When you fly does turbulence scare you?

[Thebobo]

Thermals can cause lower level turbulence. Like when you are coming in and bumping around a lot.

 

[Leyawiin]

Never had really bad turbulence like the pics. Had something of a stormy flight once that tossed the plane around. The well dressed business woman sitting next to me suddenly let out a yelp and grabbed my arm (hard - with fingernails). She apologized - said it really scared her.

 

[alkemyst]

Turbulence no, some of the passengers yes.

 

[mizzou]

It bothers me quite a bit, but more for the motion sickness issues. I think in my head "Oh boy, here we go for 2 more hours bump bump bump bump"

 

[Fingolfin269]

It did the first time or two I experienced it but not anymore.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Nope. Hell, I'm flying Malaysian Airlines this year (tickets are cheap).
It's statistically the safest airline now

 

[OutHouse]

I was seated near the wing. More stability.

lol what?

 

[OutHouse]

turbulence does not scare me, but long periods of it makes green around the gills. the only time that has happened was 5 solid hours of it on a 747.

 

[Mai72]

lol what?

http://getawaytips.azcentral.com/place-sit-airplane-less-turbulence-3999.html

Sitting near the wing offers more stability when an airplane experiences turbulence.

The best seats on the plane for reduced turbulence intensity are those directly over the wings of the plane. This typically means somewhere between rows 10 and 30, but check with your airline for the exact rows, as they vary by aircraft. The wings of the plane keep it flying smoothly, whereas the tail of the plane can bob more.

 

[DigDog]

you'd be weird to not feel scared when the plane drops; still, i find it easy to calm myself afterwards thinking that while it's scary for me, for the plane itself it's nothing.

 

[Jeff7]

It's uncomfortable when the plane drops suddenly. Gives that weird feeling in your stomach. Never had turbulence bad enough to make me think the plane could crash.

Same here.
Or the first time in 15 years that I flew, the first hard turn was a bit alarming at first. It's sure interesting when the view out the window is nothing but the ground far below. I got used to it quickly though.
Yes, there's the primitive parts of the brain that realize that being 30k feet up is not entirely normal, but the rest of it does a fair job of keeping those things in check, so I don't really get worried when there's turbulence. Engineers, yo.

It's a nice view most of the time too. I'd like it more if the seats weren't designed by a chiropractor-turned-sociopath. Those damn things screw up my back for a week afterward, and I've never been on a plane for more than 8hrs.



(Yes, 30k feet is fine, but I don't like ladders, and can be prone to a hell of a lot of anxiety if I'm up on one. I've got all the physical coordination you'd expect of a skinny white computer nerd. )

 

[skyking]

Same here.
Or the first time in 15 years that I flew, the first hard turn was a bit alarming at first. It's sure interesting when the view out the window is nothing but the ground far below. I got used to it quickly though.
Yes, there's the primitive parts of the brain that realize that being 30k feet up is not entirely normal, but the rest of it does a fair job of keeping those things in check, so I don't really get worried when there's turbulence. Engineers, yo.

It's a nice view most of the time too. I'd like it more if the seats weren't designed by a chiropractor-turned-sociopath. Those damn things screw up my back for a week afterward, and I've never been on a plane for more than 8hrs.



(Yes, 30k feet is fine, but I don't like ladders, and can be prone to a hell of a lot of anxiety if I'm up on one. I've got all the physical coordination you'd expect of a skinny white computer nerd. )

One of the guys down the row of hangars asked me to come over and change a few bulbs for him. He had flown a small plane all over the country but 6 feet up a ladder was not gonna happen
Back on the topic, no, I don't worry about turbulence. The airframes are much stronger than you think.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

I don't know why but it seems like the older I get, the more it bothers me. I didn't care for it all when I was 8 years old. I thought flying was awesome. Now I'm not too big a fan of it. It is not turbulence itself that bothers me either. But more the miniscule chance of being caught in a situation where you have absolutely no control. No control over what are probably the most terrifying few minutes any human being could possibly experience. It's not something that outright freaks me out to the point where I just won't fly, but it's definitely deep down there in my mind while flying...

 

[Jeff7]

I don't know why but it seems like the older I get, the more it bothers me. I didn't care for it all when I was 8 years old. I thought flying was awesome. Now I'm not too big a fan of it. It is not turbulence itself that bothers me either. But more the miniscule chance of being caught in a situation where you have absolutely no control. No control over what are probably the most terrifying few minutes any human being could possibly experience. It's not something that outright freaks me out to the point where I just won't fly, but it's definitely deep down there in my mind while flying...

Though some might say that our level of control over our daily lives is something of an illusion anyway.


