On a recent flight cross country, I experience the woste and scarriest turbulence of my life. I thought we were dead. The pilot comes on the PA and says to expect it to get really bad. Flight crew puts everything away and straps themselves into their seats. We were at 41,000' and entered a thunderstorm. Aircraft was completely engulfed in clouds. You could not see the wing past the engine. And at 41,000' that is strange. We had violent updrafts and then would drop like a rock. Also sudden wing rocking. I kept thinking of the Air France plane that disinigrated after flying into a thunderstorm last year.

Is turbulence like this anything to really worry about? Can the plane become physically damaged by getting slammed around? It's just so scary I though I'd never get on a plane again.