Hello,
I am new here (signed up a few minutes ago) so I am not sure where to pose this question. Excuse me if it's in the wrong forum.
I am wondering how to best (mentally) deal with turbulence. Even though I have flown 60,000 miles in the last year or so, every time we hit a good series of turbulence, I get pretty nervous and a series of thoughts enter my mind like "the plane is going to break apart" or "we're going down". I keep this to myself but I have found that it never gets easier to handle. I do okay with takeoffs and landings (landings are the best!) I find myself white-knuckled and sometimes I hold my breath for extended periods until I catch myself doing it. Anyway, I don't like to drink, I don't get travel sickness but I have a little trouble understanding how a HUGE 747 or 777 can shake violently while it is traveling at approx 500 MPH and that not be pretty serious. It seems to happen most frequently when we begin to fly over land when we've been over the ocean for some time. I attribute that to the heat rising that's stored on the land@:-). Still, even when I expect it...I don't enjoy it and I get nervous about it. Can anyone give me any suggestions that might help?

Thanks,
Scott

Welcome to FlyerTalk Scott. I'm going to move this to our TravelBuzz forum, where you should find some helpful suggestions.

l'etoile
Trip Reports moderator

Even the worst turbulence I've been through, the most I've thought is, "my drink better not spill".

This is a great website to look at. It's aimed at those with a general fear of flight, but there is a section about turbulence that might be of interest to you. Did I mention its free?!

http://www.fearofflyinghelp.com/

Let us know if you have any specific questions.

Checko

Welcome to FT!

I'm not sure about you, but I tend to feel better about things the more I know. Turbulence is not at all dangerous as planes were built to withstand an awful lot. Here's a link to a fear of flying website. If you click on "SOAR library" there will be a ton of articles on the right side that address turbulence. Hopefully that will help.

Oddly enough, in the vast majority of situations, all the pilots are worried about is spilling your drink as well.



Checko

I read an article once that made the analogy of a pilot flying a plane through turbulence to drivers driving their cars down a bumpy street. It's annoying, but really no big deal. The article said that most pilots consider it to be a non-event that's forgotten by the time they land, just like your or I really wouldn't dwell on the fact that we'd driven through a pothole.

Take a bunch of flights on a Saab 340 or a similarly small turbo-prop (or even the regional jets). You'll quickly get used to what feels like lots of uncontrolled movement.

But seriously, I think a lot of the fear has to do with the person and their individual circumstances. When I had no family I was much less afraid of what might happen on a flight. Then, after kids, I went through a period of being worried about what would happen when I fly. Now, I fly a bunch (including lots on the small planes) and I don't worry much at all.

The other thing that comes to mind is that it is perfectly normal to have fears and irrational thoughts. For most people, these are recognized as such and pass naturally without much impact to their ability to get done what is important to them. It's been a comfort to me to know that recognizing a thought as irrational is the first step to getting over it.

Place an open glass filled with water in your car's cup holder. Drive somewhere. Feel what the road is like. Note how much water spills.

During your next flight, note how much water/wine, etc spills from your cup.

I bet that will help, just a little, with putting turbulence into perspective.

Here are some resources: http://www.takingflight.us/flying-fear-resources.php

For what it's worth, I have a flying phobia-but have had great success in subduing the monster. I came to realize that most of my fear is the result of my imagination. I tame my imagination and most of my fear is under control.

Try to learn some relaxation techniques and practice them so when you need to use them you have a routine to focus on. Things to try are focused deep breathing, visualization and meditation.

These are actually easy to implement as you can do it right in your seat without drawing attention to yourself. You will get better at them with practice and hopefully be able to use them before you encounter turbulence and help avoid your mind racing and focusing on the turbulence.

Check out this site or google a few different ones til you find something you think will work for you. http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stre...relaxation.htm
You could maybe even see a counsellor who can teach you some of these techniques. Good luck and smooth flying!

This is exactly correct.

For the most part, turbulence is a service issue, not a safety of flight or danger to the aircraft issue. We avoid it because we know our passengers don't like it and it makes it more difficult for our flight attendants to do service.

Even when the turbulence gets very "rough," what we worry about is passengers and crew getting injured, not the aircraft being damaged. The last time I got into some "bad" turbulence, what's the first thing I did? I didn't check the instruments or look out the windows at the wings, I called the girls in the back to make sure they were okay.

Checko

There is far more "turbulence" tring to sleep in the back of the car on the way home from the airport than there is on the TATL flight.
The airport is LHR and the route home is the M4 which should explain the bumps for those familiar with it

Some of us even like turbulence.

I suspect this is because I have traveled a lot on trains and ships, but if a flight has no turbulence, I don't feel like I've really gone anywhere.

Most people I've told this to think I am pretty strange.

Like you, I hate flying in turbulence, even though it doesn't prevent me from flying. I know intellectually thet there's nothing to worry about and it's a normal part of flying but emotionally it still gets me. I find it helpful to look around at my fellow passengers and at the flight attendants and note how unperturbed they are. Doing this calms me down somewhat.

Strangely, my wife loves turbulence. She enjoys a bumpy ride. Go figure.

I fly an average of 75K miles a year and there are times I still do get startled by sudden turbulence. Normally I take a deep breath and just close my eyes if it gets really bad.