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?

Every time we have flown from the US back to London.

One time we had an aborted landing at Charlotte, US - according to the pilot we got caught in the turbulence of a plane that had just taken off - incredibly scary. Then we had to transfer to our flight to London, thankfully I didn’t look at my phone as another AA plane had caught fire at another airport on the runway - I’m not sure I’d have got on the next flight if I’d seen it.

To top it off, on the flight to London there was bad turbulence, which the pilot had warned us about but when it did get bumpy, the AA steward screamed down the tannoy for everyone to put their seat belts on and, if you were out of your seat, to sit on the floor immediately! Nothing like staying calm in a crisis! The kids thought we were going to die.

That was a journey I’d never like to repeat!

Oh and the next time I flew, the plane landing sideways at Bristol airport was all over the news edition.cnn.com/travel/article/plane-sideways-landing-uk/index.html

We live near Bristol airport which made it even more ‘real’ - to say I was nervous was an understatement!

Had a very frightening decent into Minneapolis in bad weather and a few passengers were screaming as we seemed to be nosediving and bumping and bashing it was very frightening but then we landed and everyone stood up to leave as if nothing had happened.

The only one one I really hated (although it was over very quickly) was an evening flight from London to Paris. It had been fine when we set of and we landed in Paris in the middle of a storm. It was pitch black, very windy and bucketing it down, and as we landed the plane bounced about four times before we stayed down. I remember seeing sheets of water flying up from the wheels.

There was also one in Italy that was a bit bumpy. It was mainly older Italians sitting around me, and it seemed like everybody had whipped out a rosary or crucifix, which wasn't exactly relaxing!

There's one in the Canaries (Gran Canaria I think) where you fly in and there's just sea at the end of the runway, and cliffs to the side which always looked a bit dodgy to me on approach. After we'd landed, somebody came on the radio to say it was the first time the pilot had landed there (possibly the first time any female pilot had landed there?) so we gave her a round of applause.

Glasgow landings are often quite hairy, lots of crosswinds. I flew home lots to see my parents and was never all that bothered by the bumping landings.

Until I took 18 week old DD on a plane to visit them and we landed in a storm. We were the second last plane to land, the airport shut after that. I was petrified. I kept singing to DD, whose little head was turned towards the window (we were in a window seat). She was fast asleep - the bouncing had sent her off. I was warbling BAAAA BAAAAA BLACK SHEEEEEEP purely to comfort myself. We had to go around three times and landed on the fourth attempt.

My dad was waiting for us. He worked for airlines for 40 years so pretty experienced. Said he was sure we'd be turned around - couldn't believe we had made it in.

I didn't stop shaking till we'd got back to his house and he had poured me a stiff vodka.

I've been a nervous flyer ever since - which is inconvenient as I have to travel a lot for work.

My hatred of turbulence is entirely based on how long there is left to go and therefore how long I have to endure it for. I particularly hate turbulence starting early into a transatlantic flight. I have no fear of any turbulence or bumpy landings once we start our descent as my ordeal is nearly over..

I've been into the cockpit a couple of times and the pilots said their instruments are great for picking up turbulence and trying to avoid it. Apart from the A380 pilot who apparently likes to "barrel straight through it". In fairness, the plane was so big that I hardly felt anything. This was not the case in a very old BA affiliate plane (it was something like ConAir but not) taking off at a very windy Port Elizabeth. The pilot went quite fast down the feeder lane, did a U turn at the end of the runway (still quite quickly) and straight into a rather wonky takeoff. Very flair but not so good for a nervous flyer.

@g135

BA affiliate plane (it was something like ConAir but not)

That'll have been Comair, and it was probably a 737.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comair_(South_Africa)

g135

I feel exactly the same about turbulence on a flight. As long as we've started the descent, and especially when we're out of any clouds I completely relax and can actually almost enjoy it!

I've done a lot of flights to Australia, and I always hate the sector from Singapore to Dubai, as there always seem to period's of long-lasting bumpiness that seem to go on forever, made worse for me as it's usually night, so nothing to see out of the window..

