Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

VeneMage t1_j6h890a wrote

Think of flying through the air like skimming on the sea. Now and again you’ll hit some waves. Sometimes you hit a big wave but just pass up over it and then ‘fall’ a little until you’re back on the water. The only thing with air is that it’s essentially invisible so you can’t always anticipate exactly where the waves are.

When I’m on a plane I have this concept in my mind during turbulence and imagine we’re just all surfing on an invisible sea. Great fun!

24

alekseyweyman OP t1_j6h9w41 wrote

Yeah that makes sense- are these currents continuous in the sense that if we fly over that section again it would happen also? Or are the wind pockets outliers from differential temperatures / winds?

1

VeneMage t1_j6ha5ht wrote

Just like the sea, the waves are not static. We can anticipate where turbulence is likely to happen knowing air currents as we do. Plus being in the path of previous aircraft can also cause turbulence and this is again something we can anticipate, just not know exactly when these pockets of disturbed air are while flying through those zones.

5

YouthfulDrake t1_j6iajuu wrote

Pilots report to air traffic control where they experience turbulence so that air traffic control can warn pilots heading into that area

2