Anyone here who fears flying in planes (due to turbulence)?

[ahartley]

Maybe I should hire someone to wear a pilot uniform and sit next to me throughout the flight

I am a commercial pilot and flight instructor. Right out of college, I was working the ramp (ground crew) for Northwest Airlines, and I was flying back home from training, and we were holding (flying in circles) over Detroit in stormy weather. Worst turbulence I have ever been in - the 767 was rolling / banking back and forth to what felt like steep turns (about 60 degrees).

The woman in the seat next to me had her rosary out and was doing whatever it is you do with a rosary, so I tapped her on the shoulder, pointed across the aisle and back a row to a pilot in uniform (must have been deadheading). Dude slept through the whole thing. I told her "as soon as that guy wakes up and gets concerned, that's when I will."

I doubt it helped her, but I thought it was an amusing story. We pilots know what it takes to certify not only the aircraft but the pilots as well. You could not be safer than being in that aircraft. Including standing in your own home. Statistically, anyway.

 

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[Xeon]

If the technical explanations don't help you can try humor:

LOL that's funneh

I am a commercial pilot and flight instructor. Right out of college, I was working the ramp (ground crew) for Northwest Airlines, and I was flying back home from training, and we were holding (flying in circles) over Detroit in stormy weather. Worst turbulence I have ever been in - the 767 was rolling / banking back and forth to what felt like steep turns (about 60 degrees).

The woman in the seat next to me had her rosary out and was doing whatever it is you do with a rosary, so I tapped her on the shoulder, pointed across the aisle and back a row to a pilot in uniform (must have been deadheading). Dude slept through the whole thing. I told her "as soon as that guy wakes up and gets concerned, that's when I will."

I doubt it helped her, but I thought it was an amusing story. We pilots know what it takes to certify not only the aircraft but the pilots as well. You could not be safer than being in that aircraft. Including standing in your own home. Statistically, anyway.

Some questions for the pilots here:

1) When you guys first learnt how to fly planes, do you feel fear? Also, those folks who fly small jets and fighter jets, I assume the turbulence and "roller-coaster feel" must be 1000x more than passenger planes.

2) Is it true that flying at night where the weather is cooler = less turbulence? Hotter weather = more?

Side note, there was once I flew to Taiwan from Singapore, the plane was cruising calmly in the air, everything was cool, the clouds were bright and puffy.....then all of a sudden.....the plane plummeted vertically what felt like 5 - 7 feet for us. Maybe even more. That was roughly the distance I felt in my seat.

I'm not sure if that's turbulence because we weren't flying through any storm clouds. It happened instantly only once, and then everything went smooth after that. Some kids screamed (the adults were cool though, not sure how they managed that).

This would be my greatest fantasy. Safety in the skies:

 

[NanoDrake]

Dude,
What it could be is the "passenger anxiety" which is derived by a lack of control (you experience the same when you seat, in the passenger seat
Apart from what every pilot told you, I can tell you that for me, there are two things that help me with that:
1) I push the fingers of my feet super strong against the ground and after 5 seconds release, keep breathing deeply while doing it (you can also do this exercise by squeezing an imaginary lemon in your hand)
2) slowly tell yourself "it's all ok, everything will be fine" I cannot find the source but there are benefits in positive self talk.
3) focus on deep breathing (so meditation really helps)

I had to take couple of flights per week and I hated flying for these bumps, but in reality the airplane doesn't even move

PS: i know that flying at night story sounds good (and immediately looking at all late night flights) but it's not correct unfortunately

 

[Johnny Bravo]

1) When you guys first learnt how to fly planes, do you feel fear? Also, those folks who fly small jets and fighter jets, I assume the turbulence and "roller-coaster feel" must be 1000x more than passenger planes.

Obviously this answer is unique for each pilot, but for me the answer is, "it depends."

Flying in a small high-wing airplane (the wing is attached to the ceiling) is more freaky than flying a small low-wing airplane (the wing is attached at the bottom of the cabin). I imagine this is simply because you cannot look out the window over your shoulder and see nothing but a tiny fiberglass door keeping you from plummeting thousands of feet to your horrific death. Similarly, flying at high altitudes is more freaky than at lower altitudes unless you're in the clouds.

Regarding turbulence, as a rule, the smaller the airplane the greater the disturbances. Flying through mildly bumpy air in a 767 will bounce you around like mad in a small helicopter or airplane.

2) Is it true that flying at night where the weather is cooler = less turbulence? Hotter weather = more?

Sometimes.

Turbulence is a pretty finicky beast. Sometimes I'll look at the weather and warn the crew that it'll be a bumpy day, yet when we get out there it's smooth as glass. Sometimes the opposite occurs.

Turbulence is caused by changes in wind velocity. In general, this can be predicted, but it's not an exact science as I mentioned above. Mountains, buildings, thermal activity, frontal activity, and temperature inversions are the most common culprits.

