SQ321 LHR-SIN Encountered Severe Turbulence [At least 1 Fatality and 30 Injured]

[elanshin]

I can’t help feel that’s a knee-jerk reaction, that won’t benefit the vast majority of pax.

Qantas is the only airline I know of where seatbelt sign equally applies to crew.

But that being said, the turbulence is often more than ‘mild’ for that to occur.

SQ on the other hand will put the sign on even for some mild bumps. So we could have hours at a time with no service, when it’s safe for crew, but not safe for grandpa to be moving around the cabin?

Delaying meal service for hours has implications for crew rest periods. They need their assigned breaks on long and ultra long haul flights, and i wouldn’t want those to be given up.

And potentially it won’t protect against this very sudden and very violent turbulence in any case?

I suspect SQ knows this already and hence their policy up to now. This is more a knee jerk reaction. It takes a lot longer to properly change long term policy of a function like seat belt signs as everyone involved from pilots ti crew need to have it drilled into them.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Actually, come to think of it…. maybe this will start a return to a single tray meal service for business class? No more faffing around with multi courses served individually… with a potential hour delay between courses while your table is still set up! Much quicker, and better for sleeping or relaxing to have everything brought out at once. Maybe serve cheese/pudding separately, but at least the main meal is done and dusted.

 

[elanshin]

Actually, come to think of it…. maybe this will start a return to a single tray meal service for business class? No more faffing around with multi courses served individually… with a potential hour delay between courses while your table is still set up! Much quicker, and better for sleeping or relaxing to have everything brought out at once. Maybe serve cheese/pudding separately, but at least the main meal is done and dusted.

I imagine it depends on the route and offerings. They already do that on short haul (it's fascinating what they can pull out in an hour long flight). Realistically though i still expect them to do 3 course if the ME keeps it up. They still have to outcompete with the "luxury" branding of the ME flights.

 

[Quickstatus]

single tray meal service for business class

I would be happy with single tray service.

 

[Berlin]

I can see already what the Lufthansas of this world will do: It will become the next lame excuse to chit chat instead of offering proper service.

Same as the stupid tinted windows which (of course!) are now an easy way out to turn the entire cabin black during the day so that we don’t have to look after our passengers. Almost every airline on the Dreamliner does it now and I hear Airbus will introduce this nonsense too soon

 

[Blackadder]

I can’t help feel that’s a knee-jerk reaction, that won’t benefit the vast majority of pax.

Qantas is the only airline I know of where seatbelt sign equally applies to crew.

But that being said, the turbulence is often more than ‘mild’ for that to occur.

SQ on the other hand will put the sign on even for some mild bumps. So we could have hours at a time with no service, when it’s safe for crew, but not safe for grandpa to be moving around the cabin?

Delaying meal service for hours has implications for crew rest periods. They need their assigned breaks on long and ultra long haul flights, and i wouldn’t want those to be given up.

And potentially it won’t protect against this very sudden and very violent turbulence in any case?

Companies have a duty of care to their staff.
If Airlines use this as an excuse to cut back on meal services, the customers will vote with their wallet and go elsewhere.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Companies have a duty of care to their staff.
If Airlines use this as an excuse to cut back on meal services, the customers will vote with their wallet and go elsewhere.

They do have a duty of care, agreed.

But the main problem is the binary narture of the seatbelt sign. Airlines, Qantas excepted, try to get around that by protecting frail passengers from light turbulence, but allow crew to continue to work. When the turbulence gets severe, crew are also instructed to be seated.

Now if SQ changes that so crew must suspend meal service even for the lightest of chop, it’s potentially going to have significant implications. Not least for crew rest times on board. Something will have to give in terms of meal service. (although I’m not complaining on that front, I’d rather have a single tray even on long haul flights!)

Or we go down the QF route. But there are times there when the sign’s not on, when frail pax might not be comfortable moving around the cabin.

I dunno what the middle ground is?

 

[SCM]

Seatbelt sign only used for takeoff and landing, and during especially bad turbulence.

What is the definition of bad turbulence? In comes a separate scale of 1-5 of turbulance, and you can judge and keep the seatbelt off at your own discretion, except 4-5 or maybe just 5. Airlines can then determine at what scale flight attendants need to also be seated as well - which may well be differen to pax.

