Is there a known case where an aircraft crashed as a result of encountering turbulence at cruise altitude?

Question

To clarify, I'm asking specifically about a typical commercial airliner that would cruise in the 30,000+ altitude range.

Answer 1

There is no airline crash as a direct result of turbulence at cruise altitude that I know of in the last 30 years.  I am aware of smaller planes (bizjets) that have crashed after finding themselves in the middle of a thunderstorm, but nothing from clear air turbulence.

I'll gladly swallow my pride if somebody else can come up with an example.

Answer 2

Wasn't there an airline crash in the 1950s that was attributed to flying into an embedded funnel?

Answer 3

yes, but a long time a go..i think it was in japan ..it is either psa (which no longer fly) or JAL but they fly to close to mt. Fuji and they encounter mountain turbulence and loose their tail in the process ...but this problems with the tails are long gone..with better designs.

there is one a dragon air encountering typhoon above philipine and drop from 40 to 30 thousand feets but the airplane is ok, however the passenger are in shock

Answer 4

Coffeebuzz can keep his pride, there is no known history of an aircraft crash at cruise altitudes due to turbulence. Passenger injuries, yes, but no catastrophy due to structural damage in the airframe caused by turbulence.

Answer 5

I only know of cases from wind sheer

Answer 6

Not in the last 35 years anyway. I searched all the airline accidents back to 1970 and there was not a single incident of a crash due to an encounter with turbulence at cruise altitude. However, there were several reports of passengers being seriously injured by turbulence and one where a passenger was killed. Moral of the story...keep your belt fastened!

p.s. since 1987 over 1.2 billion people have traveled on airlines worldwide yet less than 100 per year were injured by turbulence. That's about 1 in 600,000. You have a better chance of being struck and killed by lightning.

Answer 7

A severe turbulence can cause structural damage at any height depending of the strength of the structure of the aircraft.  Commercial aircraft are very well designed for this and also have a very strict protocol for the inspection of them that can occur by the fatigue of metal, loose parts, worn tires and other things well taken into account by previous experience.

Answer 8

Depends on what you mean by 'cruise' altitude.

Non-commercial VFR traffic can be as low as 3000'agl

or lower in cruise.  There have been many.

If you mean Commercial IFR at FL18,000 and above,

probably not.

Unless the turbulence was severe enough to cause structural damage, recovery from an upset is easier the more altitude you have.