I had a god-awful case of turbulance last week and thank god I was strapped down.

on a recent flight from Paris to Atlanta, I had a great time with the turbulance. I know it might be a little mean or maybe i have a warped sence of humor, but their was this guy sitting next to me. He was on his honeymoon with his wife and he decided to order a red wine. Just as he poured it in his cup the plane bounced and it spilled all over him. Then about an hour later he ordered coffee. The same thing happened and he had coffee all over him. Luckly he wasnt burned. Then they brought out the meals, and i swear one would think he would have learned, but the plane bumped again and the veal with sauted mushrooms was in his lap. I just couldnt figure out why he didnt learn after the 1st experience. I had the same amount of drinks and meals, and so did the rest of the plane, but for some reason he spilled everything that was set in front of him.

I'll bet he had a white shirt on, too.

What causes the turbulance and how come so many people can sleep through it?

I asked my husband, who is a private pilot, about turbulence. He said it's just a swirling of the air. There's a much better answer out there, but that's all I could get out of him since he's getting ready for bed. He's one of those people who values his sleep. He's been known to sleep through the worst turbulence without incident. If his head hit the ceiling as smueller says can happen, he'd merely rub his head and go back to sleep. This is what makes him an excellent airplane traveller, but a subpar airplane travelling companion.

Thanks, smueller, I will definitely keep your response in mind when/if I encounter turbulance again. It was straight-forward and makes sense.

On a flight from Calgary to Los Angeles a few years ago, I was waiting in the back of the plane to use the restroom, so I was standing next to the flight crew's seats. Turbulance started and the young stew sitting next to me gripped the seat and said "we are all going to die, I just know it". Needless to say this shook me up, and it took some other crew members to calm her down, they then told me she was having a nervous spell, and that everything would be allright. For some reason I think of her during turbulance and wonder if she is still a crew member some place. I hope fuchchi doesn't have her on his flight.

I know pilots say they would have to be knocked out of their seats to become concerned with turbulance, so that is a bit comforting.

On a flight from chicago to Boston a couple of years ago, we were the only flight that hadn't been cancled (5 hour delay) do to severe weather in boston. Upon approaching boston we were told by a shaky voice from the captain that other pilots had report heavy turbulance and that we may need to land somewhere else. THIS was the scariest moment of my life. We were tossed around like a toy. People (including the flight crew) were screaming as we were thrown about. Lighting was flashing all around us. We had to make 2 landing attempts. Later we found out the current wind speed was 60 mph with gusts to 80.

My husband happens to be an aerospace stress engineer-you know the ones responsible for ensuring a craft can withstand extreme stresses and makes sure a plane won't fall apart in all sorts of conditions. He gives me all sorts of statistics of how much force there would have to be to knock a plane out of the sky. Basically the only way you will be injured is if you are not belted into your seat.

The absolute worse experience was last New Year's after a 10-hr flight from Africa coming into Zurich there were major wind gusts of up to 200km/h and for whatever reason they decided to keep us in a hold pattern over ZRH-so there we were going around in circles AND being bounced all around for over 30 minutes before they decided to divert us to Geneva. Needless to say there were several sick people and we didn't mind the diversion and resulting overnight in Geneva, we were just happy to get out of that awful turbulence.

You may find this answer absolutely ridiculous but it works for me and has saved my anxiety a few times.
In bad turbulence I just close my eyes, breathe evenly and pretend I'm riding in a truck bouncing along a pot holed dirt track. It works every time. Since I did this I've never felt anxious but often used to and even hyperventilated on a flight from Sydney to Auckland once. It's not nice.I haven't even told my friends this, some of who are in awe at the long flights I have endured over the years to get to a destination.
The last one with a rocky ride was last year rocking and rolling all the way from Frankfurt to Geneva in a small plane.
But I once flew from Crete to London and going over the greek mainland the plane shook violently, even the crew went white. The next day there was a disastrous earthquake in that area.
Anyway, the end result, the adventure of it all is always worthwhile.

My rational side tells me that turbulance can't hurt me - my husband assures me (as does Smueller) that bumpy air is basically harmless, as long as I'm wearing my seatbelt. My irrational side, however, tells me I'm going down in flames, and will most likely lose my lunch in the process.

Despite having logged thousands of miles on planes (I'm an American expat living in the Middle East) I still dislike flying, and turbulance scares the *&^% out of me.

No matter what I'm told, turbulance freaks me out to no end. It's gotten to the point that I flatly refuse to fly between Denver and Colorado Springs - an extremely short flight, yes, but for me, 17 minutes of sheer torture! It's non-stop bumps from take off to landing. My husband is perplexed that I'll fly around the world, then refuse this particular flight. Somehow, being able to see the ground makes it worse for me - worrying about that unexpected drop at just the wrong time. Yikes!

We experienced some wake turbulance on a flight from Houston to Las Vegas a few years back. Ohmigod! The plane tilted up on it's side and people were screaming, yet the pilots remained eerily quiet - too busy composing themselves no doubt. I found out later that had we been in a smaller plane, we could have been in a world of hurt.

So, back to the original question - how do I deal with turbulance? Not very well! I listen to soothing music, have a glass of wine (or two or three) before getting on the plane and try to tell myself that bumps can't hurt me.

Oh yeah, and I avoid that Denver-Colorado Springs flight at all costs!

