What caused severe turbulence on Singapore Airlines flight, resulting in one death? | Explainer

On May 21, a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore experienced severe turbulence over the Indian Ocean, resulting in the death of a 73-year-old British national and injuring several others. The Boeing 777 had 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board when the incident occurred. Tracking data captured by Flightradar24, a live flight tracker, revealed that Flight SQ321 was flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet at the time of the incident. It sharply descended to 31,000 feet, a drop of 6,000 feet over a period of three minutes, and remained at that altitude for just under 10 minutes. The drop occurred while the flight was over the Andaman Sea near Myanmar. Some countries maintain data on turbulence-related incidents involving flights from their airlines.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the United States experienced more than one-third of all airline turbulence incidents from 2009 through 2018, resulting in one or more serious injuries without causing any damage to the planes.

Between 2009 and 2022, 163 people were seriously injured and required at least two days of hospital treatment, according to the figures.