Frequent flyers (or even occasional) flyers fall into one of two different groups when preparing for flight. Some people take the time and effort to get as much information as possible about their upcoming flight –everything From checking the weather forecast at departure and arrival locations, to looking at the seat map on an aircraft, to looking up information about the aircraft’s age and history.
Whether you’re scared of flying, fascinated by aviation, or just want to know what’s ahead, there’s a decent amount of information out there if you know where (and want) to find it.
And then there are people who fly past the seat of their pants, show up at the airport and hope for the best. They may have chosen to receive texts or emails about flight delays or cancellations, but otherwise they can start their journey with a wing and a prayer. *
If you’re someone who wants to know all the details about your flight in advance, you might be interested in a new website that predicts if an upcoming flight has a decent chance of turbulence. Here’s what to know.
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Using Turbli, the turbulence forecasting website
It’s called Turbliand we first discovered it on the travel site One mile at a time (which is not associated with turbli). Turbli uses NOAA / NWS forecasts that pilots use to plan flights and provide turbulence forecasts for passengers up to 36 hours before their flight.
To use it, fill in your departure and destination cities and indicate whether your flight is today or tomorrow. Turbli will then pull up all flights that match that description and once you’ve selected yours, it will make predictions for your flight based on the weather and the aircraft.
What should you watch out for with this tool?
The predictions for your upcoming flight come in the form of a fairly detailed report with charts and lots of numbers. It not only predicts which parts of your flight (if any) will be most susceptible to turbulence, it also predicts the smoothness of your take-off and landing.
Even though Turbli It can be important to keep in mind that these are predictions and that there are many other factors that contribute to flight disruptions.
However, if you’re someone prone to air sickness (or anxiety) on turbulent flights, you can at least get on board the flight with an idea of what you are about to experience. Or maybe you’d prefer not to know in which case Turbli might not be the website for you.
* Of course there is nothing wrong with that. In addition, this type of information was only available to passengers for a tiny part of the history of commercial air travel. And frankly, based on vintage advertising and pop culture depictions, people on airplanes seemed pretty happy around the middle of the century: smoking cigarettes, sipping Alexander’s brandy, and sticking in their perfectly cooked steaks with real cutlery. In the trainer.
