Latest news with #Davies
BBC News
5 hours ago
- Science
- BBC News
Why plane turbulence is really becoming more frequent and severe
Andrew Davies was on his way to New Zealand to work on a Doctor Who exhibition, for which he was project manager. The first leg of his flight from London to Singapore was fairly smooth. Then suddenly the plane hit severe turbulence."Being on a rollercoaster is the only way I can describe it," he recalls. "After being pushed into my seat really hard, we suddenly dropped. My iPad hit me in the head, coffee went all over me. There was devastation in the cabin with people and debris everywhere. "People were crying and [there was] just disbelief about what had happened."Mr Davies was, he says, "one of the lucky ones".Other passengers were left with gashes and broken bones. Geoff Kitchen, who was 73, died of a heart as a consequence of turbulence is extremely rare. There are no official figures but there are estimated to have been roughly four deaths since 1981. Injuries, however, tell a different story. In the US alone, there have been 207 severe injuries - where an individual has been admitted to hospital for more than 48 hours - since 2009, official figures from the National Transportation Safety Board show. (Of these, 166 were crew and may not have been seated.)But as climate change shifts atmospheric conditions, experts warn that air travel could become bumpier: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence. "We can expect a doubling or tripling in the amount of severe turbulence around the world in the next few decades," says Professor Paul Williams, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Reading. "For every 10 minutes of severe turbulence experienced now, that could increase to 20 or 30 minutes."So, if turbulence does get more intense, could it become more dangerous too - or are there clever ways that airlines can better "turbulence-proof" their planes? The bumpy North Atlantic route Severe turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a plane going through disturbed air exert more than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a show that there are around 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a total of more than 35 million flights that now take off the severe injuries caused to passengers flying throughout 2023 - almost 40% were caused by turbulence, according to the annual safety report by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The route between the UK and the US, Canada and the Caribbean is among the areas known to have been affected. Over the past 40 years, since satellites began observing the atmosphere, there has been a 55% increase in severe turbulence over the North the frequency of turbulence is projected to increase in other areas too according to a recent study - among them, parts of East Asia, North Africa, North Pacific, North America and the Middle East. The knock-on effect of climate change There are three main causes of turbulence: convective (clouds or thunderstorms), orographic (air flow around mountainous areas) and clear-air (changes in wind direction or speed).Each type could bring severe turbulence. Convective and orographic are often more avoidable - it is the clear-air turbulence that, as the name might imply, cannot be seen. Sometimes it seemingly comes out of nowhere. Climate change is a major factor in driving up both convective and clear-air the relationship between climate change and thunderstorms is complex, a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture - and that extra heat and moisture combine to make more intense this back to turbulence — convective turbulence is created by the physical process of air rising and falling in the atmosphere, specifically within clouds. And you won't find more violent up and downdrafts than in cumulonimbus, or thunderstorm was the cause of the severe turbulence on Andrew Davies's journey back in 2024. A report by Singapore's Transport Safety Investigation Bureau found that the plane was "likely flying over an area of developing convective activity" over south Myanmar, leading to "19 seconds of extreme turbulence that included a drop of 178 feet in just under five seconds". One study from the US published in the Science journal in 2014 showed that for 1C increase in global temperature, lightning strikes increase by 12%.Captain Nathan Davies, a commercial airline pilot, says: "I have noticed more large storm cells spreading 80 miles plus in diameter in the last few years, something you'd expect to be rare."But he adds: "The large cumulonimbus clouds are easy to spot visually unless embedded within other clouds, so we can go around them." Clear-air turbulence could also soon rise. It is caused by disturbed air in and around the jet stream, (a fast-moving wind at around six miles in the atmosphere, which is the same height as where planes cruise).Wind speeds in the jet stream travelling from west to east across the Atlantic can vary from 160mph to 250mph. There is colder air to the north and warmer air to the south: this temperature difference and change in winds is useful for airliners to use as a tailwind to save time and fuel. But it also creates the turbulent air."Climate change is warming the air to the south of the jet stream more than the air to the north so that temperature difference is being made stronger," explains Prof Williams. "Which in turn is driving a stronger jet stream." 