davidflies

I'm a nervous flyer to begin with and when turbulence hits, I'm like literally terrified. The feeling of dropping like a rollercoaster freaks me out. Here is what I was thinking... you feel the turbulence because you are strapped to the seat, and thus are flung around with the body of the aircraft. Your body is attached to the aircraft body.

What if you were not strapped to your seat... Unbuckle your seat belt and jump up in the air or hold yourself up by your arms on the armrests. Theoretically, the airplane body would be flying around your body, and you wouldn't feel the turbulence.

I sort of tested this flying into SLC last week. It was bumpy as heck. I kept my seatbelt on but made it very loose (basically was not belted in). Then I held myself up by just my hands on the arm rests. The plane was jolting around but I hardly felt it. My body was floating around inside the plane freely, instead of being attached to the plane.

CPRich

I would think that would be very tiring on the arms for any extended period - bascially doing an arm press but flexing at the elbows to provide damping of the movement. But even if it's only psychological, just lifting a small bit of weight off the seat - if it works, it works.

I've also had luck turning my head 90 degrees to either side. Turbulence is typically in the up/down and side/side direction. Turning your head to the side puts it in the up/down and front/back direction - you ears/motion sensors are much more accustomed to that movement from ground vehicles. I think it's the yaw and horizontal translation that throws the body off.

WorldLux

And how are you going to prepare for sudden turbulences? If the aircraft dives, you'll be send head first into the overhead bins. Unless you don't like your head and neck not very much, this is very dangerous and can be fatal.

You're always connected to the aircraft. The armrests don't appear magically from nowhere.

84fiero

That won't prevent the dropping feeling when the plane moves in such a manner - in fact it will be worse as you'd either still hit the seat belt or if unbuckled, potentially being thrown around as your hands lose grip of the armrests. Not to mention holding yourself up from the armrests being tiring on your arms and potentially annoying or worse for your seat mate(s).

Need

I think it is kind of like people sleeping on hammock on the boat? Minimize the contact points to the platform with flexible attachments so less vibration comes thru. We used to make egg drop box with strings holding the egg in the center of the box.

Duke787

Keeping your seatbelt loose is a horrible idea.

If you ever got hit with truly severe turbulence you could be sent straight into the seat in front of you or straight up into the bins - turbulence occurs in three dimensions it doesn't just occur laterally or horizontally.

You won't be able to hold yourself, with just your arms and no seatbelt, when you get jolted from left to right then front to back then bottom to top. Add in the fact that there is hard plastic all around you and it's a recipe for severe injuries.

Moreover, turbulence can be unexpected, especially when on long haul flights over the oceans or on flights over the mountains where air can be unstable and change rapidly. I've had more than one occasion on TPAC and TCON flights where we get jolted out of nowhere before the captain can announce and turn on the seatbelt sign. Your method might work for a short, anticipated period of time, but the turbulence that causes injuries is unexpected and causes injuries precisely because people didn't follow the cabin advice to wear seatbelts when sitting at all times.

painintheuk

I've tried something like you suggest on smaller planes - but I think safer! During a lot of turbulence I start leaning down and rooting around in my bag, re-organizing things, putting them in, taking them out, etc. If nothing else, it is a distraction. It won't work when you get hours of it, but I've done it for 15 or 20 minutes and it helps.

I also go for alcohol and warning the person seated next to me that I might scream like a little girl .

Dr. PITUK (not a 'useful' doctor and this isn't 'medical' advice ).

Madone59

+1 Personally I like turblence - especially if I am in a lay flat seat - I don't know why but it puts be right to sleep.

Try getting you head around the scale of what you are feeling. Turbulence may feel big but in reality may only be a couple of inches or at most a foot or two of movement. You are taking a bigger risk driving to their airport in a car than you are flying out of it in a plane.

savonarola

Once I experienced severe and, at least for me, unexpected turbulence while in the toilet. It felt like I was going to be thrown out of the door or into the ceiling. I had to hold strongly to not fall down, but came out OK. After that, I am sure that not wearing the seatbelt is a terrible idea.

sbm12

DO NOT DO THIS.

When you are injured from being tossed around the cabin - or, worse, are tossed into someone else and injure them - the mild inconvenience of turbulence will seem a dream.

Giggleswick

I'm terrified of highway driving. So maybe I should drive at 100 mph in order to get it over with sooner. That makes about as much safety sense as unfastening your seatbelt during turbulence.

84fiero

Me too (so long as it's not unusually severe and jolting which would probably wake me)

^

brodielayne

Xanax is your friend.

Carl Johnson

Work to overcome your fear, and always keep your seatbelt fastened while seated. To fasten the seatbelt, insert the metal tip into the buckle. To unfasten it, lift the top of the buckle. Adjust the seatbelt by pulling on the strap so that the seatbelt is low and tight across your lap.

No, I don't fly too much, why does everybody keep asking me that!!!!

I sympathize with you being scared, but I don't want you to get HURT. As others have pointed out, you can hit the ceiling and seriously injure your head and neck if the plane really dives and you're not properly belted in. A big jetliner can handle turbulence way way worse than anything I've ever experienced, and I experienced turbulence one time where I was really dropping and had trouble keeping my drink from spilling - was really moving my arm to try to keep it level. A plane can do real dives in turbulence and be perfectly fine, and all the belted-in passengers will be perfectly fine as well.

Carl Johnson

Move to Switzerland. People obey the speed limit. It's just so so great, you can change lanes without fear. You look to your left and there is nobody zooming up alongside you exceeding the speed limit by 30 mph, and you can move right over. When you want to exit, you check to your right, and then you move over into the space that is unoccupied because there is nobody about to zoom into it.