+1 on that.
based on this thread it seems like most turbulence events happen in the US. Is it just because there are many more US based members in FT compared to European, Asian & Australian members combined? Or, is there any statistical evidence which shows that US has more turbulent skies than any of these other regions?

My worst was in the US as well. About 2 years ago, on my way home in US airways from Charlotte - LGA, sustained and severe turbulence for a good 20 mins. The pilot had to land in Baltimore and wait out the weather. My date that evening was as bumpy as well ;)

YVR to YOW, late May 2010

Not the worst turbulence by comparison, would equate it to driving on a really bumpy road with a few dips for good measure, but the fact that it lasted from the BC/AB border all the way to the MB/ON border (~3 hours) and it was the first time my wife and I have flown since we became parents made it for a stressful flight.

Something like that, though there are some heavily-traveled, really turbulent routes
across the Rockies and such. My worst experienced turbulence, though, has
consistently been over the Pacific, near the date line.

There are certain areas of the globe that are worse than others, however, both the Americas (north and south) are prone to wild weather. Both continents are strewn with high mountains in the west, making flights pretty much up and down those regions bumpy, and creating rotor area just east of them. In the US and parts of Canada, the northern hemispheric jet stream rushes from west to east across large portions of heavily traveled areas depending on the season..worse for most people in winter flying in the US south and southwest, and in summer in parts of central Canada. On the east coast of North America and up from the Caribbean, hurricaines form and although they tend to weaken over land, they still pack a punch. In the central US in spring colder northern air coming down from Canada meets warm tropical air coming up from the gulf of Mexico and creates massive storms, most of them spawning tornadoes. Tornado Alley is the only area on the planet with such a high amount of tornadoes, and it's big. Texas up through Ohio and east into Arkansas, and in some seasons extending as far north as southern Ontario.

Of course, the tropical convergence zone is usually a horror for flyers as the shear from flow moving in different directions in each hemisphere generates instability, however flights are fewer in the area compared to over europe and the us.

In Europe, the jetstream can cause instability over northern Scottland and England, and the Alps generate their fair share of turbulence also, espeically at lower altitudes. Flying into Innsbruck can be an interesting experience! There is more stability over eastern europe, especially in winter.

Those probably comprise my scariest turbulence experiences. I don't normally mind turbulence, I kind of enjoy it as part and parcel and just think about how overbuilt the planes are...but these three

Scariest: flight NRT-SFO...rough hard chop for about 30 minutes and what felt like 5 minutes of what I imagine a crash landing feels like while the pilots just gunned it and climbed out of that altitude.

2) RNO-DEN. On takeoff from RNO I was just about asleep after a late previous night. You always hit that mountain wave in the summer...Plane begins a departure route left turn and then just hits a hole in the air. I have never felt a plane fall, roll, and yaw in that kind of slow motion free moving way. It seriously freaked me out. RNO is still an airport I don't like flying into and out of.

Crashed a couple of times in light aircraft in the Aleutian Islands due to williwaws. Airplanes broken, people unharmed but a little damp, if you know what I mean. :rolleyes:

One of my worst was on a COx Embraer 120 from CLE-CVG. Once airborne we had nearly continuous turbulence to CVG. It wasn't "rough" turbulence per se, but more like non-stop chops / bumps. At least half the plane used air sickness bags - I kept my lunch down, but OMG did the aircraft stink.

The worst was a 727-200 from PDX-CVG back in the late 80's. We flew through the tops of some storms over The Dakota's & Minnesota -- anything not secured went flying; a few pieces of the cabin ceiling were somehow knocked loose. Fortunately the pilot did turn-on the fasten seatbelt sign, told FA's to stop cabin service and to strap in. After things smoothed out, I overheard talk of a diversion to MKE, but pilot continued onto CVG.

When I arrived home in MKE that night (flew PDX-CVG-MKE), was told I looked as pale as a ghost.

Aside from that, have hit a few rough patches going in/out of NRT (it's like there's always a bumpy area just outside of NRT) as well as some good bumps in the tropical areas around Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia on flights crossing the area.

I may be in a minority, but turbulence doesn't really bother me anymore -- if anything I kind of enjoy it. I find a bit of light chop good for sleeping on a long-haul.

I have had a few very rough flights. Most of the roughest however have been on GA aircraft since I am not worried about pax comfort.

Worse Commercial-

This happend a few years ago on a Delta 757 over the Eastern Caribbean. A few days before are flight, out of St. Maarten, a slow moving tropical storm had past by. Nothing more then rain showers and some wind, however flying through it was something completely different. My parents got F ungrades while my grandmother and me stayed back in Y around row 40. The take-off and climbout was uneventful until we got over the Virgin Islands. We just had some lite chop as we started to enter the out areas of the storm. So the FAs start the meal service. My dad said that he knew something was about to happen. Because as the plane started to shake the Head FA grabbed the arm of an new hire and pushed her into a empty F seat. She also push the food cart into the galley, as she threw her self into her seat. However the Y FA kept serving. Just then the plane hit a bad downdraft. The FA I saw went about even with the head rests. Her food cart went racing back into the rear galley and made an allful noise when it hit the bulkhead. People were screaming left and right. A few seconds later the flight was smooth again and the FA got up and went back to work. My dad, still to this day, does not know how the Head FA knew something was about to happen.

Worse GA-

I was on a night cross-country training flight with a friend to TXK a few months ago. The winds that night were around 20-25 kts gusting to 30. However we decided to push on a complete the flight. The landing into TXK was something to remember. We were bouncing around so much are checklists and papers flew all over the cabin. It was quite fun in reality. If you have had a drink open the whole plane would have been wet. We hit the runway quite hard because the wind decided to die all at once. We where about 10 -15 off when that happened. Thankfully the plane we were flying was basicly a bush plane. So nothing was damaged or bent.

Just read this...

Not a story about particularly bad tuburlence, but constant light/moderate..which is fine..except the woman 3 rows back screamed in terror with each and every bump. This went on for nearly 2 hours, the length of the flight. The FA would come over to try to calm her down but alas, each time the plane would shake in the slightest she would scream out. It was a difficult flight just for that.

I thought I was weird but I don't mind it either. It's sort of like being rocked to sleep :cool: Probably why I like sleeping on trains.

My worst has been into Terceira, Azores (TER). Last time I seriously thought this it it, no way are we going to be able to land in this. I could barely stand up in the wind and rain after getting out. TP pilots are notoriously skilled, apparently, in landing in that kind of weather. I don't know how they do it.

NRT-LAX last fall. There's nothing more butt cheek-clenching than being 5 miles above the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from ANY possible diversion airport, and the plane is being tossed around like a plastic toy by mother nature.

I don't normally mind turbulence, but that was a bit beyond my comfort level. The winds were so strong that you could actually hear them as they hit the plane, and it was obvious the pilot was doing everything he could to find smoother air. One moment we were at normal cruising speed, then the engines spooled up, then the next moment they sounded like they went complete idle.

Pretty bouncy ride.

I thought that 30 min of turbulence was bad, 3 hours is pretty extreme.

For me Air Seychelles domestic Mahe - Bird Island... 10 seated airplane, strong wind, but it came down safely...