Just don't think about it and do something that attracts you, like listening music, watching movies etc...

Two things:

1. As I understand it, most turbulence is annoying. Only the most extreme is dangerous. I have flown into thunderstorms across oceans, been hit by lightening, and had the plane plummet. Although those are frightening for the passenger, the pilots seem to take it as part of the flight and it's forgotten before they land.

2. The fear/anxiety is from the motion. There is data to support that the abrupt changes in orientation affect the inner ear and that is the cause of the panic.

With these things in mind, you can feel safe flying and if alarmed remember that this can be a normal response. Some people enjoy riding a roller coaster because of the thrill of vestibular stimulation. Others may not, but that does not mean that the over stimulation is dangerous. It's best to distract yourself with other auditory input. I discovered how enjoyable the movie Top Gun was while on a coast to coast flight during the summer thunderstorm season.

Also, planes are very noisy and affect the auditory circuit, cause fatigue, and hence can overstimulate you. I find wearing ear plugs, headphones, or noise canceling earphones to be a big help.

I used to be terribly afraid of flying and now I find that I fall asleep before takeoff and then wake up after the plane has leveled off. No more tranquilizers for me through the use of understanding airplane safety, and how to combat the negative effects of overstimulating the inner ear.

^ The bumpy road analogy worked for me. Also, being on a boat skimming over waves helped...

I used to deal with it by assuming I would die and anything better than that was 'gravy'. :p It wasn't until my 'fear' in general was dealt with that I could fly without fear. I've actually enjoyed the 'bucking' of the plane and thought it reminded me of a horse.

However, once, turbulance hit while I was in the potty, and I was slammed against the wall right onto my cheekbone. Ouch.

Crossing Another Aircraft's Wake
 

I'm really not sure where to post this, but it's not airline related and it is turbulence related ...

Just the other day, I was on a short flight on a B737 in very good, calm conditions. Just when the FAs started to serve the snacks/drinks (as ever ;)), there was a one-off, very significant bump: it even caused the FAs to totter, regain their balance (though not that elegantly) and then start embarassed laughter.

A few minutes later, the captain came on the PA, apologised for the bump, and explained that this was caused by our plane going through the wake of another, smaller aircraft.

It makes perfect sense to me, actually, but I was rather intrigued: is this rare? I know there are FTers who fly a lot more than I do (even at least one poster in this thread who flies for a living); has anybody else had this experience? I would imagine that, air-lanes and flight levels being what they are, it shouldn't happen that often, but I could be wrong.

--Henry

I'm perpetually frightened when flying and putting anything in or on my ears to drown out noise makes me more anxious. It's like I am compelled to be vigilant and see/hear everything. I'm like a guard dog on duty :D

One thing that seems to quell my fears a bit is hearing the pilot speak and watching the FA's body language. It's weird and embarrassing though because it looks like I have a rod up my back sitting there rigid. When I'm particularly scared all I want to do is go sit up with the pilots and watch their faces.

Maybe every flight should have a pilot/passenger liaison person who comes out to tell everyone 'It's ok...Captain Jones is eating dinner and he doesn't look worried at all".

