Small plane almost flipped over by severe turbulence
A pilot hit such severe turbulence in the skies over Ohio that the small plane he was flying almost flipped over, according to authorities.
The National Weather Service said that the pilot in the Aero Commander plane encountered extremely bumpy conditions over the southeast part of the state on Wednesday morning.
The “severe” rating is the third of four levels of turbulence severity and can cause pilots to lose control of the aircraft, says the NWS Aviation Weather Center.
“We don’t see pilot reports like this every day: ‘PILOT SAID ALMOST FLIPPED OVER,’” the NWS AWC tweeted.
The post also included a map of the Midwest region where the turbulence took place. The plane was at around 3,000ft near the eastern Indiana border when the incident happened.
“When pilots encounter bad flying conditions, they often send out reports to let other pilots know what to expect,” the NWS AWC said in response to one response.
“This pilot reported severe turbulence and added a remark to describe how bad it was. It caught our attention because it was very unusual.”
Jonathan Leffler, AWC Chief of Domestic Operations Branch, told Newsweek that the plane in question was a small private aircraft.
“Small aircraft are more susceptible to changes in windspeed versus industry-type aircraft,” he said.
“They will feel turbulence more when flying than in larger aircraft like a Boeing 737 or even a regional jet.”
There have been a string of crashes involving small aircraft this month.
A single-engine Beechcraft Sierra aircraft crashed into a building north of Keene Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene, New Hampshire, killing both people on board.
A small plane also crashed into a car dealership parking lot near the border of Ohio and West Virginia early Tuesday, killing two people on board and starting a large fire.
Turbulence is a sudden shift in airflow. Those irregular motions in the atmosphere create air currents that create the bumps felt by pilots and passengers during flight.
