TURBULENCE IN CHINA

In response to Agnes Wong’s question in the January/February 2018 issue regarding turbulence over flights to Shanghai, I’m a pilot for an airline in Australia that flies to China. Your reader is correct in saying turbulence over China is worse, however it’s not for the reason you responded with – though the varying mountainous terrain and extreme weather patterns in winter definitely add to the problem.

China’s airspace is almost entirely military and highly restrictive. For example, if you were to route from Hong Kong to Zhengzhou, there’s effectively only one route or corridor of airspace you can take. We often deviate off track laterally to avoid bad weather, sometimes requiring up to 100 miles to avoid [it], but Chinese ATC (air traffic control) is often unable to permit our request due to the military airspace either side. Adding to this problem is that should you wish to climb to a higher altitude to avoid said weather you can’t do that either, because there are others on the same corridor both above and below you. Compare this to Australia for example, where we frequently deviate to avoid storms, and it’s usually not an issue getting a clearance from ATC to do so.

The corridors in Australia/the rest of the world are not so set in stone; you could have five planes all at once going from Perth to Melbourne on entirely different routes without issue.

I believe having almost all airspace controlled by the military is unique to China. This certainly makes f lying in China interesting, a bit more bumpy, and I hope it answered the reader’s question in layman’s terms.

Name and address supplied

To provide more information on why it is potentially more turbulent over China, there are two factors specific to the region. One is the large patches of restricted military airspace… The other is that increased smog and carbon pollution can also create increased turbulence. A study conducted over the South China Sea found that thunderstorm build-up was twice as likely to occur over frequent shipping lanes, and concluded that it was due to the carbon output of merchant vessels’ exhaust. Fine smog particles in the air assist ice formation in the atmosphere and produce stronger storms, leading to turbulence.

Andrew Mizzi, Hong Kong