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Short Stuff: Turbulence · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh. There's Mr. Chuck,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and there's Ms Jerry over there. That's Ms tu Succa.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: This is, like I said, short stuff. Buckle up everyone. Yeah,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: for the turbulent addition of short stuff. Have you ever
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: had a bad like really bad? No, not really bad? No,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah I haven't either. You know, there's actually a classification
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: for that. It's not called really bad. It's called extreme
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: or severe. But there's three types of turbulence. There's light turbulence,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of kind of shakes like your
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: drink a little bit. And I'm going on this again.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: There's moderate, which is like your drink is now spilling
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: out of your cup. And then there's severe and that
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: is like the kind where people get hurt sometimes very
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: rarely die. But um I saw photos of a plane
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: ride from Santa Anna up to Seattle, I think, and
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: it was like a Delta flight and the drink cart
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: was on its side and like they have been serving
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: drinks and the thing the plane just hit turbulence, took
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: a two ft nose dive, and apparently one of the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: flight attendants and the drink cart were on the ceiling
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and it just came down. So it can get pretty bad,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: but it's very very rare, it turns out. Yeah, So
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: if you haven't picked up on it, we're talking about
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: airplane turbulence and specifically when a pilot knows when they
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: come on there and say, you know, hold onto your
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: butts everyone, here we go in the next ten minutes.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I've always wondered, like, what the deal was, Well, now
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: we know. Now we know when we can just bother
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: every passenger next to us till the end of let
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: me you know how they realize, you know, when they
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: make this announcement. Yeah, if you really want to get
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: at somebody sleeping next to you on an airplane's attention,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: don't just kind of elbow them, like just slowly increase
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the pressure of your pointy elbow in the rib cage
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: until they wake up. That'll get them talking. Yeah, And regardless,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: like you said, of how bad it gets, it's usually
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: not to that big of a deal. Um, as far
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: as planes go there, they're made to take it. I know.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Sometimes if you're sitting on the wing and looking out,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you can be a little distressing seeing those
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: things almost flapping, But they're meant to move a little.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: They're supposed to do that. Yeah, so don't worry. Uh,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the wing is not going to snap off most likely. Now,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: remember when we talked about cars and how it seems
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: like they're made terribly today because they come apart, but
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: they're actually designed like that to make them like easier
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: to take a crash. The same thing with the plane
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: if they were just completely rigid and brittle, and the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: wing might actually snap off. So it's supposed to flap
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: a little bit in turbulence. Yeah, And the other part
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: of that is injuries. Um, the f a A said
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: forty four injuries in two thousand sixteen due to turbulence
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: nine plus million people flying. That is not a lot
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: of injuries. Yeah, I think the most exceedingly rare, Like
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: there was thirteen and two thousand thirteen. Oddly, there was
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: seventeen in two thousand seventeen, and between ninth teen eighty
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and two thousand eight there were only three deaths from turbulence.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: So it is very very rare. And one of the
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: reasons it's not way worse and it's actually getting even
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: better is because pilots are able to predict where the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: turbulence is coming. Because number one, they're trained to see
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: signs of it. But also there are a entire network
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: of people on planet Earth back down on the ground
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: who are working to let those pilots know what places
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to avoid and why. Yeah, so when they when they
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: go to take off, there's a few types of turbulence
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: to look out for. Convective that is, you know, kind
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: of the standard thunderstorm turbulence that you might expect. Yeah,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Like when air on the Earth surface gets warm, it
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: rises and it can create clouds as it carries water
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: vapor up and cools, and the taller the cloud, the
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: more turbulent there is in there, that's right. Uh. Then
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: there's mountain wave of turbulence, and that's when air is
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: just literally cresting over the top of a mountain, uh,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and wave like you would see in the ocean. Yeah,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: because it's all fluid. I mean air and water they're
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: both fluid, you know, so of course they would break
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: like that. You don't want to get your little plane
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: caught up in a breaking air wave, no, uh. And
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: then finally you have the clear air turbulence, and that's
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the toughest to predict because it's not like you see
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: a big mountain range or lightning popping off in the foreground.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: That is just air colliding with warm air and cold
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: air colliding with one another. Yeah, so it forms jet streams, right,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: and those those that's that can be problematic because the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the difference in um, the direction that the winds moving in,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the speed it's moving in can really wreak havoc on
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: your plane. And when you're cruising through a patch like
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: that very quickly, all of those little bumps and jostles
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and turns come together to make what we think of
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: as turbulence. That's right. So that is uh, what turbulence is.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Let's take a little break here and we're gonna talk
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: about how these pilots can avoid it. If you want
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to know, then you're in luck. Just listen up to
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: just chuck sew shoon. So before they even take off,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: they have started avoiding turbulence. When they get their flight
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: plan together, they don't just say, you know, we're flying
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: from Atlanta to l A. So let's just you know,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: take a left turn after takeoff and fly west until
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: we get to l A. Maybe you've been taken out. Yeah,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: it's a very you know, uh, it's very planned out. Uh.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: And although they can't predict every bit of turbulence, they
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: can certainly say, well, we know there's a mountain range
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: here and there is a thunderstorm going on here, so
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: we're gonna set our flight plan accordingly, right exactly, so
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: they start off on the right foot the UM. They
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: also have like little handy weather maps too, because storms
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: can develop even after you've already taken off that weren't predicted.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: And they can also line up too, so you might
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: have to choose what storm you actually have to go
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: through if you have to write, and so they have
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: weather instrumentation that makes it real simple to choose. Like
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: a storm up ahead that's yellow says if you have
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: a green alternative, choose the green one. Ones that are
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: read it says. You're gonna have to course correct basically UM.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And when you course correct, you basically have to get
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: in touch with UM air traffic Control and say, hey,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: I know we weren't planning on going up an extra
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: ten thou feet, but I need to fly over this
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: turbulence for a little while, and they'll say do it.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: And you fly up, you go over the tribulence, you say,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: can I come back down now? And They're like, we
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: we've been waiting for you to ask, buddy, come on
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: back down, and you go back down to your original
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: flight plan, or you may not, or they may say,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: you know what, since you went this far out of
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: the way to avoid this thing, why don't you just
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: take this course instead, right, and you have a new
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: flight plan after that? Exactly. You gotta be nimble up there,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: you gotta be quick, and you have your hands on
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the sticks, right. Isn't that what they call him sticks?
