Black Coffee’s bumpy journey

The incident when South African megastar musician Nkosinathi “Black Coffee” Maphumulo was badly injured as the plane he was flying in was struck by severe air turbulence is a reminder that, while air travel is statistically the safest form of transport, nature’s elements are still very powerful.

He was flying from Brazil, over Uruguay, to Argentina, where he was to perform in the coastal city of Mar Del Plata when the incident occurred.

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The plane was forced to land in Montevideo, capital of Uruguay, where the musician was taken to hospital. Unfortunately for him, the plane’s flight path took it through some of the areas in South America worst affected by atmospheric turbulence.

Radar and other systems have vastly improved over the years since a British Airways Boeing 707 disintegrated because of severe “clear air turbulence” around Mount Fuki in Japan in 1966, so the dangers of weather can be minimised.

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However, the reality is that systems in our atmosphere can still be unpredictable.

Moral of the story: If you are in bumpy weather and the aircrew of the plane tell you to fasten your seatbelts, don’t ignore them…