For anyone who's frightened of flying or gets worried by turbulence, I suggest you pay a visit to www.fearofflyinghelp.com - an excellent help site run by a US pilot. The fear of flying course which you can download for free gives a very good explanation of the causes of turbulence and lots of reasons why it's nothing to be afraid of!!

Wait until you're in an aircraft that has an engine die--especially when it's shooting flames out in the process. Had that happen on a flight from Honolulu to Tokyo several years back.

Flying doesn't "defy the laws of nature," as someone stated above, it exploits the laws of nature.

Several posters were curious about the causes of turbulence, which is easy to summarize. There are three natural sources of atmospheric turbulence

1) Convective turbulence, which is associated with thunderstorm updrafts. This usually isn't an issue with commercial airliners because pilots are instructed to avoid flying directly over rapidly growing cumulus clouds.

2) Turbulence induced by windshear. This occurs when there is a change in windspeed, such as wind conditions that vary with altitude, especially as the aircraft is crossing into the jet stream. This is the turbulence that is most commonly encountered by commercial aircraft in mid-flight. It is often unavoidable.

3) Terrain-induced turbulence occurs at low altitudes in mountainous areas such as Colorado Springs or Juneau, Alaska. This is probably the most dangerous type of turbulence because it occurs near the surface where there is not a large safety margin.

There is one human-induced form of turbulence called wake vortex. Although some atmospheric physicists argue that it does not technically qualify as turbulence (because the air motion is not strictly random), it has essentially the same effect on aircraft as turbulence. Large commercial aircraft induce a wake of disrupted airflow, which can be surprisingly powerful. Wake vortex disturbances have been known to damage the roofs of houses. It is believed by many aviation safety experts that the Nov 2001 downing of an American Airlines flight in New York was caused by this type of turbulence. The threat of wake vortices governs the minimum amount of time between takeoffs and landings. If the aircraft are spaced too closely, wake vortex disturbances become a significant problem.

By the way, planes have a tendency to drop when they encounter turbulence because lift decreases when the flow beneath the wing is non-uniform. Many fatalities attributable to turbulence have resulted from head injuries caused by this initial sudden drop, rather than injuries sustained during continuous tossing. This is why it is important to wear a lap belt whenever seated.

I flew into London day before yesterday on the most turbulent flight of my life. I love to travel internationally, so I must overcome my general fear of crashing everytime I get on a plane--it's not worth sacrificing the pleasure of travel for an irrational fear, but my fear is there. The unsympathetic "well, don't get on the plane" is not an option for me. Last year, when I flew to both Scotland and Paris on separate trips, I calmed myself by thinking of turbulence as waves in the air, and the aircraft as, like a ship, built to negotiate tose waves. I don't think that every choppy ferry ride is a risk of death, so I've tried to talk myself into believing the same thing about turbulence. What is most comforting is the captain's voice, explaining it, and the British Air captain was wonderful about explaining the thunderstorms in the vicinity, his attempts to avoid them, etc. This flight was the first time that drinks were actually sloshing for ages and ages, and they had to suspend the dining service "for the safety of the flight attendants". Also, the presence of my children and my need to calm their fears (one is also a nervous flier, and it was my 14-year-old's first transatlantic flight) kept my panic in check. But I'm the sort of person who thinks that every sound during takeoff is the sound of impending doom, and I search the crew's faces for signs that they are putting on a professional mask. I'm a terrible flier, but try to develop strategies to deal with what I realize are irrational anxieties.

Thank you very much, smueller, for taking the time to post such informative replies.

Thank you smueller! Now how do you know which one is which?

Thanks for all the very informative replies. I feel better already!

Recently, after being delayed for an hour due to severe thunderstorms, our 80 minute flight from Mexico City to Monterrey, Mexico finally took off. From the minute we took off, there was turbulence. To make things worse, my fiance had saminila poisoning from a restaurant we visited in Oaxaca. Poor thing, was in the bathroom during everything, so there was no one to comfort me and I was so terrified I had trouble helping him!

I try to breathe deeply and think happy thoughts during turbulence, but this time I was just consumed...trying to help my fiance and myself while watching every else around me grip their seats. We went right through the middle of a thunderstorm, lightning everywhere, then the pilot begins to accelerate downwards...and I mean it felt like straight down. I was so frightened I lost feeling in my hands because they were gripping the seat so tightly.

I was so glad to finally get home...my hands finally got their feeling back!

So, Intrepid....
An acquaintance has vowed never to fly coach again. She has several methods in place to fly first or business always. Recently, on a fflight to Paris she experienced turbulance and was air sick. When she returned home and recounted her adventure her incredulous son said: "Mom.... you were sick in FIRST CLASS.?"

Gosh, I shouldn't be reading this since I fly again next week - I hate flying, period (it IS unnatural) - and turbulence always gets me promising if I just make it down safely I'll never get on a plane again. All I can do is close my eyes, ask Thunor's protection, and think uplifting thoughts. Glad to know I'm not alone. Turbulence is so scary - but I used to work for the FAA in DC, Aviation Medicine, in the division that had the Accident Investigation Branch, it put the fear in me. After reading this thread, I'm thinking road trips and investigating overseas travel by steamer or liner. Now, if PBS would just stop broadcasting those shows about ships sinking . . . .