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?

@therocinante

BIG sudden drop - I think it's something to do with air pockets?

I know the "air pockets" term gets used a lot but there's not really any such beast.

Warning - might be TL;DR...

What happens is basically an aircraft wing works best at producing constant lift when it's moving through air that is flowing in a nice predictable manner...if for any reason the air itself is "churned up" and is rapidly changing direction or speed then the amount of lift the wing produces varies and you feel that as the aircraft going up and down.

Reasons for the air being "churned up" are thing like it blowing at high speed across obstacles on the ground such as trees and buildings - that effect can ripple up hundreds off feet and is one reason why its sometimes bumpy coming into land or taking off.

The air around thunderstorms often has updrafts and downdrafts, so being near them is bumpy.

At high altitude at the edge of jetstreams ("rivers' of fast moving air) the airflow sometimes changes direction and/or speed rapidly and so air can get "churned up" and againlead to turbulence.

I know those up front on the flightdeck do their best to keep things smooth but sometimes they can't and sometimes they get no warning (especially with the stuff associated with jetstreams).

Like others here this was my bread and butter for several decades and in that time I never found it scary, but sometimes found it tedious (if it went on too long). Worse damage I ever suffered was the need to wash shirts when coffee got spilt down the front.....

Hope that helps and actually isn't TL;DR.

Loads of bad experiences yet we all still fly. Worst was flying budget airlines in Asia, they had lost a passenger plane that year and had flown into a mountain.

I also can't watch boat or plane disaster movies

Gosh I’m glad I haven’t been on some of these flights!

I think the sign is when the cabin crew have to also go to their seats and buckle up, which has happened a couple of times. Really was quite a rollercoaster. There was one poor passenger who was very scared and she was sat next to a flight attendant who patiently described to her what turbulence was - so I wonder if that is a good strategy.

Yeah it was proper exciting. Honestly wasn't scared at all but many were TBF

Landed in Rome in a lightening storm many years ago now. It was the flashes and the sudden dropping of the plane every so often. It was terrifying but I still fly

@therocinante

Is it weird that this thread is making me miss flying? I love the feeling of being awake during a night flight and staring out at the world underneath so much!

I had one bad flight to/from (can't remember which) Cyprus. BIG sudden drop - I think it's something to do with air pockets? - and then we were inside a storm and it was very... bouncy. I kind of enjoyed it in a fatalistic 'fuck it, nothing I can do now' way but there were a lot of people screaming.

The only time I've been genuinely scared there wasn't any turbulence at all but I boarded the oldest-looking plane I've ever seen (I think it was Air China?) and it just seemed to creak and shudder constantly on the ascent. Didn't feel slick and safe, it felt like someone driving an old banger. I'm not a nervous flyer at all but I didn't sleep the entire 12 hour flight -just got drunk-.

My worst experience was also a air China flight. With the worlds oldest looking plane.

I think I remember being genuinely scared flying into Melbourne they couldn't land the plane and the air crew were quite fasten in and not making eye contact we sat opposite two staff and their body language was very strange.

Twice…

Once on one of the Flybe turbo props which were vomit comets at the best of times.

Second time was last year flying back from NYC. As soon as we left the Canadian coast it was rough for about an hour. Meal service cancelled and cabin crew seated the entire time.

It’s not nice but it’s not dangerous, is what I remind myself. Or try to anyway.

I have nothing to add but I’m really ‘enjoying’ these stories.

Yes and I was absolutely shitting myself. Thought there’s no way I’ll ever get back home, because I’m too scared to fly back. Absolutely horrendous experience for nervous flyers why rarely fly.

I think the cabin crew should inform passengers and say it’s totally normal etc and that all is fine instead of us sitting back thinking this planes going down.

Absolutely hate flying so can’t see me going anywhere abroad again

I've literally been sitting reading all these stories for hours now and have been reading up on all the airplane crashes and what caused them, back to the 1910's! Need to go to sleep!

[quote backinthebox]**@forinborin* 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* We don’t have strait jackets on board, we do have handcuffs. They are for passengers who are a danger to the aircraft or passengers, not necessarily aggressive drunks. They are used extremely infrequently as most aggressive passengers calm down when they realise where their actions are going. I’d also like to dispute the statement that aircraft are crashing roughly one every 3 weeks. One jet has crashed in 2021 so far, and one jet had a severe engine failure but landed successfully with no injuries or loss of life.

If it helps, I am also a very experienced pilot. 27 years flying experience, 22 of them flying passengers on jet airliners. I am sure your family member and I would have a lot to talk about![/quote]
Thank you!

I was on a flight where we were flying very very low across the sea, people starting questioning cabin crew if this was normal as we were almost touching the water. They said it was fine nothing to worry about. A few minutes later the captain did an announcement advising technical difficulties on the plane and would be looking to do an emergency landing.

We ended up landing at a nearby airport as we got out we could see something had hit the front window of the cockpit and it had all smashed through.

I called my parents and told them i was at an airport on Portugal and they shouted at me saying how on earth did i get on the wrong flight home 😂 mood soon changed when i told them the story haha.

On the way back from Argentina in 2012hit bad turbulence somewhere over the Atlantic. Was pretty scary but made even worse when the friend I was travelling with grabbed my hand and said "this is where the Air France plane crashed".....safe to say I spent the next 8 hours of that flight a nervous wreck

Probably a bit outing but haven’t flown in over 30 years as I not only hate flying but worry about crashing - know too many people that have died in air disasters (plus had a colleague who unexpectedly lost a family member who died on a flight) so just don’t bother any more.

Mind you, having had bad vibes about meeting my doom in an aircraft, during lockdown last year I was on the garden when a small aircraft went overhead and I heard first one then the second engine cut out. They did come back on - seemed an eternity later but probably less than a minute - and that was long enough to make me realise I wasn’t safe on the ground either!