I've watched a lot of the Car Crash Compilation videos on Youtube. There are plenty of people involved who had no control over the situation.
There's not much you can do if you're stopped at a red light and someone blows through it, causing another car to go flying into yours.
Most people also don't choose to get cancer. Some of it is related to things you do, like voluntarily exposing yourself to carcinogens. But there's plenty of it that just shows up with a bad roll of the dice of coincidence and the unknown.



I guess being in an aluminum tube that's piloted by someone else makes the situation much more tangible.
Though I doubt you'd feel much better if you were in the cockpit while the plane's going down.
At least you'd have several windows all to yourself.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I can't help but think of how insane scary it must be for people on planes about to crash when watching Mayday. When it's having issues there's always that glimpse of hope, but when it's headed straight down towards land and it's pretty much determined that there is no way out, imagine what that must feel like. I never want to die that way, I rather die like the pilot, who fell asleep with auto pilot off.

 

[Mai72]

I had a hard time finding my Doha to Philadelphia route. This was very similar to the route we took the other night.

 

[Mai72]

I was a little worried because 1) we flew over Baghdad. I was worried that we were going to be shot down accidentally or on purpose. 2) we flew up north in very cold weather. I kept thinking about the Air France crash a few years ago. They had issues with their pitot tubes freezing which lead to their deaths. I looked out the window and I was imagining the temperature of the freezing water below.

Q: Why do they fly in an arc like that? Do they do it to save jet fuel?

 

[Turbonium]

I can't help but think of how insane scary it must be for people on planes about to crash when watching Mayday. When it's having issues there's always that glimpse of hope, but when it's headed straight down towards land and it's pretty much determined that there is no way out, imagine what that must feel like. I never want to die that way, I rather die like the pilot, who fell asleep with auto pilot off.

From a safety perspective, I much rather fly during the day, because I'm paranoid of the whole flying-straight-into-a-mountain-due-to-a-string-of-errors-leading-to-a-lack-of-awareness thing by the pilots and co.

That being said, I enjoy nighttime flights more, because looking out the window makes you really feel like you're in another "zone" entirely. There's no point of reference. Just darkness for the most part. It makes eating my roasted chicken and mashed potatoes while listening to Mozart on my headset even more nuanced.

Q: Why do they fly in an arc like that? Do they do it to save jet fuel?

Less distance. Think of that map put on a sphere, and it will make sense.

I'm not sure if that picture is accurate, but if you look at the flight paths of transatlantic/transpacific flights, they pretty much all have a curve to them. Likely any flights, really, but the ones crossing a large ocean are way easier to see.

 

[WelshBloke]

Anyone that says that turbulence doesn't bother them has never experienced real turbulence.


When shit starts hitting the ceiling and staying there for a bit before dropping off you WILL be worried.

 

[dingster1]

Yeah. Don't like flying much. Had a bad flight out of Naples when I was in the Navy that totally ruined the experience. I drive most places now... Love that scene from TZ, although I prefer the William Shatner one...

 

[ControlD]

Anyone that says that turbulence doesn't bother them has never experienced real turbulence.


When shit starts hitting the ceiling and staying there for a bit before dropping off you WILL be worried.

Exactly.

On my first leg of a trip to India some years ago we were the last plane to take off before thunderstorms shut down the airport. Taking off through that weather caused the plane to make several large drops. Things were flying around, people were getting sick. Even the flight attendants were white knuckling it. You could hear a pin drop except for the occasional whimper when the plane dropped. I think the feeling of dropping is worse when you are already pointed up at a severe angle. It feels like you are falling backwards.

We finally got above the weather and the pilot came on and said "Well we got lucky there. They closed the airport right after we took off, so you won't have to worry about missing any connecting flights." Yeah, I felt lucky as hell. I still get nervous on take-offs to this day and that was at least 15 years ago.

 

[z1ggy]

Not a huge fan of flying. I know it's safer, but it just kind of freaks me out. I think it's not having any control of what's going on that makes it bad for me.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I think its fun. Like a cool rollercoaster.

 

[Scarpozzi]

It only scares me in low altitude flight. I was flying across the Yukatan about 1000 feet up on approach when the turbulent air through the jungle caused the plane to shake. Flaps were down and there was plenty of power applied to keep the nose up, but the plane shook pretty violently and we had to fly through it because we were on final approach. It was a rough landing, but not too bad....

When flying above 10,000 feet, I worry a lot less....

 

[NuclearNed]

It doesn't usually scare me at all, but a few years back I was on a flight from my local airport to Atlanta that was pretty scary. Lots of intense storms in the region - the plane got batted around badly. One thing helped me hold it together - a couple of guys I know were on the flight, continuing from Atlanta to Vegas. They had begun the Vegas party several hours before the flight, and were not fit for duty, if you know what I mean. It was great fun watching them turn every hue of green while holding their puke bags between their knees.