Is it safe for passenger planes to hit air pockets?
Thomas – Design limits for aircraft are typically many times the loads that result from encountering turbulence. Turbulence seems alarming to passengers, but it is very rare for turbulence itself to cause an accident during actual flight conditions. This is even more true for commercial passenger aircraft, which are generally large enough to be only minimally affected by wake turbulence from other aircraft or by CAT (clear air turbulence). There are weather related conditions that are more of a concern than turbulence, e.g. rain ingestion, downdrafts on final approach, icing, etc. But these are well understood and can be handled by reasonably skilled aircrews with proper training and a little judgment. Air pockets and turbulence are relatively minor concerns. ADDED: Please forgive me for using a term – air pocket – that is more popular and commonly used than the more technically correct “turbulence.” Personally, I think it’s sort of descriptive, and it was after all part of the questio
