Haley Stevens wants more info on bumpy flights on the rise due to climate change

Friendly skies? Not so much.

And on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, won committee approval for a bill that would try to determine just how unruly they've become.

But Stevens' bill isn't attempting to track disruptive passengers, flight delays or lost luggage. Instead, it would require the federal government to do a better job recording and researching air turbulence in the wake of a report that shows — due to climate change — that incidents are on the rise and expected to get worse.

That study, led by researchers at the University of Reading in England and published this month, used atmospheric data dating to 1979 to calculate average values of what is called "clear-air turbulence," which is the kind that tends to come out of nowhere.

It found the most severe clear-air turbulence is up from 17.7 hours in 1979 to 27.4 hours in 2020 for an average point over the North Atlantic.

And before you think, "That doesn't seem like much," remember these are hours. And severe turbulence is the kind where a huge altitude change happens suddenly and the aircraft may be momentarily out of control. Unsecured objects go flying. Passengers are terrified. Forget about getting another cup of coffee.

It's no laughing matter, however. More moderate turbulence was calculated to be up significantly as well. And turbulence can harm crew and passengers — Stevens said there were at least 19 cases last year where U.S. flight attendants or passengers needed to be hospitalized for injuries — and there are estimates that damage to planes and other losses can cost the airline industry more than $150 million a year.

"Turbulence is the No. 1 cause of injuries to airline passengers and flight crews," said Stevens, whose bill was approved unanimously by the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and could catch a ride to final passage on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization legislation under consideration. "Consumers deserve to have safe flying experiences."

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Stevens' legislation attempts to address gaps in the data. The study points out that stronger vertical wind shear, which can be caused by warming temperatures, is expected to increase turbulence but it also said that research into how often aircraft are experiencing clear-air turbulence is hindered by a lack of pilot reports and other in-flight records. Meanwhile, it's also notoriously hard to predict with existing atmospheric models.

The bill would require several federal agencies, including the FAA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to put their heads together and improve how to track and record clear-air turbulence through instrumentation and pilot reports as well as how to better forecast it. The bill also calls for a report on progress 15 months after enactment.

“We should be investing in improved turbulence forecasting and detection systems to prevent the rougher air from translating into bumpier flights in the coming decades," said Paul Williams, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Reading who co-authored the study.

Hopefully, they can also do something about the legroom while they're at it.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Haley Stevens wants feds to look into increased turbulence on flights