We can expect sharp updrafts and downdrafts caused by winds being deflected off of mountain ranges. Landing on a rooftop helipad can be sporty because of the winds being deflected by buildings. Dark areas in full sunlight (parking lot, field, etc.) will produce more heat which creates updrafts. Shaded areas are cooler which do the opposite. Etc, etc.

The short version is that pilots are trained (or at least given the material) to assist in prediction of likely areas of moderate to severe turbulence. The most dangerous occur low level and are partially predicted by better technology.

Moral of the story: Unless you get low level wind shear on takeoff or landing, you're pretty safe. Even then, commercial jets are statistically able to avoid and/or escape these events.

 

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[Xeon]

UPDATE: Below are some stuff which helped me A LOT during my flight a week ago, which might be useful for fearful fliers like myself.
Aviophobia (fear of flying) is a very real phobia, so those of you who experienced no such phobias might find the below overkill and silly, but for aviophobians, it will do magic things for you.

Backstory:

I just got back from my Taiwan trip. I was scared as hell during the 3 weeks before the flight. I was imagining all the worst things : plane getting hit by a Ground-to-Air missile (Ukraine incident), plane crash into another plane 30,000 feet in the air, plane suddenly falling out of the sky like a rock, plane vanish suddenly (MH370 mysterious incident).....it was starting to get more serious.

So I went online and tried to find courses and ebooks, and I came across a few, but the really good one was this SOAR (Seminars On Aeroanxiety Relief) book from retired pilot Tom Bunn. I only discovered the book 2 days before the flight, didn't have the time to complete it before the plane took off, but I managed to read about 30 - 40% of it, and that was more than enough. These are the helpful tips from the book combined with a bit of what I encountered during the flight :


1) BEFORE TAKE-OFF: 1 - 2 hours before flight take off, do the 5-4-3-2-1 method.
This is whereby you look around the airport and say out 5 things you see.
"I SEE a leather jacket", "I SEE a blond woman", "I see yellow sneakers", "I see fat people", "I see glass windows".
Then you close your eyes and say out 5 things you hear.
"I HEAR kids crying", "I HEAR the sound of trolleys, "I HEAR....."
Then you start deep-breathe and say out 5 things you smell.
"I SMELL something musky", "I SMELL McDonald's", "I SMELL...."
(if you hear or smell nothing, just say "I HEAR NOTHING" until the next sound or smell shows up)

Then you start all over from the "I SEE...." part again, but this time, only say 4 things.
Once done, start all over again, but this time, say 3 things....
and on and on, until you complete the set of 5-4-3-2-1.

When you're on a plane, there are 2 movies playing. One is the Reality Movie (plane take off, cruising calmly, people laughing and chatting....) and the other is the Imaginary Movie (plane crash, missile hits plane, bermuda triangle swallows plane, Thanos firing power blasts to destroy plane....).
STAY IN THE REALITY MOVIE. ALWAYS.

The moment you realize the Imaginary Movie starts playing in your mind, use the 5-4-3-2-1 method IMMEDIATELY to BRING YOU BACK to the Reality movie.


2) DURING TAKE-OFF: During the take-off when the engines buzz very loudly (which I find very alarming), look out of the window, then inhale and exhale deeply, and put your hands on the back of the front seat GENTLY (not forcefully, don't grasp or it'll make it worse). In my case, I realize if I inhale/exhale very fast, it helps even more. You know how pregnant women breathe when giving birth, as shown on TV usually? That's how I breathe. This took away almost all the fear when you feel that G-Force thing lifting you up in the air during takeoff. Flying suddenly became beautiful, as I saw the vast scenery in the distance.
You have only ONE (1) task to do during take-off : inhale and exhale fast and deep like a woman giving birth.
I stopped only when the plane has reached cruising mode / stabilize a bit. Nothing to be ashamed of, we're all scared of something.


3) Turbulence Tip #1 : Turbulence is my greatest fear (especially sudden drops), but not so much anymore. I used to grip the seat bars tightly during my previous flights; I was in panic mode every second. It was mentally and physically exhausting and painful. My trip this time was a lot more stable but I'm very confident it will help to a large extent even for more turbulent flights.

The book says that you when you reach out your hand in a fast bicycle, you can feel that bit of wind resistance against the hand (as solid as water). If you try that in a speeding car, that resistance against the hand gets stronger (as solid as oil). Now imagine an airplane which is a shitload faster than any speeding car. That air resistance gets even stronger (now it's as solid as gelatin!).

Now, picture a table with a bowl of gelatin. In it, there is a toy plane right in the middle. The plane is completely covered by gelatin. You can shake the bowl, and the plane in the gelatin will wobble (turbulence), but will the plane blast out or drop out of the gelatin bowl? NO! How can it?!

The author also mentions that the faster the plane accelerates (I used to be scared of that too), the stronger the resistance, meaning.....THE GELATIN THAT PROTECTS YOU IN MID-AIR GETS EVEN STRONGER, AND YOU'RE SAFER. That air that surrounds the airplane, Gelatin Air, is your friend. Now whenever the flight gets rough or bumpy, I don't get nervous. Instead, I got happy and felt safe, because I know gelatin air is there to protect me.
Heck, I even wanted the plane to accelerate faster during my return flight home cos' I want more gelatin!

