I hate turbulence, not out of any fear for the aircraft or anything, but simply because it makes me terribly nauseous. I just have to sit up and look ahead and chew some gum. ugh.

I find being otherwise distracted helps me - like watching a movie or playing a video game. I tend to notice the movement less. It definately still bothers me (i hate roller coasters - some people just feel the sensation of dropping more intensely then others).

I'm fully with you. I can't sleep on a totally still flight and find myself getting up more often.

As a child we went everywhere by ferry so 7-8 hr crossings in all weathers was the norm for us, I wouldnt say I love turbulence unless there is a good storm below to watch, everyone is pretty amazed it doesnt bother me, I was "grounded" by a 20 year fear of flying ,my fear was of not being able to breathe on a plane, nothing to do with turbulence or crashing so I am a lot better than the rest of the family in rough weather

I've had a strong dislike of turbulence since I started flying over 40 years ago, at first because I didn't understand it and now because I do. It takes some time to get over a complete fear of it, but here are a few tricks I've adopted over the years:

1. First and foremost, just keep reminding yourself: the pilots don't want to die, either! They know what the airplane's specified limits are, and they know the specified limits are much lower than the design limits. They will not knowingly fly into any area of severe or worse turbulence, and most will do their best to avoid even moderate turbulence.

2. Become familiar with the definitions of the various levels of turbulence. When your drink starts sliding across your tray table, or the captain has the flight attendants take their seats, you might be in moderate turbulence.

3. Open your air vent so you have at least a trickle of fresh (more or less) air blowing on you. This works wonders as a calming agent.

4. If you're flying on United, and the captain has made Channel 9 available, listen to it. Specifically, listen to the turbulence reports made by the various aircraft. I find it helps a lot to (a) know that it's not nearly as bad as it feels, and (b) what's coming up. In fact, I can tolerate a lot if I know it's coming -- roller coasters excluded!

This would be me. Every time I have flown to Australia, during the first meal service there is turbulence. And inevitably the pilot says, "time for our regularly scheduled turbulence. Meal service will resume in about 15 minutes".
Then I wait for that horrible "drop" because yes I feel like I am on a roller coaster and am dropping.......ugh.......I hate it......mostly because I hate roller coasters and that is exactly what turbulence reminds me of, I wish I could think of it as a bumpy road, but the first thing that jumps in my head is a bloody roller coaster.

Let me start by saying that I feel the same way as the OP - I hate turbulnce, and generally hate flying.

All the people who above said that turbulence is nothing to worry about probably failed to look in the news as to what happened to the airfrance flight that got down last week. The plane entered the area of severe turbulence, which most likely happened due to the storm.

So if you say bumpy ride in the clear blue skys - it is one thing. If you are taking off during rainy gloomy morning and you fly through the rainy dark clouds - its is another case of "bumpy road". And I do not beleive for a second that anything is safe while you are up in the air. And don't tell me about the car crashes and other statistics, I know it all, but none of it really helps my fear of flying.

To the pilots that might be reading this thread - it really helps nervous passengers to hear pilot speak - not only when we hit turbulence, but also periodically during flight. I would prefer pilot taking 10 seconds of his time and acknowledge that flight is going well, no issues, how much time left until we land, every hour and a half or so.

most everybody can name that one, can you name the airliner before that one that went down because of turbulence.

You can't even say for sure that was the cause. There have been numerous speculations and turbulence was only one. At this point, everything that has been said is merely speculation and cannot be proven. Most likely it was a combination of many things that brought down the AF flight.

I'm just not a fan of ignorance..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLM_Cityhopper_Flight_431

Midair breakup is possible due to severe conditions.

I'm exactly the same way. Chop and light turbulence knocks me out.

Well, yeah...but they flew into a freakin' tornado. I mean, looking at what one of those things does on the ground, you can imagine the forces at play in the air.

I will spend some time on the links you've given to me and I will try some of the suggestions. I am forced to fly alot during the year so I'll get plenty of practice! I must say, I got a larger response than I ever imagined.
Thanks again and happy flying!

Scott

Thank You l'etoile!!!!

Scott,

I'm like you and despise turbulence. In fact, I haven't flown in over 20 years due to my crippling fear of flying. One thing that's helped me, aside from all the fine folks here on FT, is a book I found at my local library called "The Fearless Flier's Handbook". It's written by Debbie Seaman. One of the many subjects she addresses in the book is turbulence and I actually feel much better about it now than I ever have before. Of course, I say that not having been on a plane in over 20 years. LOL! I leave next Friday for my trip.

What we are referring to isn't even severe turbulence, its considered extreme. Anytime anything enters conditions that are described as extreme, all bets are off. However, one needs to keep in mind that extreme turbulence pretty much means the aircraft is completely out of control, anything unsecured in the cabin is being violently tossed around, things are breaking, etc. Most pilots will never see this in their careers (mostly because we do our best to avoid anything that even looks like it could be that bad).

Furthermore, in my experience, turbulence is usually over reported. Take a look at the following descriptions (from the FAA) and think of how many times you were in what you thought might be severe, when in fact, it would only be moderate at best.


Light


Turbulence that momentarily causes slight, erratic changes in altitude and/or attitude (pitch, roll, yaw). Report as Light Turbulence;

or

Turbulence that causes slight, rapid and somewhat rhythmic bumpiness without appreciable changes in altitude or attitude. Report as Light Chop.


Occupants may feel a slight strain against seat belts or shoulder straps. Unsecured objects may be displaced slightly. Food service may be conducted and little or no difficulty is encountered in walking.

Moderate

Turbulence that is similar to Light Turbulence but of greater intensity. Changes in altitude and/or attitude occur but the aircraft remains in positive control at all times. It usually causes variations in indicated airspeed. Report as Moderate Turbulence;

or

Turbulence that is similar to Light Chop but of greater intensity. It causes rapid bumps or jolts without appreciable changes in aircraft altitude or attitude. Report as Moderate Chop.


Occupants feel definite strains against seat belts or shoulder straps. Unsecured objects are dislodged. Food service and walking are difficult.

Severe

Turbulence that causes large, abrupt changes in altitude and/or attitude. It usually causes large variations in indicated airspeed. Aircraft may be momentarily out of control. Report as Severe Turbulence.

Occupants are forced violently against seat belts or shoulder straps. Unsecured objects are tossed about. Food Service and walking are impossible.

Extreme

Turbulence in which the aircraft is violently tossed about and is practically impossible to control. It may cause structural damage. Report as Extreme Turbulence.

Severe turbulence will almost always been encountered inside areas of convective activity. So yes, I can point to an airliner that crashed because of flying into a severe thunderstorm and its associated severe turbulence and conditions, Southern Airways 242.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souther...ays_Flight_242

The crew did not understand the concept of radar attenuation, where the target is so dense (ie so much rain) that it absorbs most of the radar signal. On an radar screen this looks like a thin area and an attractive area to fly through when deviating around storms, when it actually is the worst place to be.

This is highly stressed during radar training and most radars have a setting that will display any areas that are being attenuated and thus the returns or lack there of in those areas cannot be trusted.

Checko