when flying in an aircraft what causes air turbulance and can it damage the aircraft?

Answer 1

turbulence is caused by a combination of wind and cloud/air denisity, extreme cases could in theory damage a plane but in practice piolts can often fly round it and the most common passenger experience would be a bumpy ride and maybe the overhead lockers coming open in extreme cases.

Do not worry!

Answer 2

Air is moving about all the time, as larger air masses and as localised turbulence.

When the sun warms the ground, the air around is warmed by radiated heat (insulation), because the sun doesn't heat the air directly. This warming causes air to rise. When an aircraft flies through this rising column of air, the bump is turbulence. There's often a Cumulus cloud sitting on top of the column of air, best seen on a calmish summer's day.

There are all sorts though - turbulence caused by air flowing over a line of hills or mountains, clear air turbulence ( bit of a mystery, that one - aircraft just fly into it - can't be seen) Watch shallow water flowing over stones - it eddies around, breaks over the stones and even goes backwards sometimes. Air behaves in very much the same way. Terrain has a lot to do with it. Turbulence can damage aircraft - obviously the smaller they are, the more vulnerable they are. Pilots will keep clear of any known turbulence which may present a danger.

Answer 3

Regular turbulence is caused due to the aircraft flying through moving air, usually caused by thermals (hot air rising) or other aircraft. Todays aircraft have very strong structures, so there are absolutely no worries about structural failures, unless the pilot has had poor training (Not at all likely). It just makes for a bumpy ride, like a car going over a bumpy road. It's not going to fall apart on you.

Aircraft and aircrew have to pass countless strict safety checks to be allowed to fly, so don't worry.

Answer 4

All the above explinations are essentially correct, - however turbulence can also be caused by a big-heavy aircraft as it goes through the air. When it occours close to the ground, is when turbulence is most dangerous. And the most likely place you will fly into it is when you are landing or taking off behind the large (heavy) aircraft. It can cause loss of control of your aircraft, and cause you to collide with the ground, - which is very unhealthy in all cases!

Therefore any pilot will want to avoid them. And air controllers will advise pilots of the possibility of turbulence whenever others are landing or taking off! "Spacing" time will be dependent on winds(if any) and direction of winds. Since if the air is traveling fast enough at right angles to runways, - it is "drifted" off to side very quickly!

Yes the turbulence can damage airplane - if it is severe enough and you are flying fast enough! Pilots ae advised to "slow down" the aircraft to "maneuvering speed", - which makes the "loads" less severe. It is also unhealthy to have the aircraft disintergrate in the air! You might notice that "stormchasers" fly within the eye of hurricanes, and don't damage airplane, that is because they fly at the slower apeeds to make the changes in lift, and gravity forces occour at a slower rate and cause less wear and tear on components of the airplane!

Answer 5

Turbulence is caused by high winds, storms, thermals. Aircraft are designed to withstand a good deal of positive and negatve g forces before damage occurrs.
Cases of aircraft damage are extremely rare.
Aircraft structure is quite flexible. The flexibility allows them to absorb the turbulence in the air. If you look out along the wing of an aircraft flying through turbulence you can see it moving up and down. It is this flexibility that allows the airplane to fly along quite smoothly.

Answer 6

Try to think of the sky as an ocean of air instead of water. It is full of currents, waves, storms, etc. Just as boat is affected by the water, an aircraft is affected by the air around it. Larger aircraft are not affected as severely as small aircraft, just as big ships can handle rougher water than small boats. Turbulence can damage an aircraft if it is severe enough. Hope this helps.

Answer 7

At high altitude there are very high winds, when you fly into or out of these winds, the plane moves. At that hieght winds can blow up and down as well as horizontaly causing turbulance and thunderstorms can produce massive up draughts as well as air heating up and rising. Airliners are incredibly strong, no chance really of damage. The danger lies in loose articles in the aircraft, including passengers, being tossed about. With modern weather forcasting and instrumentation, the chance of flying into bad turbulance is slim.

Answer 8

air turbulence is just caused by the wind currents outside- and turbulence is caused when the aircraft flies into them. Generally they dont damage the aircraft as such- as long as you dont go and fly into a hurricane!

Answer 9

Severe turbulence can damage or destroy an airplane. When pilots begin hitting turbulence that they think warrants it, they are going to slow down to their turbulence penetration airspeed. If you are traveling at or below your turbulence penetration airspeed then you cannot possibly damage the aircraft from turbulence. However, if you are above this speed then yes, you can damage it. If you are traveling at or below your turbulence airspeed then airfoil stalling will occur before an over-g occurs.

Answer 10

No Colin
it wouldn't damage the plane its just air