Extreme turbulence and technical issues: What to do when your flight takes a turn

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

Travelling is often a stressful experience, particularly over the Christmas break and summer holidays when it seems we’re all rushing to get away.  

Those trips aren’t made easy when violent turbulence or technical errors have an impact. 

In 2024, stories of extreme turbulence popped up around the world, including one case in April when a man onboard an Air New Zealand flight from Bali broke his leg, while in May, a violent Singapore Airlines flight saw dozens hospitalised and one passenger die.   

That’s on top of multiple stories locally of domestic and international flights impacted by landing and technical issues.  

To get insight on this, in July, we spoke to the chief executive of Massey University’s School of Aviation, Ashok Podavul about whether we should be concerned – and stay tuned for advice on what you can do if things go wrong for you this summer from Consumer NZ’s Jessica Walker.  

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Audio Engineers: Paddy Fox, Richard Martin
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills 

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