Turbulence Hotspots: Study Identifies the World's Roughest Air Routes

Anxiety surrounding air travel has been growing among the public in recent weeks and months.

Between the deadly crash in Washington D.C. earlier this year and several near misses, as well as FAA staff being slashed by the new U.S. president, it’s not exactly surprising that anxiety is spiking.

If turbulence is one of the factors that causes you anxiety when flying, then bookmark this story. A new study has been released, which identifies the most turbulent air travel routes globally.

The study was conducted by turbulence tracking company Turbli and is based on a review of turbulence forecast data provided by NOAA and the UK Met Office. The result of this effort is a ranking of the most unstable flight routes worldwide.

And coming in at the top of the list (meaning the most turbulent flight route) is the route from Mendoza, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile. The eddy dissipation rate (EDR), which is essentially turbulence intensity, associated with this route is 24.684.

To put that into some context, that’s 4 EDR greater than the second most turbulent flight path identified by the research. Coming in second is the route between Cordoba, Argentina and Santiago, Chile, which has an EDR of 20.214.

As it turns out the third most turbulent route on the list is also an Argentina-based route. It is the route between Mendoza, Argentina and Salta, Argentina. This flight route has an EDR of 19.825.

Turbulence is an irregular motion of the air resulting from eddies and vertical currents, according to the National Weather Service.

“Turbulence is one of the most unpredictable of all the weather phenomena that are of significance to pilots,” says the National Weather Service website. “It may be as insignificant as a few annoying bumps or severe enough to momentarily throw an airplane out of control or to cause structural damage.”

Turbulence is associated with fronts, wind shear, and thunderstorms.

Here are the top 10 most turbulent globally.

• Mendoza (MDZ) - Santiago (SCL)  
EDR: 24.684 
• Cordoba (COR) - Santiago (SCL) 
EDR: 20.214 
• Mendoza (MDZ) - Salta (SLA) 
EDR: 19.825 
• Mendoza (MDZ) - San Carlos de Bariloche (BRC) 
EDR: 19.252 
• Kathmandu (KTM) - Lhasa (LXA) 
EDR: 18.817 
• Chengdu (CTU) - Lhasa (LXA) 
EDR: 18.644 
• Santa Cruz (VVI) - Santiago (SCL) 
EDR: 18.598 
• Kathmandu (KTM) - Paro (PBH) 
EDR: 18.563 
• Chengdu (CTU) - Xining (XNN) 
EDR: 18.482 
• San Carlos de Bariloche (BRC) - Santiago (SCL) 
EDR: 18.475
  
  

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