"Late spring is the start of the wet monsoon season in Myanmar, when heavy rains and squalling winds sweep in from the Bay of Bengal. If the pilots had been equipped with better radar or forecasting software, they might have known to avoid the towering storm clouds welling up beneath them. But, aside from a few white cloud tops, the sky outside the plane was clear and bright."
"Dzafran Azmir felt the first tremor. He and the other two hundred and ten passengers on Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321 had been in the air for more than ten hours. They were thirty-seven thousand feet above the Irrawaddy River, in Myanmar-three hours from their scheduled landing in Singapore-when the turbulence started. For a moment, the plane quivered around them like a greyhound straining on a leash."
Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321 experienced sudden severe turbulence while flying at 37,000 feet above Myanmar on May 21, 2024. The aircraft was three hours from its scheduled landing in Singapore when unexpected updrafts and tremors struck. Late spring monsoon season brings heavy rains and strong winds to Myanmar, but the pilots lacked adequate radar or forecasting software to detect the towering storm clouds beneath them. The clear sky above provided no warning of the dangerous weather below. Research from 2002 involving NASA, the FAA, and commercial airlines examined how quickly aircraft could be secured during turbulence events, using volunteer passengers in various positions throughout a decommissioned Boeing 747.
Read at The New Yorker
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