Turbulence

I have been flying long-haul for a long time. My first long-haul flight was in 1983, from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro. Compared to today, seats were wider, the food was better, and the tickets were more pricey.

For a period about twenty years ago, in-flight health became an issue. As more people were flying, there were concerns about deep vein thromboses developing during or after long flights. You were encouraged to drink more water, move around in your seat, walk around the cabin, and do in-flight exercises. People used to gather in and around the galleys, drinking water. There were leaflets in the seat-back pockets with exercises and tips on how to keep moving during the flight. I used to fly long haul (30 hours door to door) return flights twice a year, so this is something I noticed over several different airlines.

Nowadays, though, airlines encourage you to stay in your seat. There is no more talk of exercising or walking around, despite the fact that seats are narrower and more numerous. The seat configuration is normally 3 – 4 – 3, so if you are stuck in the middle of the 4 you are packed like a sardine into a tin can.

I idly wondered about this during a lesson recently with an aviation-related client. Apparently turbulence is becoming more severe, so people are encouraged to stay in their seats. I am not sure if it affects bigger planes flying at higher altitude more, but there have been an increasing number of reports in the papers about turbulence that is so severe as to cause serious injuries and damage.

On the way from Johannesburg to Doha the turbulence was so bad that meal service had to be suspended twice. The bumpiness lasted longer than any other turbulence I have ever experienced, although on those huge planes you don’t feel it as much as on smaller planes. This plane was a really old one (it still had large metal ashtrays in the toilet) so you could feel the different loose panels rattling. On the way there we had a beautiful brand new Dreamliner with self-dimming glass instead of window-shades, and there was very little turbulence.

I wonder if it is a case of more planes in the air which means more planes hitting severe turbulence which means more passengers experiencing severe turbulence which means more people getting injured which means illusion that there is more turbulence when it is just more passengers experiencing and being injured by turbulence. Or of more planes in the air cause more turbulence. Or if it is changing weather patterns?

Whatever it is, I really don’t do well on long-haul flights these days. It could be that I have been doing it for so long that I am tired of it. Or that I am getting old. Or that airlines pack you in like sardines these days. Even going to the loo is a giant mission.