@newyorker: Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321 was 37,000 feet above the Irrawaddy River, in Myanmar—three hours from its scheduled landing in Singapore—when the turbulence started. At 7:49:32 A.M., according to the flight’s data recorder, the pilots switched on the “Fasten Seat Belt” sign and told the flight attendants to secure the cabin. Eight seconds later, the plane plummeted. Within five seconds, it had dropped 178 feet—about the height of a 19-story building. “Whoever wasn’t buckled down, they were just launched into the air within the cabin,” one passenger said. “I saw people from across the aisle just going completely horizontal, hitting the ceiling.” “I’m not an especially fearful flier, but I dread turbulence all the same,”  Burkhard Bilger writes, in his latest for the magazine. To report his piece, he tried to find the most turbulent flight possible—and explored why skies are becoming bumpier. Read it at the link in our bio. #turbulence #travel #journalism

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Thursday 12 March 2026 20:20:58 GMT