Flying Small Aircraft
 

We just flew between NYC and DC on AA Embraer Regional Jet. It flew at 20,000 feet and the flight only held about 30-ish people.

The turbulence was awful!! It was so bad I could see others getting nervous. Now I'm never good at flying, but small aircraft don't agree with me very well, and I was so nervous I started apologizing to my husband for not being a better wife! That bad.

So how do you handle turbulence? How do you know what's "normal?" I only fly about 4 times a year, so I just don't have enough flight experience to know what to expect, ya know?

I'm posting in this section because you guys are tried-and-true flight gurus. I guess I'm looking for reassurance that turbulence is normal and isn't going to make the plane crash.

I've thought of talking to the flight attendent or captain afterwards about my fears, but always lose the courage.

Help!

Well, I can tell you that's normal. But there are both physiological and psychological issues. Even if you're totally comfortable mentally, your stomach may still feel terrible.

That's why some people do avoid the regional jet when possible. Maybe that's just what you have to do.

Thanks, rk. I'm hanging out a lot on these forums to learn more and hopefully alleviate my fears. I did declare I'd never fly in a small plane again, but my husband wisely noted that we'd have to refrain from going to a lot of cool places if that were the case. He's right.

Yes, stomach turns, sweaty palms, the full nine yards.

I have no great ideas, but I feel your pain. Strangely, I love little planes - regionals, little prop Cessnas, etc.

But I hate, hate, hate big commercial jets. They scare the bejeebers out of me. I just breathe deeply and sink my fingernails into my husband's leg. Seems to work. But he doesn't want to travel as much as he used to. :-D

Just hang there.

Just hang IN there. Jeesh.

If you are sitting next to a window, you can expect bumps when there are clouds. On the last Continental flight, the fasten seat belt sign was off (believe it or not) and as I looked out the window, I saw clouds. The fasten seat belt sign soon came came on.

I am by nature a nervous flyer, but the scenery on a sunset flight from Portland to Eugene (OR) was so beautiful, the bumps didn't even matter. It was a glorious day, as we flew down we had wonderful views of the sun setting over the coast as well as vistas of the Cascades. The fluffy, pink-tinged clouds we passed through on occasion only added to the trip, despite the bumps. On another regional flight from Georgia to Orlando, the small clouds above Florida were arrayed in such a perfect grid pattern, almost like a checkerboard in the sky that I forgot about the turbulence in marvelling at the pattern.

I guess I expect some bumps on lower altitude flights and don't mind if the weather's not bad. But turbulence on the big jets turns my spine to jelly.

thanks, again, friends. makes me feel a bit better to be told, once again, that "it's normal" and know that i'm not the only one!

yes, clouds - esp when we're over those cute puffy fluffy white ones seem to exacerbate the issue. however as a few of you said, gorgeous scenery helps to distract! like when DH and i honeymooned in french polynesia and flew from one island to the next on a nine-seater prop plane but looked down on magnificent lagoons.

thank you.

Turbulence is normal and it's not dangerous, but it is often scary. It is a great idea to talk to the captain or flight attendants before the flight. They will be happy to talk to you and will be incredibly reassuring.

Don't feel funny about it either. When you get on the plane, just ask the first flight attendant if it would be okay for you to talk to the captain because you are afraid. Chances are, he or she will lead you right to the cockpit where the captain will be happy to talk to you. I have done it many times and it has helped immensely.

Those planes are referred to, by me, as "fake planes". My cut-off for real versus fake planes is 50 seats. Besides turbulence, the thing I hate about fake planes is that if there are weather or traffic issues at an airport, these usually are of lower priority to get onto the ground - so you get to spend even more time circling your destination airport.

The only think that works at all for me (and then not all that much) is to watch the flight attendants. If they appear totally unfazed by whatever is going on, then it must be normal. If they start sitting down with seatbelts on, I get more nervous.

I have ruled out travel to several destinations because of necessity of flying on fake planes - fortunately there are enough places to which I want to travel that use real planes.

>if there are weather or traffic issues at an airport, these usually are of lower priority to get onto the ground

Not true. Save for emergencies and aircraft performance, it's first come, first serve. I've flown light single engine and twins into large, heavy traffic airports and have always been

merged right into the appropriate queues.

That may be true - but the explanation the pilot gave us as we got a 30 minute scenic air tour of Boston Harbor was that the air traffic controllers wanted to "let the big boys" land first. Maybe there was something even scarier he was not telling us - but I don't want to know about it now!

The smaller planes terrify me--I have mild acrophobia but am okay on the larger ones. The most frightening experience of my life was having to fly in a 3-passenger Cessna from Birmingham to Fort McClellan, Alabama when there was a ground transportation strike. Never again!

Airplanes are designed to withstand turbulence MUCH worse than anything you will ever experience on a commercial flight. So get over it; you're not going down. By the way, I'm a pilot. (Of course, my fiancee still freaks out at the slightest bump.)

Also, just because the flight attendants are seated does not mean the plane is in any extra danger of crashing. It simply means the flight is too bumpy for them to safely walk around. I would think this is fairly obvious.

Do you think the pilots are interested in dying any more than you are?

I agree with nnnn. And don't forget that they fly planes not much bigger or different from large turboprops into eyes of hurricanes.

Hey gang,

Hadn't checked this thread in a couple weeks, but wanted to say thanks for your responses. I especially appreciate nnnn's frankness. And you, too, rkkwan. Those are just the types of things I need to hear. Thank you!!

Gail, me too, I try to watch the flight attendants. Then I try to reassure myself that they sit because they don't want to trip and fall down, not because they're strapping themselves in for a crash.

Again, MUCH appreciated folks. Happy travels.