Delta pilots are using an in-house turbulence prediction system – originally developed by Northwest – and their guidance to fasten seat belts when they expected turbulence was very accurate.
The latest AI techniques will be able to predict turbulence better than anything. What does Delta have to do with this post, anyway?
I have taken this flight a few times. Korean used to serve it alone.
As I recall its about 90 minutes block time. There really should not be a meal service on it with hot food. Maybe a small bottle of water and a sweet bun or biscuits, so it can be served quickly, picked up quickly, and keep the F/As seated for as long as possible.
Passengers reminded “seat belts fastened at all times.” Seat belts make a difference.
I hope Gary or some readers here can help me understand this – usually, ATC (Air Traffic Controller) communicates with pilots during the flight. Why would the pilots go through the turbulence? Can they go around a bit and/or lower or higher altitude to avoid? I admit that I am scared and feel very uncomfortable in those situations.
SFO/EWR.
Turbulence prediction and prevention IS what keeps stories like this from happening.
You are free to post statistics if you would like but DL seems to be doing a pretty good job of predicting turbulence using whatever technology it has now and has had for at least a decade.
We can assume that other airlines aren’t using turbulence prediction software – AI based or not – if they are having as many of these types of incidents as they are.
That would be a very poor assumption because the rate of incidents is affected by the different climates around the world in which different airlines fly. Furthermore, in modern parlance, predictions come from models, not software. “Software” for prediction is decades-old nomenclature; to use it now bespeaks out of date knowledge.
Wonderful if true, but completely irrelevant to this post. Are you mandated to loop in Delta to any conversation? If you were on a date with a woman–probably a foreign concept, but bear with me–would you be telling her that the stir stick in her drink would be much fancier if it were on board a Delta aircraft?
“As I recall its about 90 minutes block time. There really should not be a meal service on it with hot food.
It’s a little over 1,200 miles. They must really haul ass.
Sounds like a perfect excuse to end ALL forms in inflight “service”
I went to Australia twice in the past 2 yrs with smooth air all around. Those were great flights. People often mention about using seat belts. There can be passengers going to the bathroom, coming back, going to the overhead bin etc when it hits like that. The assumption is they were not buckled for no reason. I never knew that Delta has a special system and I have flown them alot oin the past, not as much recently. I have experience some turbulents in ASIA heading to Japan or China in that immediate area. I hate turbulence. I cant sleep on a plane if there is any noticable chop either.
SFO/EWR.
You can’t stand to admit that Delta is doing something to prevent incidents like this from happening.
I fly enough on other carriers and Delta to see the difference between when Delta pilots call for seat belts and when they turn off the seat belt sign and tie it to the amount of turbulence that is actually experienced and not just an hours long being told by FAs that you can’t get up.
Is it really so hard for you to admit that there really are airlines that do things to prevent this kind of thing, have been doing it for years, and Delta happens to have one of the most advanced systems?
I bring relevant airlines into the discussion where it is related to the article. In this case, Delta is relevant.
You also realize that Delta is one of the few US airlines that still has an in-house meteorology department while other airlines including AA and UA have outsourced that function?
Can somebody please show me where I “couldn’t stand to admit that Delta is doing something?”
Wonder what is more difficult to find — where I said that, or Tim Dunn’s manhood.
I have flown a lot of flights between LAX and Asia plus return flights going back over 30 years. I have also flown flights within Asia. I have never been on one with severe turbulence. If severe turbulence is becoming more common, perhaps the flight attendants should wear head and neck gear to make sure that they don’t get injured or at least minimize their injuries. I wonder if the true problem is that airlines are trying to maximize their revenue and are requiring flying closer to more severe weather while lessening safety concerns. It could even be driven by Artificial Intelligence.
@SFO/EWR~
Don’t you realise that @TimDunn introduces comments about Delta into any topic to trigger you and others, just for fun?
glenn
close but no cigar.
Instead of reading continuous articles about severe turbulence events, it is relevant to know why some airlines don’t have near as many – and do it by managing to properly target the seatbelt sign with when there is actual turbulence and not just keeping people and FAs glued to their seats for hours at a time.
I recently flew a western airline in SE Asia – the area where the SQ flight encountered severe turbulence – and the answer was to lock all passengers in their seats for over an hour even though there was minimal turbulence.
As a passenger, I want to be safe but I also want airlines to be smart about when to have passengers and FAs stay seated.