'It should worry us all' The increase in severe turbulence - enough to lift you out of your seat - could potentially bring more incidents of injury, or possibly death in the most severe cases. And some passengers are Mr Davies, the prospect of more turbulence is worrying. "A lot. Not just for me, but my children too," he explains. "I'm pleased there hasn't been an incident as severe as mine but I think it should worry us all".More than a fifth of UK adults say they are scared of flying, according to a recent YouGov survey, and worsening turbulence could make journeys even more of a nightmare for these people. As Wendy Barker, a nervous flyer from Norfolk, told me: "More turbulence to me equals more chance of something going wrong and less chance of survival."Aircraft wings are, however, designed to fly through turbulent air. As Chris Keane, a former pilot and now ground-school instructor says, "you won't believe how flexible a wing is. In a 747 passenger aircraft, under 'destructive' testing, the wings are bent upwards by some 25 degrees before they snap, which is really extreme and something that will never happen, even in the most severe turbulence."For airlines, however, there is a hidden concern: that is the economic costs of more turbulence. The hidden cost of turbulence AVTECH, a tech company that monitors climate and temperature changes - and works with the Met Office to help warn pilots of turbulence - suggests that the costs can range from £180,000 to £1.5 million per airline includes the costs of having to check and maintain aircraft after severe turbulence, compensation costs if a flight has to be diverted or delayed, and costs associated with being in the wrong location. Eurocontrol, a civil-military organisation that helps European aviation understand climate change risks, says that diverting around turbulence-producing storms can have a wider impact - for example, if lots of aircraft are having to change flight paths, airspace can get more crowded in certain areas."[This] increases workload for pilots and air traffic controllers considerably," says a Eurocontrol to fly around storms also means extra fuel and 2019 for example, Eurocontrol says bad weather "forced airlines to fly one million extra kilometres, producing 19,000 extra tonnes of CO2."With extreme weather predicted to increase, they expect flights will need to divert around bad weather such as storms and turbulence even more by 2050. "Further driving up the costs to airlines, passengers and [increasing] their carbon footprint." How airlines are turbulence-proofing Forecasting turbulence has got better in recent years and while it is not perfect, Prof Williams suggests we can correctly forecast about 75% of clear-air turbulence."Twenty years ago it was more like 60% so thanks to better research that figure is going up and up over time," he have weather radar that will pick up storms ahead. As Capt Davies explains, "Before a flight, most airlines will produce a flight plan that details areas of turbulence likely throughout the route, based on computer modelling."It is not 100% accurate, but "it gives a very good idea combined with other aircraft and Air Traffic Control reports once we are en-route". Southwest Airlines in the US recently decided to end cabin service earlier, at 18,000ft instead of the previous 10,000ft. By having the crew and passengers seated with belts on ready for landing at this altitude, Southwest Airlines suggests it will cut turbulence-related injuries by 20%.Also last year, Korean Airlines decided to stop serving noodles to its economy passengers as it had reported a doubling of turbulence since 2019, which raised the risk of passengers getting burned. From owls to AI: extreme measures Some studies have taken turbulence-proofing even further, and looked at alternative ways to build wings. Veterinarians and engineers have studied how a barn owl flies so smoothly in gusty winds, and discovered wings act like a suspension and stabilise the head and torso when flying through disturbed study published in the Royal Society proceedings in 2020 concluded that "a suitably tuned, hinged-wing design could also be useful in small-scale aircraft…helping reject gusts and turbulence".Separately, a start-up in Austria called Turbulence Solutions claims to have created turbulence cancelling technology for light aircraft, where a sensor detects turbulent air and sends a signal to a flap on the wing which counteracts that can reduce moderate turbulence by 80% in light aircraft, according to the company's CEO. Then there are those arguing that AI could be a solution. Fourier Adaptive Learning and Control (FALCON) is a type of technology being researched at the California Institute of Technology that learns how turbulent air flows across a wing in real-time. It also anticipates the turbulence, giving commands to a flap on the wing which then adjusts to counteract Finlay Ashley, an aerospace engineer and member of Safe Landing, a community of aviation workers calling for a more sustainable future in aviation, explained that these types of technology are some time away. "[They're] unlikely to appear on large commercial aircraft within the next couple of decades."But even if turbulence does become more frequent, and more severe, experts argue this isn't cause for worry. "It's generally nothing more than annoying," says Captain it might mean more time sitting down, with the seat-belt Davies has already learnt this the hard way: "I do get a lot more nervous and don't look forward to flying like I used to," he admits. "But I won't let it define me."The moment I sit down, my seat belt goes on and if I do need to get up, I pick my moment - then I'm quickly back in my seat, buckled up again."Top Image credit: Ivan-balvan via GETTY BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below.
