aucho53

Hi everyone!!
I have a question that I have been longing to ask, but I haven't gotten around to it. It doesn't pretain directly to europe, but i figured that some of the travel buffs would have an idea.
When you are on a flight...how much turbulence is normal? On a couple of my flights it has gotten pretty darn rocky, I just have no idea what is normal? Has anyone had any experiences or knowledge that they wanna share? I have always been curious.

Thanks guys!!

Layla

nbodyhome

For some reason, I've never had a lot of turbulence on night flights. But on the way back from Europe in September, the attendants had to get in their jump seats a couple of times.

Good thing they had free Baileys and wine for me.

aucho53

thanks nbody!

if anyone else has any info I'd love to hear it!

Thanks!

DMary

Too much turbulence is when strapped to your seat, your bottom actually leaves the seat as on one of our flights to Denver.

nbodyhome

Wow! A friend of mine is a pilot, and he had to fly through the storms last week in the north US. He said that he isn't usually nervous, but at that point he was (he told me why, which I won't go into here - nothing bad, but he'd gotten ready to grab the controls as opposed to relying on just the auto pilot).

nytraveler

How much turbulence is normal is like asking what weather is normal. Where to and from? What time of year? Any special weather conditions?

I've had dozens of flights with no turbulence and many where you had to be strapped into your seat the whole time and couldn;t drink out of a cup.

NYC into Pittsburgh is especially bad for much of the year - and they never attempted to serve food. As you got on the plane the FA handed you a box with snack and you picked a drink in a can - since they knew the chances were good they wouldn;t be able to get out of their seats most of the flight.

For much of the year flights from the US to europe have a stong (100mph and up) tailwind - and if there's a storm you have to stay buckled in much of the time. (On one flight a know-it-all idiot didn't and when the plane dropped he flew up out of his seat and hit his head on the overhead bin.) That's normal turbulence with high winds and bad weather.

So - your question is really like how long is a string? It's as long as that string is.

doug_stallings

We had a lot of turbulence on Wednesday night on the flight from London to New York, so much so that the flight attendants actually suspended service for half an hour. But it was a bit better when the pilot changed altitude. If you have the constant up and down, that's the worst, but it usually doesn't last very long. Our lighter turbulence were pretty constant.

bob_brown

Yesterday I didn't have any. The day before it was bad. Which is normal?
The good day or the bad?

What kind of conclusion can you draw from anecdotal comments anyhow??
Particularly when there is no definition of normal.

rhmuir

Would agree that there is no standard for normal. I wouldn't agree that night is better than day either. Pilots do not fly into thunderstorms and take a very wide track around them. Seatbelt on all the time is best prevention from severe turbulence.

Susan33

Yes, some flights can be very rocky depending on the time of year. Last year on a Singapore Airline flight, the flight attendants were on their knees in the aisle holding on to the seats as they couldn't get to an unoccupied seat. At the time, I assumed the kneeling was for safety and probably some praying as it was pretty rough on that flight.

FainaAgain

It also depends on what you remeber.

When we emigrated to the US in November 1989 flying from Rome to NY, I don't remember any turbulence - have other things to recall. My husband remembers bad turbulence and doesn't want to fly any more.

kerouac

I had a memorable flight many many years ago (1969) on Pacific Southwest Airlines from LAX to SFO. It was the famous midnight flight, which cost $10 and for which tickets were not sold. You just showed up at the airport and boarded the plane, and the stewardesses (as they were called) collected the fare on the plane! Can you imagine what a different world we live in now?
Anyway, that particular flight had some of the worst turbulence that I have ever seen -- a real roller coaster ride. But the flight attendants absolutely had to collect the fares, so they spent the entire flight crawling up and down the aisles on their hands and knees. As it was only about the 3rd or 4th flight that I have ever taken in my life, I have never worried about any sort of turbulence since then. If they had not collected the fares, then I would have worried.

2Italy

It's virtually unpredictable. I have encountered incredible turbulence on a beautiful sunny day and then had a very smooth flight through a storm. Normally the pilot will attempt to alter the flight plan and either climb or descend to a different altitude in order to find smoother air. Of course that's up to the air traffic controllers.

kerouac

There are two announcements that mean that it's going to get bad:

1. "Flight attendants, suspend the meal service immediately."

Worse:

2. "Flight attendants, strap into your seats immediately."

The "fasten seat belt" sign has usually been on for quite some time before it gets to this stage.

dovima

When you take a JAL flight from SFO to Narita and they don't get one single meal completely served in 10 hours, that's too much turbulence!

aucho53

Hi everyone,

Thanks very much for answering. I know that you can't define "normal" and I suppose I should have re-phrased my question, but most people seem to have understood what I was looking for in an answer.
I just wanted to know about any possible patterns (if any) such as time of day, weather, etc etc.
I have never had a particularly "bad" experience, but I never know what to consider "bad" because I don't know what is "normal". I guess what I mean by normal is "safe"...."not normal" would be "unsafe" i suppose.
Keep the answers coming!! I appreciate them!
P.S. if anyone knows of any "fear of flying" courses in the Montreal area please let me know, i would be very interested!

Thanks Guys!!

seetheworld

On our return flight from London to NY, we had a very bumpy ride from headwinds. The flight attendants suspended service for a while.

Recently, my husband had a "wavy" flight from Houston to NY - constant up and down sort of like riding a surf board. I'm glad I wasn't on that flight.

When I was a teenager, on my very first flight (alone, I might add) we had such severe turbulance that the flight attendant fell. I didn't get out of my seat for 8 hours and it scared me for a very long time, lol. The next time I flew, it was my honeymoon, and I almost didn't get on that flight.

Can you tell, I don't like turbulance or airplanes, for that matter. But I do what I gotta do.

MelJ

Most of my overseas flights depart from Newark, NJ and take place in October, early November, late February or early March. I think every single flight from Columbus to Newark (mid-afternoon always) has had really bumpy turbulence the last ten minutes or so before landing in Newark. I always expect it so I don't fear it, but I don't know why it happens.

Same thing with at least three red-eye flights from Las Vegas to Columbus.

I've been lucky in that I've had no memorable turbulence going/coming from overseas.

AnthonyGA

Some turbulence is foreseeable, some isn't. The best procedure is to keep your seat belt on at any time you are in your seat, and to not wander about the cabin any more than necessary. Even extremely heavy turbulence does not present any risk to the aircraft, but it's not unusual for unsecured passengers and crew to be injured when very heavy turbulence strikes a plane. Strapped into a seat, you're fine, but if you aren't secured, bouncing unpredictably to and fro is likely to get you a bruise or a broken bone if the turbulence is bad enough. Usually the flight attendants suffer the most when the plane encounters sudden surprise turbulence because they have to be up and about almost all the time, but passengers who loiter in the aisles or refuse to buckle up can be injured, too.

Scarlett

We had an unusual amount of turbulence on our flight home from South America on Wednesday. The flight attendants all sat down and strapped in, but it did not last very long....