In 19 days I'm flying my first leg for 14.5 hours. God help me :(

I for one like mild to moderate turbulence. It relaxes me somehow. I have had plenty of TPAC flights in the jet-stream where there was continuous mild choppy turbulence for hours at a time. I like that allot. It it is soothing and rocks me to sleep. In all my years I only once encountered severe turbulence one time flying MNL-TPE around the parameter of a typhoon. The pilot apparently saw it coming and whereas EVA Air FA's and Taiwanese passengers in general are pretty lackadaisical about seat belt warnings this time apparently they got the message because the FA's very thoroughly locked down the cabin in advance and aggressively herded all the passengers back to their seats. A task akin to herding cats, in a 747 full of Taiwanese passengers. Then they all strapped in themselves. I can assure you there is turbulence and then there is turbulence and the 'bad' turbulence you typically encounter ain't nothing compared to what the plane can apparently readily take. After numerous extended gut wrenching roller coaster like drops where your stomach came up into your throat and it sure felt like the plane was falling out of the sky I counted 30 or 40 airsickness bags being deployed throughout the cabin but that was the extent of the damage. The pilot quickly descended 5,000 feet (controlled and purposeful) and then made a radical course change from where we had been approaching southern Taiwan from the east side of the island but then turned 90 deg and flew due west for a while and then continued up the west side of the island instead. After a few minutes all was well. No harm done, but I will never call 'ordinary' turbulence 'bad' again and 'ordinary bad" turbulence for sure ain't nothing to worry about.

Speed bump! :D :D :D I've experienced that at least three times that I can remember, all of them occurring out of the blue in otherwise calm conditions. I think it's going to get a bit more common as the skies continue to fill (with a possible reprieve during the current recession).

Great attitude
 

Great point.

Yes...you are a passenger.
You can't do anything about the turbulence.
Sit back, breath deeply and relax.
Close your eyes so that other people do not scare you. Put in earplugs firmly so that rattling coffee pots don't unnerve you. Let the fear escape.
Make a conscious effort to breath, breath, breath.
And you will arrive safely.

I love the comments of FTers who say 'a flight without turbulence is no flight at all.'

Remember the facts. Turbulence is NOT serious to the aircraft, and it is not losing control. Only one jetliner crash, in 1961, was directly attributed to turbulence. And that was a mountain sightseeing flight in a first generation passenger jet.

Although it FEELS like a lot of movement, the deviation for the aircraft is rarely more than 50ft. It feels worse because of the human inner ear and the way it precives motion.

Turbulence is like barfing...unpleasant as hell, but really not serious..from a technical/medical standpoint. It feels worse than it is.

The plane is not losing control and it is not going to break apart.

When I first started flying regularly, I too was really bothered by turbulence. I would hold on to the armrest so tight that my hands/arms would start to hurt. It wasn't until I finally "let go" so-to-speak and realized that whatever happened was absolutely beyond my control that I settled down. Now, I sort of like turbulence (not severe, but mild bumps) because it adds a bit of thrill to the flight. After flying a decent amount, it becomes so routine (as does the turbulence). It might be hard to do, but you just have to learn to accept it. It's part of flying. Planes are built to withstand it for years and years. Think of the age of some of NW DC-9s and how many times they've been rocked by it. It really isn't as big of a deal as we make it out to be!

I've had plenty of turbulance-related conversations with FAs that I can draw on logically if I ever start to worry. Some of the experiences they have described make even my worst experiences seem mild. On top of that, I remind myself, "How many planes have actually broke apart or fallen out of the sky due to turbulance?" Then I picture a bumpy road and remind myself that it's pretty much the same thing, only you can't see the bumps.

Back in the days before I flew frequently, I was on a turboprop out west that was bouncing like a crazy ball. I started to get nervous, and the FA laughed and said, "Honey, this ain't nothing. You should try it in the afternoon when it gets hot and this thing really starts bouncing!" Her non-chalant attitiude definitely calmed me down.

Even with the Air France flight, it's extremely unlikely that turbulence alone caused it to go down. There's various theories around, but a loss of some of their flight instruments may have occurred at the same time.

By far the biggest danger is not to the plane but to you -- people frequently get broken bones bouncing around in the cabin during severe turbulence. So just wear your seat belt.

Turbulence did not bring the Air France flight down, it just happened IN an AREA of turbulence..at worst, it may have complicated an already bad situation. Theories abound, but it would appear from the most recent reports that the aircraft suffered an electrical problem and lost proper airspeed indications, a problem that turbulence would have made worse by causing kts losses or gains..a stall may have resulted. There is also the possibility that ontop of all that, there was hail ingestion and damage.