The Age
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Comedian Alan Davies' career changed once he admitted, ‘I'm one of those'
It's second thing Monday in London. 'I had to call the vet because the dog's got a bad paw,' Alan Davies explains. 'All her behaviour is normal, then I go to touch her paw and she goes –' he makes an alarmed dog noise. 'There's no talking to her about it. So we're off down the vet. That'll be a bargain.' We're either 30 seconds into a Zoom meeting or I'm accidentally streaming Alan Davies on YouTube. Like one of his tangential anecdotes on QI, the story is unremarkable but oddly compelling. There might even be a pay-off. 'I'm taking her at 3.30. I could call you back for an update?' After more than 35 years on stage and TV, Davies knows this space between life and funny like the back of his paw. He knew he wanted to be a comedian at 16. But it took writing three memoirs – White Male Stand-Up is out in September – to understand why. 'Eddie Izzard and I started out together in stand-up,' he recalls. 'Like me, he also lost his mother when he was six years old, and he told me early on he thinks that [seeking] the love of the audience was an attempt to replace the unconditional love of his mother. 'I wasn't having it at the time. But as I've got older I think he's probably right. It's still the case. The audience laughing and applauding makes you feel good in a way, perhaps, that I need.' Just Ignore Him is the title of Davies' 2020 book. It's something his dad used to say to undermine his credibility. This was because his dad began molesting him when he was eight or nine – two or three years after his mother died, of cancer, under especially cruel circumstances. Telling that story, after a lifetime pretending to ignore it, 'changed a lot of things', he says. 'Prose was the only way. As a comedian I'd not been able to tell it.' Nor would there be any value in his audience wondering, 'Why's he saying all this sad shit?' when he brings his new stand-up show, Think Ahead, to Australia in November. 'But I've tried to access it a bit,' he says, 'and I do that by talking about being an older comedian. 'I'm turning 60 next year. How do I approach comedy? How do I approach who I am when I'm speaking to the audience? And how was I approaching it when I was younger? Why was I behaving like I did on stage in my 20s? Why is it different? 'I can tell you why it was different: because these facts were unknown to you. I was concealing them, and I was creating a persona to navigate my life with, and I thought I'd cracked it. And then you find later in life you haven't cracked it, you've just got a facade, and the facade starts to annoy you, as much as it perhaps does those audience members who don't like your show who have spotted it. 'So it's a bit of a reappraisal. Some of that is prompted from being able to mine the material in the book.' Think Ahead, you'd assume, will be progressive by definition. 'I can't remember why I called it Think Ahead. That's probably all you need to know,' he says with a laugh. But he does know it's a relatively new headspace. 'When I started doing stand-up I was 22. I did a drama degree at university, then I started doing open spots on the London comedy circuit, which was quite a nice thing in the late '80s. It was all these little comedy clubs that were run by individuals who you'd ring on their landline, they'd put you in for a spot a few months away, then if you went down well they'd book you three months further on. 