Only once, flying into an airport in Italy when my uncle happened to be on the flight deck. We had bad turbulence (cabin crew sat down, stuff falling from lockers etc) and then after it passed we were kept sat down all the way into the airport (another 45 minutes or so).
When I spoke to uncle on the ground he said we’d been kept sat down as the turbulence had shaken the plane so badly that the rear door sensor was showing the door was open - obviously it wasn’t as we were still pressurised but for caution everyone was made to stay in their seats!

He had had a 40 year career in flying at this point and said it was the worst clear air turbulence he had experienced

I was flying with a friend to a remote place on a small plane with about 20 other passengers. It was very windy and bumpy. The pilot tried to land but cocked it up so had to loop round to try again. I felt OK untill I spotted the woman behind me crying clutching her cross and praying

Scenic type flight in Australia on a fairly small plane (about 12 people maybe?). Flight out was delightful! Everyone chatting and taking videos. Pilot talking about all the sights and angling the plane so we could get good views. The return trip later was overland and the hot air rising off the desert makes a lot of turbulence. It was complete silence apart from my mother vomiting. No one took any video or photos. The plane was going up and down as well as slipping sideways sometimes. The pilot was unfazed as it’s very normal.

I have a long time fear about flying. Years ago, I was on a flight back from Spain, with my late Husband and two young children, We had been flying for about a half hour. We then dropped about 2000 ft, the plane was shaking about, I looked out of a window to the right,and there were flames coming from one of the engines. My Husband was trying to have a bit of a nap next to me, but I said, there are flames coming from this engine on the right, and he said this sometimes happens, and it can be extinguished,so stop worrying.

I must add now, that my late Husband was an aircraft engineer,,and involved with the testing of aircraft,as in Concord and Boeing jumbo jets etc.

Lots of people on the plane were panicking now,mainly just because of the plane losing so much height,like dropping out of the sky. The crew were telling every one to fasten seat belts, and then fastened themselves in as well.
Some smoke was still coming from the right side engine,,and then a few minutes later,some flames started to come from an engine the other side of the plane,, I was shouting at my Husband, there are flames from another engine,and this time he said, omg you are right,it looks pretty bad.

The plane was trying to gain height,, and the captain came on the tannoy thing,and told everyone to stay calm.as they were trying to deal with the engine problems, as soon as possible.

By this time,I was having a flat out panic,I have claustrophobia as well.I was totally unreasonable, I kept telling My Husband to go and tell the Captain, that I need get off right away, and to get the plane down as soon as possible.. I then sat mute in my seat for the rest of the journey.My two children in the seat behind were ok, in fact my Son thought it was a fantastic flight, dropping out of the sky, and wondering if we we would be landing in the sea and see a shark.

The engine fires were extinguished eventually, and we eventually reached the normal height.

I had nightmares about that flight for many weeks,just reliving it over and over.

[quote loginfail]@therocinante

BIG sudden drop - I think it's something to do with air pockets?

I know the "air pockets" term gets used a lot but there's not really any such beast.

Warning - might be TL;DR...

What happens is basically an aircraft wing works best at producing constant lift when it's moving through air that is flowing in a nice predictable manner...if for any reason the air itself is "churned up" and is rapidly changing direction or speed then the amount of lift the wing produces varies and you feel that as the aircraft going up and down.

Reasons for the air being "churned up" are thing like it blowing at high speed across obstacles on the ground such as trees and buildings - that effect can ripple up hundreds off feet and is one reason why its sometimes bumpy coming into land or taking off.

The air around thunderstorms often has updrafts and downdrafts, so being near them is bumpy.

At high altitude at the edge of jetstreams ("rivers' of fast moving air) the airflow sometimes changes direction and/or speed rapidly and so air can get "churned up" and againlead to turbulence.

I know those up front on the flightdeck do their best to keep things smooth but sometimes they can't and sometimes they get no warning (especially with the stuff associated with jetstreams).

Like others here this was my bread and butter for several decades and in that time I never found it scary, but sometimes found it tedious (if it went on too long). Worse damage I ever suffered was the need to wash shirts when coffee got spilt down the front.....

Hope that helps and actually isn't TL;DR.[/quote]
Ooh, thank you! I really appreciate the explanation, not too long at all ☺️ I find the physics behind flying fascinating, I think if more people knew this kind of thing they'd be less scared of bumpy journeys (hopefully).

I was on one where we were landing in a snowstorm but the pilot couldn’t get a visual of the runway so we had to go back up and try to land again. Finally landed on the third try.

Flew from Manchester to Inverness with Tui The plane was much smaller than usual. It was a windy day and the turbulence was horrendous. My friend and I sat holding hands in terror. A small girl shouted "we are all going to die!"

Because it was such a small plane, people were being jolted into the aisles even with a seat belt on.

It was so bad my friend and I debated sacking off the return flight and getting the train.

Luckily it was fine on the way back.

Have been on a few with circumstances similar to all those mentioned, but this is a warning about using Flightracker or other such web based tracking systems.

Mrs SRF was on a flight that flew over northern Africa when there were loads of issues going on, I was tracking the flight and it suddenly disappeared......off every single one of them....I shit myself and had to wait until around 5 in the morning before it 're-appeared' again....apparently this happens as some international air spaces do not allow the radar tracking of flights (I learnt this off a pilot friend)...so be warned!!

I was flying to France alone once when I was a teenager, and suddenly the plane dropped enormously in the sky. One of the stewards started screaming over the intercom that we were going to crash. After that there was complete silence, and I remember gripping the arms of my seat so hard my fingers went numb. It was as if everyone had just accepted we were going to die.