Edit: Forgot to say, there should be a separate indicator on a scale, for turbulance.

You can't have one light indicator for 10 different reasons and to solve every problem.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I can’t see any reason for the Thai staff to be protective of SQ at all. Their hospital and country would be another matter.

They’re probably paying the bill !

 

[jb747]

Seatbelt sign only used for takeoff and landing, and during especially bad turbulence.

What is the definition of bad turbulence? In comes a separate scale of 1-5 of turbulance, and you can judge and keep the seatbelt off at your own discretion, except 4-5 or maybe just 5.

Darwin Award.

 

[tinkybelle]

I Give a hats off to the CEO of SQ Goh Choon Phong who flew to Bkk immediately on the news.
he helped me once with a problem and seems to be a very hands on CEO.
that would never happen with Qantas!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Darwin Award.

My mother always said she had the perfect solution to the road toll… have a 12 inch sharp spike fitted to the front of every steering wheel

 

[tdimdad]

ABC News has an article which adds compensations and potential future changes to cabins. It's good if the click bait cycle fades out and we get to more considered discussion.

Turbulence caused 'life-changing' injuries for dozens of passengers. Now, flying could change

As the details of the devastating injuries sustained onboard flight SQ321 emerge, attention is turning to what happens to these passengers and crew now and what can be done to make all the hours spent in an aircraft cabin safer.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Kangol]

I always wondered why the SQ FAs were blasé about the seatbelt sign, but thought it was an F cabin only thing, ie. rushing back from the bathroom - they said not to worry and kept serving.

Ages ago on ANA, I had a glass of Hibiki 21 poured and was taking a photo of the bottle. The seatbelt sign turned on immediately and I was left with the bottle. I don't know how I would have lived with myself if turbulence caused the bottle to slip out of my hands and break

 

[StayGoldPonyboy]

Ages ago on ANA, I had a glass of Hibiki 21 poured and was taking a photo of the bottle. The seatbelt sign turned on immediately and I was left with the bottle. I don't know how I would have lived with myself if turbulence caused the bottle to slip out of my hands and break

Needed its own tiny seatbelt, like the bar of soap in that old Imperial Leather Cussons soap commercial

 

[drron]

ABC News has an article which adds compensations and potential future changes to cabins. It's good if the click bait cycle fades out and we get to more considered discussion.

Turbulence caused 'life-changing' injuries for dozens of passengers. Now, flying could change

As the details of the devastating injuries sustained onboard flight SQ321 emerge, attention is turning to what happens to these passengers and crew now and what can be done to make all the hours spent in an aircraft cabin safer.

www.abc.net.au

But making the link to climate change. The link was made by an atmospheric scientist Paul Williams using computer modelling. but it was for clear air turbulence over the North Atlantic which is not the case over the Bay of Bengal and this incident.

 

[Berlin]

But making the link to climate change.

Of course, they just HAVE to. “Climate armageddon”- speaking of cry wolf

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Of course, they just HAVE to. “Climate armageddon”- speaking of cry wolf

It seemed pretty matter-of-fact. The climate is changing, turbulence can be expected to be encountered more frequently. There was no political driver in the comments.

 

[drron]

It seemed pretty matter-of-fact. The climate is changing, turbulence can be expected to be encountered more frequently. There was no political driver in the comments.

I am talking about the science and I have read Paul Williams original paper where he clearly refers to clear air turbulence. I have also read a later paper by him where he walks back the claim a little saying the increase is less than the original forecast. So as I said I am talking science not politics.

 

[mjt57]

Of course, they just HAVE to. “Climate armageddon”- speaking of cry wolf

That and the media latching onto the dreaded "plunge" when they (those who know of such things) are saying that it was a controlled descent after the initial event.

When I first started following things aviation in a Usenet newsgroup called aus.aviation many moons ago, they (the resident pilots) would bang their heads and groan whenever such events occured.

Back then the media wasn't really concerned about competing with social media but were still competing, nonetheless, with each other (both internally and externally with other newspapers) for that headline on page one or page three. It's just gotten worse.