'So your diary was never more than three months ahead. After that it was literally blank for the rest of your life, and that suited me at that time. I liked that feeling of 'I'm not tied into anything'.' Those blank days are long gone. Booming comedy career aside, Davies' kids with his wife Katie Maskell – a fellow writer of books, TV and radio – are 15, 14 and nine, so school has the future block-booked for the medium term at least. TAKE 7: THE ANSWERS ACCORDING TO ALAN DAVIES Worst habit? Overeating. My nine-year-old had a taste of something the other day, and he said, 'Oh, that's disgusting. Give it to Dad.' And, sure enough, I ate it. Greatest fear? Dying. I was asked by my publishers to write a list of how many of the people in my new book are now dead, and I think there are 35. So, yeah, it bothers me. The line that has stayed with you? 'Why is it important?' [via actress Fiona Shaw]. That's a good question to ask of anything you're doing. Or watching. Especially online. Biggest regret? Not dealing with the stuff with my father earlier. Favourite book? Recently it's Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. The artwork/song you wish was yours? A New England. I really revere Billy Bragg. He grew up not far from me, in Essex. If you could time-travel, where would you choose to go? I imagined being at my own funeral and seeing what people were saying. Then I suddenly had a terrible fear: what if Katie and the kids are not there? But I did a podcast with [astronomer] Brian Cox and he reassured me that time travel is impossible. So don't worry about it. 'On top of that, your own mortality comes into play,' he says. 'This is one of the hardest things to manage in life, is the length of it. I mean, we're obsessed with the length of things. How long will it take to walk to the cinema? You go on your maps app and it says nine minutes, and you're thinking, 'I could shave a minute off that'. 'How long is the film? How long will it take to cook the potatoes? We demand to know those things. But how long are you going to live for?' He makes a grunty 'dunno' noise. 'It's really troubling when you get to an age where, let's face it, people start disappearing all around you.' The suggestion that he log onto and type in his particulars makes him splutter. 'What if it says next Tuesday? Then what do you do?' In his case, probably a stand-up gig. He's described it as the love of his life, despite giving it away for 10 years when a show at the Comedy Store in London went wrong in the early 2000s. Thrown by a heckling audience, he felt his burgeoning profile as a wisecracking sleuth in Jonathan Creek and his many other TV gigs had dulled his impact. It was an Australian promoter friend, Marnie Foulis, who convinced him to get back on stage in Melbourne in 2011. He's only since stopped to write his books. But these days his 'why?' radar is ever more acute. Loading 'Once you've established that you have that skill to make people laugh, what choices you're making in the subject matter becomes more important to you. If you're 23 and you're just learning, 'Well, I need to get a laugh. Shopping trolleys! They never go straight. And then your kid goes in it, and …' Yeah, I could do five on that. 'When you get older you think, 'Who gives a shit about shopping trolleys? No one. Shut up about shopping trolleys. You're a 59-year-old man talking about shopping trolleys. What do you really want to talk about?'' One of the things that fuelled Just Ignore Him was a website called 'which is the number of men and boys who have been abused in some form or another', he says. 'It made me think about all the audiences that I play to, all the people sitting in silence with their secret troubles, and I thought, OK, I'll be the one who stands up and says, 'I'm one of those'. 'I'm not going to dwell on it. It's just a fact. It's affected me in this way and that way. And here I am with my comedy show in which it's a small part because that's how I prefer to think of it. There comes a time when you just think, 'I need to work out what it is that I've been trying to say for 35 years'. And it could take that long to get there.'
