TWO popular European holiday destinations have been revealed as some of the most bumpy.
Passengers flying from Milan to Geneva will experience the most turbulent route in Europe – with the flights making the top ten list according to a new report.
The world’s most turbulent route was from Chile’s capital, Santiago to Santa Cruz in Bolivia
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The world’s most turbulent route was from Chile’s capital, Santiago to Santa Cruz in BoliviaCredit: Getty
Turbuli has analysed around 150,000 routes worldwide and has ranked them according to “eddy dissipation rate” which is described as the “measure of the turbulence intensity at a given spot”.
In Europe, Milan to Zurich was ranked the second most turbulent route.
There are 376 direct flights per week from Milan to Zurich and 379 from Milan to Geneva.
These were the only two routes in Europe to feature in the world’s top ten most turbulent journeys.
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Other European routes with high levels of turbulence included Nice to Basel and Frankfurt to Caselle Torinese in Italy.
Zurich is the most common destination for the most turbulent routes in Europe.
Turbili founder, Ignacio Gallego Marcos explained that routes over the Alps “appear high in ranking due to mountain wave turbulence over the Andes and the Alps.”
He also said that jet steams which are “a core of string winds around five to seven miles above the Earth’s surface, blowing from west to east”, is also another factor.
For example, this can explain why Zurich features five times in the ten most turbulent routes in Europe.
If you find yourself on one of these turbulent flights try to sit near the front or in the middle.
These are the best areas to sit on a plane to minimise the feeling of turbulence.
The front and middle of the plane experience less noticeable effects of turbulence such as wind, drag and lift – whereas, the back of the plane could feel like a rollercoaster.
Turbulence is considered the worst part of flying for some passengers.
It’s caused by “irregular movements of air that create sharp, quick updrafts and downdrafts”.
The most common type is clear air turbulence (CAT) – which causes the most injuries to travellers and crew due to its unpredictability.
Yet, the majority of flyers have experienced a form of mild turbulence and it is widely accepted that it poses little or no threat to modern commercial aircraft.
A few unlucky travellers would’ve also experienced severe turbulence with some figures estimating one in every 50,000 journeys affected.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the average number of injuries related to severe turbulence over a year in the US is 33, according to data taken over the last 16 years.
