How much turbulence is normal??
 

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 on this board might know something about it.
When you are on a flight, how much turbulence is "normal"? I am not a super nervous flyer, but I have been on some flights that have gotten pretty darn rocky, and it starts to make me sweat a little :)
If anyone knows anything about it, or has some experiences they would like to share I would love to hear them. I have always been curious about it.

Thanks guys!!

Layla

sorry....i didn't mean to post twice....i didn't think my first post went through.

Sorry!!

Layla

Do you want to hear the bad news pertaining to turbulence or do you want reassurance?

There is no normal turbulence. It depends solely on the weather. I found flying overnight from America to the UK was normally a guarantee of bad turbulence.

Flying just over the Himalayas one year, the view outside was needle sharp and there was heavy turbulence which almost made the wings flap.

Coming back on a night flight from Bangkok last March we had hours of heavy turbulence, which fortunately started after our meals.

The worst turbulence you can have is clear air turbulence, when you hit a patch of low density air and the plane drops maybe thousands of feet. This is why you must wear seat belts on a plane as there is no warning for this very rare turbulence.

Going through a storm is just as bad, with lightning crashing around the plane. Fortunately planes are made to take lightning strikes.

I don't ever find turbulence to be "normal". It always gets me nervous. Last month, I flew from Lisbon to Salvador, Bahia, Brazil and it was awful. I will be taking this flight again on Sunday and I am alredy dreading it...

Best to take some duct tape and really strap yourself in.

I'll start...

Returning from Paris 2 years ago we arrived into Philadelphia in a wind storm. The jumbo jet was tossed around like a leaf on a rough ocean, up and down, left and right, swerving every which way. After about 15 minutes of this and pretty much pure silence peppered with gasps with each toss, there was the sound of the use of an airsick bag. Then another. Then another. Pretty soon, I was surrounded by non-stop airsick sounds. :& Luckily, I was not one of them.

So to answer your question, if you are surrounded by those nasty sounds, or people doing this [-o< , the turbulence isn't normal! ((I))

Referring to another thread - the pilot certainly deserved a tip that day for landing us in one piece!

oops - I see I didn't really "start" after all!

I am not usually a nervous flyer, but when I returned to Paris from Atlanta the end of September, we had turbulence from Newfoundland to past Ireland - in other words, all the way across the Atlantic. I decided that this must be normal - but not pleasant. I am flying again nesxt week, and not really looking forward to it.

You know it's bad turbulence when the flight attendents look scared. I've only seen it once - on Midway's inaugural flight from Chicago Midaway to Washington National (Reagen) in the middle of a spring full of twisters and microbursts.

If you can access Salon (the online magazine) they have a wonderful writer who has a column called Ask The Pilot, His name is Patrick Smith and he is a commercial pilot. Today, he has a piece about turbulence caused by the wake of a big plane. But he has addressed the larger issue not too long ago. I think Salon's search engine will help you find it.... or maybe Google would do it.

I will agree with Zeus.

I always watch the flight attendants. If they look fine, then I feel OK. Thankfully, I've never had to experience a flight where the flight attendant looked nervous - ...knock on wood.

To be honest, my first response was "all of it". Turbulence is a fact of life in the sky. Even though I agree with the other person who said it is not always pleasant.

Although I must say that I am glad to have never experienced the "dropping of thousands of feet". I definitely would not like that AT ALL!

a large commercial jet has never crashed because of turbulence- FACT!
when u read sometimes in papers that a plane went down cos of turbulence it is incorrect the pilot made an error, or equipment malfunctioned but this is NOT the primary cause.
if u dont like turbulence, get a seat over the wings, the steadiest part of the plane!

Normal depends on the weather.

Look at it this way, if you aren't upside down, it's within the range of acceptable to the plane.

ha ha ha ha Cato and CarolA, that is hilarious.
Zeus, I reckon I'd be too scared to check out the faces of the crew - just in case. Think I would close my eyes and pretend I'm someplace else.

My uncle did not heed the warning to strap himself in during turbulence on a flight in Argentina. He broke his shoulder. I guess the lesson is to follow the crew's instructions.

OK, I AM a nervous flyer! I fly back and forward to Europe every month and most times there is almost no turbulence to speak of. The worst is flying out over Newfoundland in Winter when you hit the storms, but is usually doesn't last too long.

As someone mentioned, clear air turbulence is pretty awful. A year ago, we hit it over the coast of Greenland and it was the worst flying experience I’ve ever had. It seemed worse because the skies were blue. We couldn’t move up or down and it went on for over 40 minutes – even the babies stopped crying, but there was a lot of adult whimpering and praying. I was terrified. After it was all over, I headed to the bathroom and met the pilot coming out – he was green. I commented that that was the worst turbulence I had ever experienced and he responded that it was the worst HE had ever experienced for that long. My boss is a pilot and when I told him the story, he said that for a pilot, its like riding a bronco in a rodeo.

Anyway, in general its rare to encounter really bad turbulence on a transatlantic run for a prolonged period. Its far worse across the mid-west during storm season. Don’t forget, the aircraft ARE built for the very worst that can happen and then some.

I am far more terrified at take-off and landing when most of the accidents happen – like the THREE times in one month when the pilots had to pull the aircraft up as we had almost touched the runway :( .

everyone who flies a lot has their turbulence story or stories. like fishing stories, many are exaggerated. most people don't like it and it makes most people nervous to some degree. some sweat like you. not sure what you are looking for here.

guanacaste - I beg to differ with you. The Delta flight out of Dallas that crashed was proven to be caused by 'severe downshere', a form of turbulence.

I don't agree that a jet has never crashed because of turbulence. There are a number of times that microbursts near the ground have brought them down, unfortunately.
Turbulence is totally random. The pilots and air traffic controllers try to put airliners in altitude stacks that avoid them. Pilots report regularly when they find the rough air. All that said, what is there to do but strap yourself in and ride it out.
I have experienced several flights with some pretty good drops (over China). Flight attendants go to their seats--and on the way are walking with their hands over their heads in case of a severe drop.