An aviation lawyer is questioning whether Singapore Airlines is at fault after its flight from London hit turbulence that caused a man’s death and critical injuries to many other passengers. Flight SQ321 encountered turbulence on May 21 and diverted to Bangkok. Of the 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, 23 of them were New Zealanders. 79 passengers and six crew were taken to hospital. Director of Carter Capner Law, Peter Carter, representing injured passengers on the flight, said preliminary findings released last week by the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau of Singapore raised a number of issues that point to possible fault by the airline. He said these include possible failure to take the normal precautions to avoid an obvious and large area of thunderstorms and the failure to alert passengers to fasten seat belts.   “It’s looking likely that this is not a simple case of unexpected turbulence,” Carter said. He explained that compensation is a key reason why the airline may be keeping quiet, as if the airline was not at fault, the Montréal 1999 Convention capped passenger claims at US$175,000. Inside the plane following the turbulence event on Flight SQ321. Supplied However if there was any degree of fault by an airline’s pilots or engineers there is no limit to a compensation claim. The TSIB’s preliminary report, based on initial analysis of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, stated the plane was “likely flying over an area of developing convective activity.”   Carter, who is also representing passengers on LATAM Airlines flight LA800 that plunged in March, is focusing his investigation on whether the Singapore Airlines event was associated with thunderstorms developing close to the aircraft’s flightpath. “The cockpit voice recorder will answer questions about the attention the air crew was paying to developing thunderstorms including whether they were even checking the weather radar. “Furthermore, despite a suggestion from the airline that a return to seat announcement had been made and the seatbelt sign illuminated prior to the incident, passengers we represent tell us there was no seatbelt warning at all, and that service by the flight attendants was proceeding normally.” The TSIB said before passengers were thrown into the air, “it was heard that a pilot called out that the fasten seat belt sign had been switched on.” Hot Air Sucks! Turbulence There's a type of turbulence that can’t be seen by pilots, or easily picked up by radar or satellite. It could become more prevalent.   There's a type of turbulence that can’t be seen by pilots, or easily picked up by radar or satellite. It could become more prevalent. VIDEO CREDIT: Stuff Carter said while he acknowledged the ongoing investigation, he wanted Singapore Airlines to publicly answer why the aircraft didn't divert to avoid the risk of thunderstorms and was there a discussion about doing so, how long before the incident was the weather radar monitored and the experience of the flight crew. Carter said turbulence and in-flight upsets are now the leading causes of airline cabin injuries, far exceeding the number of injuries caused by other accidents such as impact with terrain. In New Zealand, a Jetstar flight from Auckland to Dunedin had to turn back on Saturday after running into “significant turbulence”. There were no injuries. More than a third of all airline incidents in the United States from 2009 through 2018 were related to turbulence and most of them resulted in one or more serious injuries, the National Transportation Safety Board reported. NTSB figures also show that between 2009 and 2022, 163 people were injured seriously enough during turbulence events to require hospital treatment for at least two days. Research by the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, and the UK Meteorological Office says clear-air turbulence has increased over the past four decades with severe-or-greater clear-air turbulence becoming 55% more frequent in 2020 than 1979. A Qatar flight between Doha and Dublin was subject to turbulence and saw 12 people injured. Michael Probst / AP A Qatar Airways flight was also hit with turbulence between Doha and Dublin, resulting in 12 injuries, just a week after the Singapore Airlines flight. Carter said these events will likely lead to more compensation payouts. “Access to passenger compensation above the first-tier limit may depend on demonstrating how far the aircraft was from developing thunderstorms in an effort to show aircrew ought to have implemented a flightpath diversion,” he said. NIWA research meteorologist Richard Turner told Stuff Travel thunderstorms can be seen visually or on a plane’s weather radar system. “One of the problems with some turbulence is that they don't get much warning at all. It's clear air turbulence that they can be actually hard to detect, but a thunderstorm I would have thought that there would be some sort of visual warning, but if you're flying overhead and it's sort of developing beneath then that could be a bit tricky.” Emirates is adding turbulence detection tools to 140 aircraft with software that automatically shares turbulence reports among all airlines contributing to the International Air Transport Association’s information-sharing platform. The TSIB’s investigations are ongoing and as a result Singapore Airlines said it was unable to provide further details.     https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/350299788/lawyer-questions-singapore-airlines-actions-during-deadly-turbulent-flight

Wat the coordinates for dis jim? Whhh    

already say many time, this time is 4.5kg enter SG easily, what about other more dangerous weapon?

SINGAPORE: Two men were arrested on Tuesday (Jun 4) during an operation conducted by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), with an estimated S$692,000 (US$514,222) worth of drugs seized. CNB said on Thursday its officers intercepted a car in a multi-storey carpark near Choa Chu Kang Street 41 on Tuesday night, and arrested the 38-year-old driver and his 27-year-old passenger. A search of the vehicle found about 4.5kg of cannabis, 968g of Ice or methamphetamine, 63g of ketamine, 1,180 Erimin-5 tablets, about 1.1kg of Ecstasy and 181 lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) stamps. Another 50 Erimin-5 tablets were seized from a nearby riser.  Two CNB officers were injured during the operation, sustaining lacerations on their arms as the suspects - both Singaporeans - refused to comply and "resisted arrest violently". The officers subsequently received outpatient treatment for their injuries.  The cannabis and Ice seized in the operation can feed the addiction of about 1,200 abusers for a week, CNB said. "Drug traffickers only care about making profits and will stop at nothing to get it - even if it means causing harm to our society and inflicting injuries on CNB officers," Deputy Assistant Commissioner Aaron Tang, CNB's director of intelligence, added. "But this will not deter us ... in fact, this will only strengthen our resolve to work harder to disrupt their nefarious drug activities." Investigations into the drug activities of the arrested suspects are ongoing.  Anyone found guilty of trafficking more than 250g of methamphetamine or 500g of cannabis may face the mandatory death penalty.   Source: CNA/rk(sn)