Do not think about this gelatin air during turbulence. Think about it way before the flight, picture the plane, the calm bowl of gelatin. Then during turbulence, think about it again. "F*ck YEAH! Gelatin air is here to protect me again!"

This removed one of my biggest fear of turbulence.
I recall the several incidents I had on the road sitting in cars, and now that I think about it, it's true : cars are way more dangerous than planes.


4) Turbulence Tip #2: Sometimes when the plane is bumping along and it feels like a bus traveling on a rocky road, and you start to panic, put a clear water bottle in front of your seat tray. Make sure the water bottle is half-filled, and the cap is on. Look at the water in the bottle. Does it swish and slosh around violently? How violent? Or is it just moving across slightly side to side? Now, try the same experiment in a bus or a train. I'm pretty sure the same bottle of water will swish WAY MORE on those two, compared to a plane! I tried this! In fact, on the mass rapid train, it was swishing way more violently than it did on the plane!
And if you're not scared of the mass rapid train, why should you be of the plane?

But the plane is 30,000 feet in the air? Yeah, now refer to 3) above!

Not convinced yet? Download those free G-force meter apps onto your mobile phone. It's more like an app that measures movement and shaking. Keep your body and hands still when holding the phone (or put it on the tray). When the plane is in turbulence mode, look at the meter in the app. The lower and upper limit of the meter is 1 to 5. During the bumpy turbulence, the meter registered a maximum of approx 1.15 on the scale.
I tried this again on the mass rapid train, and it registered a reading 3 - 4! That's insane!


5) Turbulence Tip #3: Sudden air drop. I experienced this once in my previous flight where all was calm and peaceful, and the plane suddenly felt like it was dropping 2,000 - 3000 feet vertically STRAIGHT down. I feel this is not as common as the rocky-road type of turbulence, but it does happen once in a while.

But I realize this is all nonsense. Take a cup half-filled with water, hold it high above the bath-tub, then drop your arm vertically straight down while still holding the cup. Try dropping the arm down by 1 feet, 2 feet or 4 feet.
How much water got spilled out from the cup? Now, put that same cup on your seat tray on the plane. When the plane drops by what feels like "2,000 - 5,000 feet", how much water actually got spilled out from the cup? Was it more than what happened in the bathtub? Or way lesser? Was the amt of water that got spilled out during this sort of "3,000 feet air drop" similar to what happened in the bathtub, or way less, or just a little bit more? I'm willing to bet very likely that it was way less. If so, is there any reason to be terrified? What felt like a 3,000 feet drop from the air is, in reality, only several feet, or.....gasp......just a couple feet! Not some 3,000 feet (or 10,000 feet) sudden drop!


6) Landing: Personally, I never have a fear of landing, because the mind is telling me as we get lower down, it gets safer, even though I know take-off/landing is the most dangerous part of the flight. I haven't got to the part on landing yet in the book, there's another 50% left to read, but most fearful fliers' biggest fears are take-off and turbulence, not landing.


7) When plane is turning: I used to think the plane, when it turns, that it flies with the wingtips pointing towards the ground (90-degree adjacent), but I realize it was only a slight tilt. What I FEEL is NOT what is actually happening!

With my fear of flying slowly being removed, I now have no inhibitions. Now I'm thinking of places further, like Japan, Korea, heck.....even the US! There's so many beautiful places and gorgeous sub-urb neighborhoods I wanna see there!

 

[Harry Cott]

I don't have this kind of experince but i am one of them who always fear flying in planes.
I always worried about plane's engine, if it fails then what happen next.
That's only our negative imagination. Pt6 engine, Pw100, and Pw500 are well examples for safe engines.

 

[MattR82]

I have no problem with roller coasters or skydiving, but even when I was flying 50 times per year turbulence on landing seriously stresses me out.

Turbulence while at 35000 feet stopped worrying me years ago. But when I am in a plane trying to land while it feels like we are perpendicular to the runway and jumping up and down in the air... F*ck that lol. I will never get used to that. Ever.

 

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[loop101]

I was around aircraft and flying for most of my youth. When I was a teen-ager, I could take-off and fly a light-plane, though I couldn't land it. Growing up, a family of 6 that lived next door were killed in a famous airline accident. I don't fly anymore. I do not like giving control of my life to someone I don't know. I don't like airports and dealing with security. I really don't like the idiots they let on planes now. Flying use to be a big deal, now some passengers seem to think it is a human right. And too many pilots are nutters. EgyptAir 990 was probably crashed by the co-pilot because he was caught flashing underage-girls in NY and was told he would never fly again once they got back to Egypt, which they never did. I would rather drive my pick-up truck. I have a bed, toilet, ice-chests, and everything else in my truck. I only have to get out to pump gas. This Saturday I am driving 22 hours, and next Saturday 22 hours back. I got some new books on CD, dangit, I just realized I should have got Unscripted on CD. Maybe next trip.