At least one person died and 30 were injured when a plane fell into a “sinkhole”.
Not entirely unexpected, says aviation expert Jan Ohlsson.
– It has increased in the last decade. Regardless of what climate change is due to, it is related to it, he says in Efter fem.
A Boeing 777 took off from London to Singapore on Tuesday. But suddenly and completely without warning, the plane is said to have fallen from 11,300 to 9,400 meters altitude as it approached Myanmar’s airspace.
It was unrelated to the turbulence, according to a Flightradar spokesperson.
Aviation expert Jan Ohlsson has a hunch about what could be the cause.
– You fly on something called jet streams, it’s like a red carpet. It goes very smoothly and nicely – until one jet stream meets another jet stream. Then you get a sinkhole like this in the air. It has happened before and it happens more frequently now than before, he says in Efter fem.
– But this is absolutely invisible and that is why it is called clear air turbulence. You fly out into the blue sky and suddenly there is a hole in the air, which is absolutely invisible. It cannot be predicted or forewarned, Ohlsson continues.
“Even an effect in the air sea”
The reason why these “sinkholes” have increased is due to climate change, according to the expert.
– It is related to that. We have more storms, higher waves at sea and higher thunderstorms. It also has an effect in the air ocean.
Ohlsson believes that in the future we will see more calls to be buckled up.
– But there are some gaps in it as well. You have the food service, the cabin crew are on their feet. You have the toilet queue after the food service, you may have a long flight and want to stretch your legs. In reality, it is impossible for everyone to be strapped in all the time. But it’s very stupid when you sit down not to be.
There were 211 passengers and 18 crew on board the plane. The passengers were mainly from Australia, Great Britain, Singapore, New Zealand and Malaysia.