Will Your Next Flight Be Hit By Turbulence? You Can Find Out Before Takeoff

If flights make you nervous, join the club. You're not alone if, right before a flight, you start obsessively checking the departure time, tracking your flight, and thanks to recent headlines, even Googling whether your aircraft is an Airbus or Boeing.

For someone with flight anxiety, everything becomes a trigger. The loud noise before take-off or landing, the smell of the aircraft, the sudden ding of the seatbelt sign -- each can feel like one step closer to a panic attack. But nothing makes the heart race quite like turbulence.

Let's be honest, turbulence during take-off and landing is scary but at least somewhat manageable. You can mentally prepare for it. But the sudden, unpredictable ones that arrive mid-air? Or the kind where the captain suddenly comes on the intercom and calmly instructs, "Please fasten your seatbelts"? That's peak anxiety. The worst part? The unpredictability.

Turbulence during take-off and landing is still manageable. Photo: Unsplash

But what if we told you there's now an app that can help reduce that unpredictability?

Enter: Turbli

Turbli is a free web-based turbulence forecasting app that allows you to check the expected turbulence levels for your flight route before you even board the plane. Think of it as a weather forecast, but specifically for air travel.

Created with the help of real-time data from aviation and meteorological sources, Turbli maps out areas of expected turbulence based on the flight path you input.

The app was developed by Dr Ignacio Gallego Marcos, a physicist and turbulence researcher. 

"Turbulence is, to some extent, predictable. I have run many simulations analysing turbulence, so I knew that building a flight turbulence forecast was possible. After much though on how to frame it correctly I began the development in 2019, and launched Turbli in July 2020,"  Marcos mentions on the website. 

How To Use It

Using Turbli is simple:

1. Visit the website [turbli.com](https://turbli.com) (there's no separate app to download).

2. Now, if you're using it from India, we would suggest, using the interactive map, rather than entering  your departure and destination airports. Here's the link. 

3. Select the details of your flight. The time, altitude, the locations. 

4. Click on 'Get forecast'/ 'Generate forecast'. 

4. And, within seconds, you'll receive a turbulence forecast interactive map showing the level of expected turbulence throughout the route, rated from light to severe.

You can also view wind and weather patterns along the way, which are factored into turbulence predictions.

We gave the site a try. Here's how it went:

We selected one of the most busiest route, Delhi to Mumbai.

Click on 'Generate Forecast'

The Turbulence map

Where Does The Data Come From?

According to Turbli's website, the turbulence, wind and terminal area forecasts come from NOAA/NWS (the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), while thunderstorm forecasts are provided by the UK Met Office. Aircraft data is sourced from platforms like SKYbrary.

Turbli then processes this raw data internally and adapts it to specific routes and aircraft types. The forecasts shown on the site are not official outputs from NOAA or the Met Office; they're Turbli's own processed predictions based on those inputs.

But How Accurate Is It?

Turbli doesn't guarantee a bump-free flight (unfortunately, no app or site can, as yet). However, Reddit threads are full with real life instances of people sharing how accurate the app is. Moreover, while Turbli uses the same data sources trusted by pilots and airlines, it's not 100 percent accurate.
 

According to discussions on Reddit, and an AI analysis showed us that users report mixed results as some say it is:

• Around 30% of the time, Turbli is spot on.
• About 40-50% say it's semi-accurate, predicting turbulence for some parts of the journey but missing others.
• 10% of the time, users find it totally off.

That said, for many, even an approximate warning is better than none. Knowing you might encounter some bumps can help you mentally prepare and reduce the stress of sudden surprises, and sometimes, that's all you need to feel in control.

So, if turbulence makes you sweat bullets, give Turbli and other similar apps like Turbulence Forecast (paid site), and Flying Calmly (download the app) a shot the next time you fly. You may not be able to avoid the bumps, but at least you'll know when to fasten your seatbelts.