Gonzalo From Chile, joined Aug 2005, 1690 posts, RR: 0 Posted (10 months 1 week 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 19319 times:
AF flight 406, on approach to Santiago de Chile, 306 souls on board, encountered severe turbulence at FL 180, 1 F/A and 1 passenger seriously injured, 5 more F/A with minor injuries.
Revelation From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 10569 posts, RR: 21 Reply 1, posted (10 months 1 week 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 19175 times:
FL180 on descent to an airport, could it be due to mountain wave?
World record glider flights happen in Chile due to what us glider folks would call excellent conditions for mountain wave.
Julian773 From Australia, joined Aug 2009, 105 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (10 months 1 week 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 18997 times:
Quoting Revelation (Reply 1): FL180 on descent to an airport, could it be due to mountain wave?
Could be but doubt it. METAR at SCEL would't indicate anything relating to mountain waves and winds are very light and VRB too.Also FL180 is still fairly high but area weather is not included in the report so who knows.
acontador From Chile, joined Jul 2005, 1392 posts, RR: 33 Reply 3, posted (10 months 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 18212 times:
Quoting Gonzalo (Thread starter): AF flight 406, on approach to Santiago de Chile, 306 souls on board, encountered severe turbulence at FL 180,
If this was "descending through FL 180", it means somewhere over the Argentinean-Chilean border, in the middle of the Andes mountains. It is a well known area for turbulence, hence every time I have flown that leg the crew warned all passengers to get back to their seats and put the seat-belts on. Since AF is flying that same route every day now, I would like to think that the crew was well aware of that and/or they have been made aware of this fact, but maybe it was a crew unfamiliar with this route. Beware that the crossing of the Andes during descent brings you right along the Aconcagua mountain (22,831 ft), so you get pretty close to the surrounding mountains.
Gonzalo From Chile, joined Aug 2005, 1690 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (10 months 1 week 23 hours ago) and read 17704 times:
Quoting acontador (Reply 3): If this was "descending through FL 180", it means somewhere over the Argentinean-Chilean border, in the middle of the Andes mountains. It is a well known area for turbulence, hence every time I have flown that leg the crew warned all passengers to get back to their seats and put the seat-belts on.
Tell me about it. The first time I felt real turbulence was precisely crossing the Andes, being a 9 y.o. boy...30 years later I still remember the sounds of the poor 732 and the screams of the people around me....surprisingly I stayed very calm and I can even say that I enjoyed the ride a little...
flaps30 From United States of America, joined May 2009, 261 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (10 months 1 week 21 hours ago) and read 15154 times:
Quoting acontador (Reply 3): It is a well known area for turbulence,
Would the approach into Santiago over the Andes be about the same as the approach into Denver over the Rockies in terms of turbulence? I have never had a smooth flight in/out of Denver. It always seems to be turbulent and the crew almost always seems to get the cabin ready for landing earlier than normal because of the expected bumps.
Gonzalo From Chile, joined Aug 2005, 1690 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (10 months 1 week 20 hours ago) and read 14643 times:
Quoting flaps30 (Reply 5): Would the approach into Santiago over the Andes be about the same as the approach into Denver over the Rockies in terms of turbulence?
I had never been in Denver, but if the frequency of ( moderate to severe ) turbulence is high, then my answer is no. I have a lot, a looot of landings into SCL, and I only have turbulence episodes a fraction of the times, and usually moderate or less, probably only a couple of times of real severe turbulence.
777222LR From United States of America, joined Feb 2012, 114 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (10 months 1 week 15 hours ago) and read 11021 times:
Quoting Gonzalo (Reply 6): I had never been in Denver, but if the frequency of ( moderate to severe ) turbulence is high, then my answer is no.
While the turbulence around Denver isn't severe, it's moderate to heavy chop all the way down on most of my many flights into the airport. It's very annoying, and probably bothersome to less seasoned flyers.
jbfanone From United States of America, joined Aug 2012, 10 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (10 months 1 week 8 hours ago) and read 6185 times:
It is always upsetting to here when FA's get hurt on the job due to turbulence.....its more upsetting to try to figure out why pax don't follow the seatbelt signs and stay seated when there is turbulence........
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