- The turbulence on a fatal Singapore Airlines flight was so severe that the plane fell 178 feet in four seconds.
- Investigators say G-forces inside the plane caused passengers to be thrown from their seats.
- The unrest in Myanmar's skies has left one person dead and more than 100 injured, some seriously.
Investigators say last week's fatal Singapore Airlines crash caused severe turbulence that caused the plane to plummet 178 feet in just four seconds.
Officials from Singapore's Transport Safety Investigation Agency released a new report on Wednesday shedding light on what happened on a flight from London to Singapore on May 20-21 that experienced severe turbulence, killing one passenger and injuring more than 100 others.
The report details how the plane suffered a sudden and catastrophic drop in one of the worst turbulence incidents in recent years.
According to reports, the plane experienced “slight vibrations” for around 20 seconds while flying over Myanmar, likely passing through an area experiencing severe weather.
The report said that updrafts caused the plane to rise in altitude and speed uncontrollably. In response, the autopilot, which had remained engaged despite the descent, caused the plane to descend again in an attempt to reach an altitude of 37,000 feet. The pilot simultaneously applied the speed brakes to reduce the rapidly climbing airspeed, the report said.
The plane then experienced a sudden change in g-forces – from positive to negative and back again – in just 4.6 seconds, ejecting passengers who were not wearing seatbelts from their seats and then slamming them back into the ground, according to the report.
Within seconds, the plane fell 178 feet, according to the report. The pilot disengaged the autopilot and manually stabilized the aircraft for about 20 seconds before re-engaging the autopilot, investigators said.
The entire incident, which ranged from minor to fatal turbulence, lasted just one minute and two seconds, according to the report.
In that short time, a 73-year-old British passenger was killed and over 100 passengers were injured, several of whom suffered paralysis, skull and back trauma, and brain injuries. The Associated Press reported..
According to Forbes, passengers on the plane said the seatbelt signs were not on at the time of the crash, but investigators said that on the cockpit voice recorder “the pilot can be heard yelling that the seatbelt signs were on.”
Investigators reported that once the pilot learned that a passenger had been injured, he diverted the plane to Bangkok, where it did not encounter any further turbulence before landing safely.
The Singapore Transport Authority said it was still investigating the turbulence, and Singapore Airlines did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