Sydney Morning Herald
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Comedian Alan Davies' career changed once he admitted, ‘I'm one of those'
It's second thing Monday in London. 'I had to call the vet because the dog's got a bad paw,' Alan Davies explains. 'All her behaviour is normal, then I go to touch her paw and she goes –' he makes an alarmed dog noise. 'There's no talking to her about it. So we're off down the vet. That'll be a bargain.' We're either 30 seconds into a Zoom meeting or I'm accidentally streaming Alan Davies on YouTube. Like one of his tangential anecdotes on QI, the story is unremarkable but oddly compelling. There might even be a pay-off. 'I'm taking her at 3.30. I could call you back for an update?' After more than 35 years on stage and TV, Davies knows this space between life and funny like the back of his paw. He knew he wanted to be a comedian at 16. But it took writing three memoirs – White Male Stand-Up is out in September – to understand why. 'Eddie Izzard and I started out together in stand-up,' he recalls. 'Like me, he also lost his mother when he was six years old, and he told me early on he thinks that [seeking] the love of the audience was an attempt to replace the unconditional love of his mother. 'I wasn't having it at the time. But as I've got older I think he's probably right. It's still the case. The audience laughing and applauding makes you feel good in a way, perhaps, that I need.' Just Ignore Him is the title of Davies' 2020 book. It's something his dad used to say to undermine his credibility. This was because his dad began molesting him when he was eight or nine – two or three years after his mother died, of cancer, under especially cruel circumstances. Telling that story, after a lifetime pretending to ignore it, 'changed a lot of things', he says. 'Prose was the only way. As a comedian I'd not been able to tell it.' Nor would there be any value in his audience wondering, 'Why's he saying all this sad shit?' when he brings his new stand-up show, Think Ahead, to Australia in November. 'But I've tried to access it a bit,' he says, 'and I do that by talking about being an older comedian. 'I'm turning 60 next year. How do I approach comedy? How do I approach who I am when I'm speaking to the audience? And how was I approaching it when I was younger? Why was I behaving like I did on stage in my 20s? Why is it different? 'I can tell you why it was different: because these facts were unknown to you. I was concealing them, and I was creating a persona to navigate my life with, and I thought I'd cracked it. And then you find later in life you haven't cracked it, you've just got a facade, and the facade starts to annoy you, as much as it perhaps does those audience members who don't like your show who have spotted it. 'So it's a bit of a reappraisal. Some of that is prompted from being able to mine the material in the book.' Think Ahead, you'd assume, will be progressive by definition. 'I can't remember why I called it Think Ahead. That's probably all you need to know,' he says with a laugh. But he does know it's a relatively new headspace. 'When I started doing stand-up I was 22. I did a drama degree at university, then I started doing open spots on the London comedy circuit, which was quite a nice thing in the late '80s. It was all these little comedy clubs that were run by individuals who you'd ring on their landline, they'd put you in for a spot a few months away, then if you went down well they'd book you three months further on. 'So your diary was never more than three months ahead. After that it was literally blank for the rest of your life, and that suited me at that time. I liked that feeling of 'I'm not tied into anything'.' Those blank days are long gone. Booming comedy career aside, Davies' kids with his wife Katie Maskell – a fellow writer of books, TV and radio – are 15, 14 and nine, so school has the future block-booked for the medium term at least. TAKE 7: THE ANSWERS ACCORDING TO ALAN DAVIES Worst habit? Overeating. My nine-year-old had a taste of something the other day, and he said, 'Oh, that's disgusting. Give it to Dad.' And, sure enough, I ate it. Greatest fear? Dying. I was asked by my publishers to write a list of how many of the people in my new book are now dead, and I think there are 35. So, yeah, it bothers me. The line that has stayed with you? 'Why is it important?' [via actress Fiona Shaw]. That's a good question to ask of anything you're doing. Or watching. Especially online. Biggest regret? Not dealing with the stuff with my father earlier. Favourite book? Recently it's Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. The artwork/song you wish was yours? A New England. I really revere Billy Bragg. He grew up not far from me, in Essex. If you could time-travel, where would you choose to go? I imagined being at my own funeral and seeing what people were saying. Then I suddenly had a terrible fear: what if Katie and the kids are not there? But I did a podcast with [astronomer] Brian Cox and he reassured me that time travel is impossible. So don't worry about it. 'On top of that, your own mortality comes into play,' he says. 