Do flights to Hawaii have more turbulence?

Most turbulence is caused by flying over land, not water. The two main mountain ranges in the US cause most of the turbulence while flying coast to coast. Although some flights have light turbulence flying from the west coast to Hawaii, it's generally no big deal.



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Routes with the Most Turbulence
  • New York to London.
  • Seoul to Dallas.
  • Flying into certain airports near the equator. There are certain airports which are located close to the equator which means frequent thunderstorms, especially in certain seasons. ...
  • Flying into Reno, Nevada. ...
  • London to South Africa.


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Weather and jet streams Further to the safety concerns, weather over the Pacific Ocean is actually quite unpredictable (per Executive Flyers). There are many thunderstorms that occur over the ocean which can lead to turbulence.

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The Xigazê airport located in the Chinese Tibetan plateau is at an elevation of 3,800 m (12,400 ft), one of the highest in the world. Having the Himalayas range right beside it does not help in terms of turbulence, which actually makes it the most turbulent airport in the world for 2022!

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One of the best ways to beat Hawaii jet lag is to get some much-needed sleep on the plane ride over. This is especially true if you can “get” on Hawaii time by catching a few zzzz's mid-flight.

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Which Plane Handles Turbulence Best? The bigger the plane, the better! Any plane can experience turbulence, but larger planes weigh more and don't feel the impact of wind changes as much as a smaller plane. Specifically, the Airbus A380 handles turbulence very well!

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While no aircraft can avoid turbulence, passengers may feel less turbulence in widebody aircrafts, as they're larger and heavier airplanes.

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Severe turbulence can cause a plane to drop so suddenly that pilots temporarily lose control. But, again, that's not enough to crash the plane. That's not to say it's never happened. In 1966, human error and turbulence combined to bring a plane down over Mount Fuji.

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How A United Airlines Boeing 777 Almost Crashed Into The Pacific. In December 2022, a United Airlines Boeing 777 had a terrifying takeoff while departing Hawaii. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has now released its final report on the incident, and it's quite something…

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Your choices of widebody when flying to Hawaii range from Boeing 767, 777, and 787 to Airbus A330 and A350.

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Keep this in mind: Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean has two sides, and there are nonstop flights to HNL from both. It's roughly 5–6 hours over ocean if you come from the west coast of the continental U.S. or Canada. (No nonstops from Mexico, Central America, or South America.)

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Turbulence Forecast is a great website that shows you both domestic and international turbulence PIREPs (or Pilot Reports) and potential nuisance areas based on weather, etc. PIREPs are going to be the most accurate in my opinion as they are reported in real time by aircraft flying through that specific area.

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Pilots are capable of identifying areas of potential turbulence by using their knowledge of meteorology and weather patterns. One of the simplest ways we avoid turbulence is by avoiding areas with thunderstorms. Convective activity is associated with unstable air, as well as strong updrafts and downdrafts.

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Sometimes it's unavoidable to fly through light and moderate turbulence, but rest assured your pilots are working to find smooth air. If they encounter severe or extreme turbulence not forecasted, pilots will quickly climb or descend to a safe and smooth altitude.”

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“Turbulence is serious if you are not tethered down in the airplane. It's serious from an internal perspective but it's not harmful to the airplane. So, when people get frightened in turbulence, as long as they're buckled, and there's nothing around them that's going to fly around,” they are safe, explains Kiernan.

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