To me it's one of those things you just have to get used to.
I used to fly a lot for work, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't white knuckled on more than a few flights through heavy turbulence.
I also flew every week between worcester, ma and Newark NJ. Just a short hop - but it was always on a small turboprop.
Funny thing with those small planes, it's the cloudy gray sky days that are usually the smoothest flights, but when you have a hot spring day with clear skies, watch out.
The sun heats the ground and causes INSANE turbulence.
On some of those flights, it was so bad you HAD to stay buckled tightly into your seat - a loose lap belt would hurt. You wouldn't even THINK about trying to stand.
But taking off was the best part, because you knew no matter how much slamming around you did, at least the pilot could recover and flatten out again.
It was the landings through that stuff that scared the living ()*#$# out of me.
This is back in the days where they'd keep the cockpit door open so you could see what the pilot saw.
You come in and the plane is shaking so bad it's like being in an old pickup truck with bad shocks coming down a rough trail at 75mph.
Banked hard right one second, hard left in a flash - it was absolutely crazy. The plane would suddenly drop 50 feet the blink of an eye, leving the contents of your stomack two feet over your head - then rise back up just as quickly.
The runway is way off to one side, we'd be coming in practically sideways.
The whole time you're thinking there's NO )#$#)(#$ WAY this guy can get this on the ground safely.
But an odd thing occurred to me - the yoke - or "steering wheel" or whatever you call it in a plane - were shaped like motorcycle handlebars.
I found that very re-assuring that these planes were actually BUILT for this kind of crazy turbulence. The pilot could hang onto that "handlebar" and just brute force our way down to the ground.
I don't know why I found that so reassuring - but for some reason it was enough to relax me.
Plus you do it a few dozen times and you start to realize it just comes with the territory. These guys know what they're doing, and these planes can take a BEATING.
Moral of the story is - I think you really have to go through a few rough rides to build up a tolerance for flying.
What makes it so scary is YOU are not in control. But if you can at least experience a plane being pushed to its limits (or greater limits than you're used to), you do start to build up a level of trust.
Another trick for me - somewhere I heard that, say, 80% of all airline accidents happen within 20 seconds of take off. (probalby 1000% wrong on that statistic, but don't tell me if I am)
As soon as the wheels leave the runway - count out 20 seconds. If you make it that far, you're home free.
(at least till the landing) : )
On the landing - remember that once those flaps go up on the wings - they have an AMAZING amount of control over the plane. It's rougher and bumpier, but the plane is MUCH more controllable at very slow speeds.
Keep those things in the back of your head and it'll be a more pleasant experience.
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