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I think so. I'll bet they do call him sticks.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Can you see pilot pilots calling him there? Sure, ladies
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and gentlemen, got my hands on the sticks. I've never
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: heard that. You haven't, not from a pilot to a passenger. Okay,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: but I think that doesn't leave the cockpit. You know
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: what happens in the cockpit talk um. So the mountain turbulence,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: that is uh pretty easy to predict because mountains are there,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: and if a pilot has driven, driven, have flown past
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the Rockies or the Andies or any big mountain range,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: they probably already know what's to expect there and have
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: routed their plane in such a way where they're not
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: going to get the worst of it. They can also
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: tell by the clouds that are there. There's some called
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: lenticular clouds, which are lens shaped, but I think it
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: actually kind of traces the contour of a wave. But
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: in cloud form you can be like, well, I've gotta
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: stay out of there because there's breaking waves of wind
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: right there. Yeah. So yeah, there's things they can do visually.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: The problem is is the clear air turbulence. I mean
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: they don't call it clear air, I exactly, and I
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: mean it really is like it can be really really rough,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: not just because it comes out of nowhere, but because
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the differences in speed between one spot and another so
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: pronounced that it can really jar and jostle you. Yeah,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: for those The thing, and this is kind of cool.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: The thing they count on the most, uh, is talking
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: to other pilots. There's a lot of planes up there,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and chances are if you're flying anywhere in the United States,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: there's another plane on more or less your route just
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: a few minutes ahead of you, right, And so they
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: they're always in touch with one another. Uh, it's not
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: even you know, they share information. It's not like a
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: delta pilot won't be like, hey, the Southwest guys behind us,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: but don't tell them what's so they're always warning each
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: other about what to expect, how bad it is, um,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: whether or not you need to really alter your route
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: or maybe just park it at a certain altitude. Right.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: And so when they get this info, they'll say, uh,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, please put your seatbelts on, get out
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: of the bathroom. Uh. Flight attendants put them carts up.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I think it's how they put it. That's in pilot lingo.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: And that's usually when some somebody gets up, it's like, oh,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I really need to go. That's the moment I'm like,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I have to go to the bathroom so bad. Yeah yeah, um.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: But if you're not getting up, and even if they
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: aren't telling you to um to put your seatbelt on,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: if you're just sitting in your seat, you should always
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: keep your seatbelt on, just because there is such thing
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: as clearer. Turbulent catches everybody by surprise, and then all
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: of a sudden you're like floating up against the ceiling,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: which is bad enough for you, but you can also
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: come down another poor unsuspecting travelers too. It's like about
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: floating people who like smashing into the ceiling for a moment. Yeah. Um,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: it's like people who don't wear the seatbelt in the
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: back seat. It's like, you're not just putting your own
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: life in danger when you cut it getting a head
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: on collision, you're flying forward past the people in the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: front who did have their seatbelts on, and your feet
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: and your fists in your head are taking their heads
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: off with you. Yeah, you know what I mean. You
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: got to wear your seatbelt in the back seat. Check
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: so they get about if they're talking to other pilots
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: in the air, they get a five to ten minute warning.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: If they're getting a warning from the ground, that's about
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: twenty minutes up to twenty minutes. So that's that's plenty
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: of time. That's why that's why it works so well.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: That's why you don't get more severe cases of turbulence
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: because everyone's in contact at all times, making sure that
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: you don't feel the worst of it, which is great.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: They also figured out that you can't put two planes
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: too close together because planes create weake and that creates turbulence,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: and they you that out the hard way. Apparently planes
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: have crashed from following too close coming in for a landing.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Don't do it on the road either. No, certainly not,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: although apparently it does save your gas mileage. Yeah, behind
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: like a semi or something. Yeah, I mean that's why
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: they do it in NASCAR, right, But it's not safe. No, don't,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: don't do it. You're no NASCAR driver unless you are
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: a NASCAR driver listening to this, in which case you
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: do what you're doing. Well. Thanks for joining us on
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: short Stuff. We love you.