Singapore Airline passengers endured 62 seconds of extreme turbulence on May 21 London-Singapore flight

The Singapore Airlines flight that was rocked by severe turbulence climbed and descended rapidly twice in 62 seconds, stunning the passengers with one dying of heart attack.

The Singapore Airlines (SIA) Flight SQ321 that was rocked by severe turbulence on May 21 climbed and descended rapidly twice in 62 seconds, stunning the passengers with one dying of heart attack, as the aircraft flew over the Irrawaddy Delta region of Myanmar, it emerged on May 25.

One passenger — 73-year-old Briton Geoffrey Kitchen — died, and dozens were injured in the incident. It is the first SIA aviation accident involving a fatality since the SQ006 crash in Taiwan in October 2000.

Also read: What is aircraft turbulence and how common is it? | Explainer

As the flight, which was heading to Singapore from London, experienced sudden severe turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin during the breakfast service, the pilot declared a medical emergency and diverted the plane carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, where the plane made an emergency landing at 3.45 pm (4.45 pm Singapore time).

Granular flight data from flight tracking website Flightradar24 shows that the Boeing 777-300ER climbed and descended rapidly twice in 62 seconds, starting from 3:49 pm Singapore time, as the plane was nearing the end of a non-stop flight from London to Singapore, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

During this time, the plane climbed from its cruise altitude of 37,000 feet to 37,400 feet and then dropped to 36,975 feet before settling back onto its cruise altitude.

This indicates that it was the rapid transition between the climb and descent caused by the turbulence — and not the actual change in altitude itself, which was relatively minor — that caused pandemonium in the cabin.