Have you ever been on a scary turbulent flight?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I'm curious what it was like? I've been on quite bumpy flights before, but the flight attendants always looked fine/ bored, so I wasn't worried and just kept watching whatever film. But I'm lucky as have no fear of flying in general, so perhaps easy for me to dismiss it.

Has anyone been on a really frightening flight where you were worried things might deteriorate? Did you get on a plane again after?

[Mydogisagentleman]

About 6 months after my friend’s brother died on the Lockerbie crash.
Me and DH were flying back from Greece, turbulence and great drops followed by the oxygen masks falling out of the roof of the plane

[Tal45]

I had one back from Mexico in hurricane season with really bad turbulence and a sudden drop in altitude, people were being sick everywhere including my DH who is never sick on flights.

[Nicolastuffedone]

Yes! It was like being on the Big Dipper....

[maslinpan]

I was on a flight with loads of turbulence, like a rollercoaster, really terrifying. To make it worse, one of the passengers managed to break their leg going to the toilet so the flight turned back and we flew through it once again.

[Terrazzo]

I was on a tiny plane when I was 15 and some people were screaming because the turbulence was very bad. I remember thinking they were OTT 😄 I think it was a 15 seater, so v light. Somewhere over California.

[CovidCorvid]

Yes. I still have no idea what happened but on an Airbus to Ethiopia and the plane plummeted what felt like a massive distance. People were screaming and a couple of people nearby vomited. It wasn’t turbulence I don’t think as it was a sudden and sharp total downward trajectory.

Someone during this came out of their seat and climbed backwards over the top of their row into the row behind....I was assuming it was terrorists at this point but turns out his mate next to him had vomited. 😫

[Flugbusters4444]

Many! My family moved a lot.

Had one really bad one where things were being thrown about, I was half screaming but my friend who was sat next to me (boarding school, going home) was howling with laughter and it was ok in the end.

The one where we dropped suddenly during the turbulence - definitely thought we were all going to die!

[Twizbe]

Flying from Amsterdam to Geneva while 7 weeks pregnant. Travelling alone for work.

Horrible stormy skies. Turbulence the whole way. It was horrific. Never been so scared in my life.

I landed and basically called my husband crying.

Had to get on another plane the next day to come back to London. We were delayed for hours in Geneva airport. BA were wonderful though. I asked a member of staff if there was a medical room or somewhere I could lie down in the airport. Explained I was pregnant and feeling so sick. They let me use the first class lounge and brought me some water and snacks.

[PenCreed]

Yes. Landing in high winds, twice - both times at the same airport in the UK. The first time it was like the plane was being shaken all the way down, and the man next to me started throwing up in the sick bag.

The second time we got halfway into landing and then had to go back up and circle for half an hour. The plane was being buffeted the whole time, DH was green, and I was starting to freak out that we were going to die.

I've been on a plane and flown into that airport since.

[Topseyt]

Yes. One real rollercoaster when leaving Sydney Australia to fly across the Pacific to Los Angeles. I even overhead the cabin crew discussing how unusually rough it was. I hated it and was very nervous. It did stop eventually but wasn't an enjoyable experience.

Another was a few years later flying back to the UK from Cyprus. Very turbulent for much of the flight over the Balkans (I think) and the Alps.

[RainbowCrayons]

I had a very bumpy landing on a small plane into Newquay Airport. I've also been on a plane that was struck by lightning when we were about 30 minutes off landing at Heathrow. I'm not a good passenger now and generally need a couple of drinks to get on a plane but the logical side of my brain does recognize that clearly planes are designed to cope with these things or they would have had to divert.

[forinborin]

Yes, I have been on one where I thought that that's it, the end. Oxygen masks were released, some overhead lockers opened and luggage fell out. And yes, some people vomited and a few had toileting accidents, I think. Took me a couple of years to start flying again

[MangosteenSoda]

I was on a hugely wild and bumpy flight in northern Madagascar. The plane route went from the capital, stopped at a destination at the top of the island then carried on to somewhere else off the main island. People began screaming and wailing. One person was doing out of control hysterical laughter. The cabin crew were nonchalant.

Plane landed at stop 1 and everyone disembarked. People were crying and hugging each other. That was our ‘stop’ and I was very relieved. I have no idea how they got the remaining passengers back on the plane.

I later found out that the wind conditions causing the turbulence are really common in that area, but there are a lot of first time flyers, so the stress reactions are also very common. I was pleased that we were travelling back overland though!

