British man killed by turbulence on London to Singapore flight

A British man was killed and 30 injured when a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 hit severe turbulence on a flight from London and was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thai authorities said in a press conference.

The man, 73, was travelling with his wife.

The general manager of Bangkok airport said: “The wife of the deceased is at the hospital. I am not sure how she is doing. The hospital is checking her.”

#plane #emergency #landing

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[crazylittlebigthings]

Losing altitude by 6000 in a minute is unheard of. That turbulence must be really strong. This is why fastening the seatbelts whenever seated is a must during a flight. We never know when something like this strikes again, pilots have no means to detect clear air turbulence in flight.

[badgumby]

I know the old guy died of a heart attack. But never take your seat belt off when flying in an airplane. I'd be interested to know what caused the injuries to the 30 other people. Can only be three things. Flying debris, not being seated or not wearing seat belts.

[reecom]

Bangkok officials said that it was a UK man who had died of a heart attack.

[gamebred]

Smh. I've flown prob over a 100 times im very familiar with turbulence. I always hear people that fly alot saying oh turbulence is no big deal blah blah blah. An most the time their right! But flying from Bogota to Miami one time we hit turbulence so bad I was literally getting right with God. I was sure we were gonna die, and I'm not some dude who gets afraid of everything either. We had to of been dropping 100s of feet at a time that night. Scared me so much I haven't flown since! RIP to this man.

[Tracyp]

Few days ago was flying from Bangkok to london and the pilot told us to put our seat belts on as flying through turbulence. Feel very lucky it didn’t get this bad.

[ShakerMaker]

The most horrific turbulence I’ve ever experienced was on a Singapore to KL flight, if I remember it’s only an hour ish flight but even the air stewards were screaming & crying. The seatbelt light never went off at all it was like the longest ever rollercoaster ride. Absolutely terrifying, during monsoon season... Rest in peace.

[casager]

Well, at least the plane "held itself together." Given the forces in play, I'm always impressed with how well-engineered most of these vehicles are. Would like to know if anyone knows if there has ever been a plane taken down and/or destroyed by turbulence alone. I/m not familiar with a single one.

[KumaBean]

Injuries akin to a car crash, the engineers behind the design of that aircraft deserve serious recognition, amazing that it held together.

RIP 💚

[tuktuk]

This is extremely rare, this person would also likely have died in an average rollercoaster.

[mapeauxnoire]

This is my most dreaded experience, I actually pray so hard in advance for my flight and weather not to experience this as my heart is so fragile. Sad for the dead and injured.

[saudade]

He wasn't killed by turbulance, but a heart attack.

[HKim]

I used to be very lax about wearing my seatbelt when I was younger (college age) when flying. I started to adjust. Now, I always wear the belt and have it tight during the flight.
Some of it is just bad luck. Dude could have been getting up to go to the bathroom.

[erikaquatsch]

Do people undo their seat belts once a car is underway?

[andyrbush]

Thailand medical services are the best in the world.

[TheCrappyRobot]

He didn't have his chair in the upright position.

[Serena_]

Seems like the turbulence only affected economy passengers.

[sholraz]

Always advisable to wear seatbelt from beginning of a flight to the end.

[captainwin]

I was on a flight over the Alps that was being buffeted by a big thunderstorm happening below when all of a sudden the plane dropped for what felt like 5 seconds then it felt like hitting the ground when in reality it probably fell and hit either an upcurrent or a bit of air no longer dropping quickly. There was an enormous bang, everyone was thrown up in the air, lots landing in the aisles and I looked out the window at the wings which were flapping like a bird's wings.
Mega scary and there were just bumps and bruises but yeah, dodgy stuff.

[datfunnyboss]

That's a whole lotta turbulence, he defiantly didn't play today

[reecom]

Normally turbulence is associated with moisture raising and sinking in a weather system. Clear air turbulence is just raising and sinking air with no moisture. An airplane’s modern weather radar can detect water droplets using Doppler radar to detect weather turbulence, but not clear air turbulence.