I usually think a bit of turbulence makes for a fun ride on a commercial flight. But I don’t like it quite this much.
It takes a lot of turbulence to bounce the widebodied 767 around to the tune of 27 injuries. Continental Airlines Flight 128 (Rio de Janeiro to Houston) took its pummeling at about 38,000 feet near the Dominican Republic. Now, this is the same origin (Rio) from which Air France Flight 447 made its last takeoff. I wonder how much ballyhoo we’ll hear that the Boeing got bounced but returned safely.
Never mind that they were thousands of miles apart – some people will doubtlessly try selling the notion that you’re really looking at two apples, not an apple and an orange. Don’t buy it.
Let’s definitely take a moment to give a thumbs-up to Continental 128′s crew and passengers – the crew for keeping it in the air and smartly diverting to Miami to treat the injured, the passengers for apparently staying cool and not doing anything to make the situation worse.
If you’re curious about the measures pilots take to avoid heavy weather, check out this post from the most excellent and enlightening blog, Flight Level 390.
