As an aviation geek I look up all kinds of things on the day that I fly just for fun — I check out where my plane is coming from, the seatmap for the flight, the age and history of the plane, the expected actual flight time (rather than block time), etc.
Continue reading: Cool: Website Predicts Turbulence On Your Next Flight
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Lol yeah, your traffic looks to have caused that site to crash. Cool idea, there was a site where you'd send your flight info a few days before and they'd send you a turbulence report the morning of your flight (or afternoon if it was an evening flight) for a cost. Never used it, but probably was pretty decent since this was a former pilot/meteorologist or something.
I think the best though is Turbulence Forecast, max turbulence potential page. Put in your altitude (can get this off FlightAware) and you can see for current and different times in the future how bad the turbulence could get. I've found this to be very accurate and it is pretty live as well because it updates throughout the day and forecasts as I said in the future as well.
https://www.turbulenceforecast.com/mtp.php?tphr=00&tpfl=310
The current forecast for 31k right now if you were in the air. Scroll down to see the different altitudes and times.
I agree with S about Turbulenceforecast.com being excellent for this purpose. While it is far from perfect (as is any weather forecast), I have been impressed with how accurate that it has been on many of my flights, including ones where I would look at the in-flight map along with the map on this site. I have found it especially useful for things such as using the lavatory shortly before the turbulence begins.
I love turbulence. Your best chance for crazy turbulence is SE Asia. The Java sea is nuts. Otherwise the winter with strong headwinds is a good bet. You need big temperature changes that’s what causes turbulence. I hate when pilots request to change altitude to find smoother air. People in the main cabin screaming. Everyone in first class sleeps through it.
I make my own turbulence predictions. Once I saw the weather forecast. Chicago 50 degrees, Pittsburgh 33. I knew there would be turbulence over Ohio. Sure enough, it was quite bumpy. My method is not as accurate with north-south or south-north flights.
Flying to Tahiti was pretty turbulent with the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone. I would love to fly to Australia but dread any thought of being over the Pacific dodging thunderstorms. I keep thinking of the movie Castaway.
What are users expected to do with the information from Turbli? Its not as though users are going to cancel flights based on this information. If you don't like turbulence, no amount of predeparture information is going to make it any easier to manage.
Nice concept but lots of errors. Says there are no direct flights IAD-PBI tomorrow, gives the wrong number of runways at IAD and also for the flights today has the wrong aircraft type.
Really cool site! Been playing around with it and it looks like as accurate of a prediction as one could possibly expect in advance of a flight (even flight crews are surprised by turbulence sometimes). I've bookmarked this one.
'Thanks for the tip, Lucky!
Hi Brett - I like your honesty. Many would not admit their fears, and most definitely would not let it impact the bucket list travel decisions. If you really want to go and want a solution, fears are pretty easy to overcome. Look up what season and ENSO conditions lower exposure i.e. NA Fall, ENSO neutral conditions may be what you crave (don't fear). Travel on a large plane and book a seat toward the front.
Otherwise, the pilot of your aircraft (and possibly your airline) make the rest of the decisions. Only extremely rare clear air turbulance (unpredicted) and last minute pop-up storms can greatly impact you. Those are about one in a thousand situations.