'This is one of the hardest things to manage in life, is the length of it. I mean, we're obsessed with the length of things. How long will it take to walk to the cinema? You go on your maps app and it says nine minutes, and you're thinking, 'I could shave a minute off that'. 'How long is the film? How long will it take to cook the potatoes? We demand to know those things. But how long are you going to live for?' He makes a grunty 'dunno' noise. 'It's really troubling when you get to an age where, let's face it, people start disappearing all around you.' The suggestion that he log onto and type in his particulars makes him splutter. 'What if it says next Tuesday? Then what do you do?' In his case, probably a stand-up gig. He's described it as the love of his life, despite giving it away for 10 years when a show at the Comedy Store in London went wrong in the early 2000s. Thrown by a heckling audience, he felt his burgeoning profile as a wisecracking sleuth in Jonathan Creek and his many other TV gigs had dulled his impact. It was an Australian promoter friend, Marnie Foulis, who convinced him to get back on stage in Melbourne in 2011. He's only since stopped to write his books. But these days his 'why?' radar is ever more acute. Loading 'Once you've established that you have that skill to make people laugh, what choices you're making in the subject matter becomes more important to you. If you're 23 and you're just learning, 'Well, I need to get a laugh. Shopping trolleys! They never go straight. And then your kid goes in it, and …' Yeah, I could do five on that. 'When you get older you think, 'Who gives a shit about shopping trolleys? No one. Shut up about shopping trolleys. You're a 59-year-old man talking about shopping trolleys. What do you really want to talk about?'' One of the things that fuelled Just Ignore Him was a website called 'which is the number of men and boys who have been abused in some form or another', he says. 'It made me think about all the audiences that I play to, all the people sitting in silence with their secret troubles, and I thought, OK, I'll be the one who stands up and says, 'I'm one of those'. 'I'm not going to dwell on it. It's just a fact. It's affected me in this way and that way. And here I am with my comedy show in which it's a small part because that's how I prefer to think of it. There comes a time when you just think, 'I need to work out what it is that I've been trying to say for 35 years'. And it could take that long to get there.'
BBC News
13 hours ago
- BBC News
Coventry community wildlife mural vandalised by suspected tagger
A "stunning" wildlife mural created by local residents has been vandalised by what is thought to be a August 2024, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust commissioned local artist Michael Batchelor to work with residents to create the mural under the brook bridge near Winslow Close in Eastern Green, 22 July, what was once an image of ducks among flowers and greenery, was covered in black paint with the words "pusher" written across the area in capital Davies from the trust said he felt "equally disappointed and surprised" at the loss of the community artwork but says the trust would look at options to bring back the mural. "We would absolutely love to see a scenario where we can recreate the mural and give it back to a local community where it was so loved."We can't make any promises but we're looking into it and we'd absolutely love to do something with the mural and see what we can do to put this right," he new graffiti also read 'I'm always pushing' at the entrance to the underpass, along with an Instagram tag @pusherglobal in the top right, and a video of someone running alongside it posted to the account. On Facebook, councillor Jayne Innes described the damaging of the mural as "a wanton act of vandalism" and encouraged anyone with information to contact the police on 101 or her directly."On Tuesday a wanton piece of vandalism destroyed most of the mural. The police are investigating this as criminal damage"The stunning mural was much loved by residents - adults and children alike," her post Davies said the loss of the mural was a blow to the community."We all equally felt disappointed and surprised for the loss of our community mural, which was a lovely nature mural."We're all quite saddened to see a sudden change to it," he said. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
NZ Herald
a day ago
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Jeanette Davies secures back-to-back BMX world championships
Jeanette Davies (right) has taken out first place in the 40+ women's cruiser class at the UCI BMX World Championships in Copenhagen. Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Already a subscriber? Sign in here Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. Jeanette Davies (right) has taken out first place in the 40+ women's cruiser class at the UCI BMX World Championships in Copenhagen. Rotorua's Jeanette Davies is a world champion again. The Rotorua BMX Club rider has taken out first place in the 40+ women's cruiser class at the UCI BMX World Championships in Copenhagen. It's the second year in a row Davies has won the event. The Rotorua BMX Club said her determination, strength, and consistency on the world stage was simply phenomenal. 'Back-to-back world champion, that's no small feat.'
