Last year, it might of felt like we had heard about more turbulence than ever before, with multiple reports of injuries caused by the very issue.
One Singapore Airlines flight experienced a more severe impact, when a passenger sadly passed away due to turbelence – the first time this has happened since 1997.
According to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), their data suggests that from 2009 to 2023, 37 passengers and 146 crew members were seriously injured due to turbulence, and it remains the single biggest cause of injuries on a commerical flight, reports, Euro News.
Turbulence is not limited to where it takes place, but there are certain things that can make it happen more frequently and so it might be worth knowing which routes in Europe are the most turbulent.
Turbulence tracking website Turbli shared the top 10 most turbulent routes in Europe.
Their new research revealed that out of the 10, eight of the routes begin or end in Switzerland, and other routes pass over or around the Alps.
Turbli uses eddy dissipation rate (EDR) to measure the likelihood of turbulence. It is a measurement of atmospheric turbulence that is independent of the aircraft’s characteristics and the standard metric for aviation turbulence used by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
An EDR of under 20 is recognised as ‘light’, rates between 20 and 40 are moderate, 40 to 60 is strong and 80 to 100 is seen as extreme, according to the turbulence tracking website.
No routes in the world ranked as strongs or extreme. However, South America, around the Andes mountain range, had the most turbulent routes in the world. Mendoza to Santiago was placed at number one with an EDR of 24.68.
Flying over or near mountains can lead to turbulence due to how the wind interacts with the terrain. When it hits a mountainous area, winds can be forced upwards over the peaks, causing updraughts.
The moving currents can then hit a stable air barrier at altitude, forcing the winds back down towards the ground, creating a downdraught.
The extreme changes in air can their result in disruption in an aircrafts flight path, where the plane might then rise, drop or bounce up and down.
Extreme turbulence is uncommon in Europe, all those routes are the contient’s most turbulent, it is unlikely to cause impacts of devastation that is seen in other parts of the world.
2024’s Most Turbulent European Routes – Full List
Nice – Geneva: EDR 16.07
Nice – Zurich: 15.49
Milan – Zurich: 15.41
Milan – Lyon: 15.37
Nice – Basel: 15.33
Geneva – Zurich: 15.05
Nice – Lyon: 14.99
Geneva – Venice: 14.78
Lyon – Zurch: 14.74
Venice – Zurich: 14.67