Singapore Airlines turbulence: ‘very freak’ incident for flight SQ321, with probe expected to last up to 9 months
- Industry experts say the ‘very freak’ turbulence flight SQ321 encountered could have been jet stream, a fast-moving air current caused by large temperature differences
- The British man who died has been identified as Geoff Kitchen, who helped run a local theatre group and was described as ‘always a gentleman’
Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 encountered “very freak” turbulence and investigation findings are expected to take up to nine months, but the goal is not to “apportion blame”, industry experts say.
A retired Singapore Airlines pilot with more than 30 years of flying experience – including with Boeing 777-300ER planes, the model involved in the incident – told This Week in Asia on Wednesday that he had not encountered a similar degree of turbulence as in the latest incident, which left one passenger dead and 30 others injured.
Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 passenger recalls turbulence chaos: ‘I thought the plane was going down’
- ‘The seat belt light came on and almost immediately after the turbulence hit, I myself, followed by a large amount of others, were thrown in the air hitting the roof,’ the British tourist said
- A man died and dozens were injured after the aircraft encountered severe turbulence and made an emergency landing in Bangkok
One moment Toby Pearl was ensconced in his economy-class seat in row 43 aboard a flight from London to Singapore. The next all hell broke loose, with personal belongings, food and even people being hurled around the cabin, crashing into overhead lockers and causing oxygen masks to deploy from the ceiling.