Posted on 02/17/2014 8:29:59 PM PST by NYer
Wikipedia/skinnylawyer
This plane is similar to the aircraft that hit a pocket of violent turbulence enroute from Denver, Colo. to Billings, Mont. on February 17, 2013.
A United Airlines flight on its way to Billings, MO encountered severe turbulence on its descent, injuring three crew members and several passengers. The Boeing 737 carrying 114 passengers departed from Denver at 11:57 a.m. on Monday and landed at 1:23 p.m.
Several people were rushed to area hospitals.
At least one person remains in critical condition while 5 have been treated and released.
"At the time of the incident, skies over the Intermountain West were partly cloudy but winds were howling over southern Montana and northern Wyoming," said weather.com meteorologist Alan Raymond. "The plane likely encountered what's known as "clear air turbulence" which is hard to pick up on the aircraft's on-board radar."
(MORE: Pilots Who Landed at Wrong Airport Confused by Lights)
The Weather Channel spoke with one passenger who had a terrifying experience onboard. Ejay Oldbull was seated in the back of the plane but had a front row seat to the incident. Oldbull, a frequent flier, said he hadn't ever felt turbulence like this before.
"At first the turbulence was like a jarring up and down, but when we started going left to right that's when I knew something was wrong," he said.
Oldbull says the pitching and yawing of the plane caused the oxygen masks to drop, and sent the unbuckled passenger beside him to the floor to the ceiling. "She just started going up and down when we dropped."
Also caught in the fray, a flight attendant that Oldbull says he could hear "flying around in the back of the cabin."
(MORE: Plane Gets Stuck in the Snow in Kansas City)
As the plane leveled out, Oldbull said people were visibly shaken. He heard one man ask, "Where's my my baby?" Luckily, the baby was safe in his mother's arms.
Oldbull and other passengers, one of whom was a nurse, attended to injured passengers and flight attendants through the remainder of the flight.
Injures from clear air turbulence aren't all that common, but it's a reminder to stay buckled up for the duration of your flight.
Bingo, you got it. Especially because of the reports of high winds, it is likely that they encountered a rotor. While the mountain wave itself is smooth as glass, the rotors that accompany the wave are incredibly violent.
They're not that hard to avoid, though, because the rotors sit underneath the wave crests, indicated by lenticular clouds. Avoid flying directly below the lenticulars (or sometimes a little downwind of them), and you won't encounter a rotor.
I am a sailplane pilot, though not current these days. I used to fly at the old Black Forest Gliderport northeast of Colorado Springs. That place was really special and I miss it to this day. It was also known for high altitude flights in the Pikes Peak wave. In fact, the women's world altitude record was set there in the late 70's, a record that still stands today (over 41,000').
Sorry about the tangent. I still miss that place.
I got the glider add-on but, unfortunately, never went beyond the student training. Training was at Riggs, ID., just upwind from Grand Targhee ski resort. Here, in southeastern WA., we see wave clouds off the Cascades all the times much as Colorado.
Meant Driggs (in Teton County).
Picture the water racing over the rocks in a turbulant mountain stream. This violent motion is also present in the upper atmosphere as jet stream winds hurtle west to east over the Rockies. You rarely can see it and many times you can't climb above it. Sit down. Shut up. Fasten your seat belt and Hang on!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.