I do understand what you are saying aucho53 as I think it is reassuring to know how much turbulence is "normal" and when to start panicking!

We once flew from Johannesburg to Amsterdam with MLK and we were approaching land having crossed the Med when our plane dropped 50 metres after which we did a complete loop and landed upside down. The passengers who had kept their seat belts fastened sat upside down but those of us who had forgotten to fasten seat belts landed down on the ceiling of the plane. I then realised that there was so much room up there I mean down there that I hoped the plane would not right itself the correct way up. Then I woke up and realised that we still needed to drive to the airport to catch our flight!

I have heard of airholes and meal trays hitting the ceiling. Keep those seatbelts fastened! :)

I realise that I'll be instantly contradicted by posting this :-), but....'no plane has ever crashed due to turbulence'.
Or so I've been told. :-)

My wife can't stand any bumps on a plane, and has had disturbed looks shot at her when she's shouted out loudly 'SH*T' when we hit some unexpected turbulence. And that was just from our daughter.
Me...I read that turbulence is just like drving over speedbumps in your car, or hitting the occasional pothole. No reason to be worried about it in your car, and no reason to be worried about it in a plane. These things are designed to fly through almost any weather you can forseeably imagine, you just lay back and enjoy the feeling of the blood returning to your buttocks, that's what I say...

On transatlantic flights, I usually expect some bumps when the plane is around Greenland. The severity depends on what the captain tells us after we take off...if he says we "might have a few bumps" or a "patch or two of rough air" around Greenland, it's no big deal. But when he actually uses the T word, then I know we are going to rock and roll.

I'm wondering if there's an element of pre-emptive caution in announcements that might vary from airline to airline. I've just come back from Canada, and Air Canada were punctilious about announcing possible turbulence (to the point where the captain made an announcement asking the crew to sit down as well), but for all my sweaty palms, I realised it didn't turn out to be any worse than the rumbling and bumps on a motorway bus ride I'd taken a day or two before. It's just that you do suddenly realise you're a few miles up in the air with no visible means of support....

For what it's worth London-Montreal seemed rather bumpier to me (and the flight crew and announcements less concerned) than Montreal-London (which was about two hours shorter, such was the tailwid).

Hi everyone!

Thanks again for all these replies...this is exactly what I was looking for. I normally take my seatbelt off on flights, but I plan to keep it on from now on "just in case" lol!
Keep em coming!!

Thanks! Layla

I was a couple of times in a really bad ones, as I was traveling at least once a week for business.
Once on the way to Seattle, about 30 min before landing and just on top of Rockies. It was a big silence on the flight.
Once it was on a flight Montreal to Toronto (under 1 hour flight with severe turbulance) they cancelled the following flights as we had hard time landing and aligning with the runway.
Many times it happened over St-John just before reaching the Atlantic Ocean, and many transatlantic flights were with turbulance all the way down. And many times over the mountans like Pyrenees, etc...
Once on a very short flight Montreal to Philadelphia the stewardess fell down while serving people and hit her head on the corner of one of the closets there. It was just one airpocket.

Hi chebourashka, thanks for your reply. Are you from Montreal?? I am also a Montrealer...do you by any chance know of any fear of flying courses? I am not afraid to fly, but would like to check one out, and I know some people who ARE scared of flying that would definitely be interested!
Thanks!

Layla

I don't think that "normally" there is very much turbulance at all on most of my flights to/from Europe. Sometimes there is a little bit for a few minutes, but I think I have had more turbulance on US domestic flights than on those transatlantic ones. Usually when the weather is bad, thunderstorms or something, which seems to happen late summer where I live.

I always keep my seat belt on at all times on flights, no exception, even if slightly loose. The only time I take it off is to go to the restroom. People (not just trays) can be seriously hurt if the plane drops a lot suddenly (I don't know if that's due to an air pocket or what). This isn't hypothetical, I knew a young woman who had that happen to her on a flight from LA to Hawaii, and she became permanently disabled due to damaged to her neck/spine from hitting the ceiling, I think. I used to work with her, and she couldn't ever work again (at least full time) and had to go on disability. I never left my seatbelt unbuckled again.

normal is less and less. Incidents like Christina's are extremely rare now because navigation has got so much better, the pilot's know where the turbulance is and can avoid it.

Serious turbulance does injure and can kill.

I was standing in the bathroom taking a piss and all of a sudden, tubulence! Needless to say, my aim didn't please even me. The fasten seat belt sign came on and I said, Oh no, I'm not leaving this bathroom until things settle down. I placed my hands on both side walls--forget my private places. Five minutes later I walked back to my seat with wet spots on my shoes. The Qantas flight attendants were straped in their seats. They looked happy that they didn't need to get me mouth to mouth resisitation.

I'm glad to hear these kind of incidents are rarer due to navigation improvements. It was quite a while ago -- around 1988. I think there was some lawsuit involved, also, but I don't know what the charge was --whether it was pilot error or negligance of navigation or whatever. It just scared me as I saw how your life can change so suddenly, and keeping a seatbelt on is such a minor thing you can do, so I just do it out of habit now, like in a car. It does seem incredible that someone could hit the ceiling even from a drop (she was an adult, although fairly small and not heavy). Maybe I got the story slightly wrong as I don't recall all the details and she wasn't a super-close friend, just a colleague mainly. But I do know she hit something (even if not the ceiling) from airplane turbulance and that did damage her neck/spine so she went on disability and could only do a little work from home after that.

Many years ago a friend who is a military pilot assured me there is no such thing as turbulence :).

Is it my imagination or does flying seem more bumpy now than it did 20 years ago?

It's so funny...I thought I knew what normal was. Probably take at least 50 RT trips a year--that might be a conservative estimate. I've been on flights where the pilot couldn't find the field. I've been on many a flight that had to turn back. But two Aprils ago, I was on a flight to LaGuardia where the pilot had to make three attempts at landing--the wind shear was so bad he couldn't stay the course to get on the ground. Our wings veered up and down and the plane bumped every inch to the actual landing.

Needless to stay, it has set a new standard. Any flight where a passenger doesn't pass out (TRUE!) out of sheer fright is "good."

ttt

Hi guys....
this is a great thread! I really enjoyed reading the answers that I got. Thank you all for sharing!!
Now I have a better idea of what I can expect, and how things can seem bad but really aren't too serious...hopefully!
Keep em coming!!

Layla :)