[Pinkpaisley]

I’ve been on a few. One was taking off over some forest fires and the heat created some interesting moments. I believe they closed the airport shortly after we took off.


The worst was through a really bad storm. The flight attendants didn’t just sit down, they secured everything, got into 5 point harnesses, and went white as ghosts. Of course I have bad motion sickness so you can imagine what I was doing at the time. The weather conditions were similar when it was time to fly home and i wasn’t afraid to fly, but my stomach just couldn’t handle it, so we spent a small fortune to rent a car one way and drove home.

[WhatHaveIFound]

I've been on two but i still keep flying.

First one I was flying back into Heathrow and we were kept in a holding pattern for what seemed like an eternity during a massive storm. There was severe turbulance, numerous people throwing up and hysterical screaming and crying. I was about 18 at the time, felt very sick but managed to keep it in. Felt so relieved when we finally landed.

Second one was again a very bumpy flight but as a family so I had to make light of it in front of our DC. Unfortunately a lady two rows in front was having a full on panic attack and ended up being sedated by the crew.

Only other panic was hearing that the Germanwings flight had crashed into a mountainside when my DH was on on one of their flights at the same time. Cue frantic Googling to see what flight it was. For a long time afterwards I was so worried every time he flew that I would constantly track his journeys on Flightrader (he doesn't know this).

[Eightiesfan]

This is not quite turbulence, but I was on a plane coming back from Ethiopia when the plane lost cabin pressure. At the time we had no idea what was happening, masks dropped down, there was a strong burning smell and I kid you not the plane felt like it was going to dive into the sea. At the time it was terrifying, but we later found out the plane wasn’t in any distress. The pilot had to lose altitude quickly because of the drop in cabin pressure and once we were at a safe height the plane levelled out. I can’t help feeling that cabin crew could have done a bit more to inform us about what was happening, instead of letting us all think we were about to meet our maker!

[forinborin]

Unfortunately a lady two rows in front was having a full on panic attack and ended up being sedated by the crew.
Do they actually have an authority to do this? I mean, I don't doubt your words, just that seems quite risky. On the other hand, mass panic on board is probably riskier.

[Pawsin]

Reading everyone's stories makes me shudder, not the turbulence, but all that sick!! My worst nightmare to be stuck in a confined space with people vomiting

[backinthebox]

I can’t help feeling that cabin crew could have done a bit more to inform us about what was happening, instead of letting us all think we were about to meet our maker! The cabin crew would not have known exactly what was going on, and would not have been able to find out from the pilots as they would be busy flying the aircraft and would tell the cabin crew once they had finished the descent.

Weirdly, no one has ever screamed hysterically on one of my flights in over 20 years of flying. I'll take that as sign I'm doing something right!

[backinthebox]

@forinborin

Unfortunately a lady two rows in front was having a full on panic attack and ended up being sedated by the crew.
Do they actually have an authority to do this? I mean, I don't doubt your words, just that seems quite risky. On the other hand, mass panic on board is probably riskier.

No, they don't. And no, they wouldn't have done this.

[kasho5]

Landing at Gatwick during a named storm - I think we were one of the last planes to land that day. The pilot aborted the first landing because the plane was being thrown around so much. Very tense when he attempted it the second time but thankfully he managed it! Wasn’t keen on flying for a bit after that!

[Andante57]

@Pawsin

Reading everyone's stories makes me shudder, not the turbulence, but all that sick!! My worst nightmare to be stuck in a confined space with people vomiting

Me too.
As an emetophobe it would be my worst nightmare and far worse than turbulence.

[forinborin]

No, they don't. And no, they wouldn't have done this.
I know (from family member who is a very experienced pilot) that they have straight jackets on the flights, but that is for aggressive drunks, I think. I haven't heard of medicating passengers.
By the way, despite the common wisdom is that turbulence just looks scary, and is generally harmless, the same family member quite nonchalantly says after watching one of those viral "what happened on the flight" videos - yeah, that's pretty much how planes go down, they probably had a 1 to 5 or 1 in 10 chance of crashing there.

[Flugbusters4444]

@WhatHaveIFound sedated by the crew? That is a lie dear. They are air crew, they cannot dispense controlled drugs.

[DrinkFeckArseBrick]

"the same family member quite nonchalantly says after watching one of those viral "what happened on the flight" videos - yeah, that's pretty much how planes go down, they probably had a 1 to 5 or 1 in 10 chance of crashing there."

If that was true there would be a crash every other week!