Due to turbulence and difficulty finding an emergency landing site, pilots often avoid flying over mountainous areas such as Tibet.
Turbulence when flying over mountains can threaten the safety of the flight. Image: Ladible
If we look at the flight paths of planes moving around the world, it is easy to see that they do not fly in a straight line to their destination and very few fly over Tibet. Tibet’s terrain includes many mountains and plateaus at high altitudes. This may not seem like a problem for planes, which can fly higher than the mountains, but this is why planes often avoid flying over the area, according to IFL Science.
One problem with flying over Tibet is that the mountains lead to a lot of turbulence. Turbulence is a disturbance in the air, similar to the motion of waves and ocean currents. If there are no obstacles in the path of the incoming wave, it will flow smoothly. But if it hits the breakwater, it will break, according to Darren Ansell, head of the Department of Aerospace and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Central Lancashire.
“When air rushes over man-made structures and natural terrain such as mountains, the flow of air is disrupted, causing the air above and around it to become turbulent. If taking off or landing from a nearby airport mountain range or hilly area, you will most likely experience this type of turbulence during takeoff and shortly after,” Ansell explains.
Although it is possible to fly over Tibet, the mountains can make the flight bumpy. Another issue is safety. The plane flew higher than the average altitude of 5,000 m in the area. But if the cabin depressurizes in the rare event, the pilot needs to descend to an altitude of 3,000 m (where the air is breathable), before attempting to land at a nearby airport. This became a problem in Tibet as descending to that altitude would make it easy for them to crash into the mountains. Due to the lack of areas to conduct emergency landings, aircraft that do not have to land at regional airports will avoid flying over Tibet.