I’m a nervous flyer who weeps silently throughout any turbulence 🙈

I remember flying back from I think Tenerife with my sister and being terrified, while she just nonchalantly leaned back and said she doesn’t mind a bit of turbulence as it livens things up a bit.

I was as I didn’t realise anyone could actually enjoy it!

Flight back from Singapore on A380, it was awful, people vomiting, a metal case fell out of the central overhead locker and hit my husband, cut and bruised him. He got compensation off the airline. I was terrified!

The first time I flew was in my early teens. Super bumpy flight, terrifying. Amid all the bumps I felt something weird going on in my insides. When turbulence was gone, I went to the loo. And lo and behold - my first ever period had arrived in mid-air. That was a fun first night abroad, trying to figure out how to ask for sanitary pads in Greek.

The 27R Shed Effect? 🤣🤣 Yes, it is a thing. I wouldn’t say you prepare for it, but you are aware of it.

As for what I think of all the tales here - obviously this thread has attracted enough people who’ve had bouncy flights in the past. As has been pointed at it, it does feel more bumpy down the back, and often up at the front we are just feeling mildly jostled when all the way in the rear galley they are hanging on with both hands. There do seem to be a lot of people here though who have experienced far worse flight conditions than I ever have (and I’ve been struck by lightning 3 times that I know of, and flown between thunderstorms and even hurricanes rather more frequently than you might expect.) I think the experience is down to the individual. In over 2 decades of flying I have only had 2 bouts of turbulence that have woken me up a bit, and both of those were caused by the wake of an aircraft ahead of us on gin clear days when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and barely any wind, and the wake vortex just hung there, not dissipating.

I was on a flight back to the UK from Bahrain on the night of the Great Storm in 1987. Flying over Northern Europe was horrendous - the clouds were thick and black and the plane was juddering from side to side. We eventually landed on the 3rd attempt and apparently were the first plane to land that day. Tumbleweed was blowing through the airport! It was quite an experience!

Just remembered a ferry trip from Cherbourg to Southampton. The wind was Force 9 and the ferry was dipping up and down. Nobody could move from their seat and then we had to rescue a yacht which was in trouble near the Isle of Wight. We circled the yacht for over 2 hours in the raging sea before the lifeboat came out.

Also flying into the old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong - I already knew it was going to be scary, but a typhoon was just coming in and I really thought we were going to crash into the buildings which we were flying through.

@Honeyroar

You really have to be careful with calmers. You’d never have made it off in an emergency.. When I was crew we had a guy who wouldn’t come out of the toilet when we were preparing for take off. Eventually we opened the door and he was slumped on the loo slurring his words. The plane was turned round and we headed back to stand to offload him. We thought he was drunk. Turns out he had taken calmers because he was nervous.

Another passenger gave me phenergan once after I'd had a panic attack during take off. It's something I'd never ever use again whilst on a Flight. Moments after taking it I was completely flaked out and would have been completely useless in an emergency because there was no way I could've even gotten up out of my seat. Did pass the 9 hour Flight into Florida very quickly though cos I was practically comatosed for the majority of it. Happy to stick with some rescue remedy and a calamine tea bag should I feel jittery mid way through now instead. Strangely enough I love landing and turbulence doesn't really bother me that much,I know the wings aren't going to drop off. The only time it did was flying over Texas we were sat right at the back of the Plane and could feel every bump and jolt going, but as soon as I could see the Cabin crew laughing and joking I relaxed again. I probably don't help myself by watching Air Crash investigation before I fly somewhere

Dh had never flown before and I convinced him we should go abroad, worst flight ever we flew straight through a storm terrible turbulence plane bouncing about he just glared at me the whole time!! He has not flown since. I've become a nervous flyer but I've been in a transatlantic flight since it was really smooth. I'm not sure if I'd fly again now I've got children though, I've always had this feeling I might meet my end in a plane crash not sure if it's just paranoia though .

I was shockingly flight phobic at the time (healed since then), but was coming back to Edinburgh from Stansted on an evening flight. It had been storms all the way, and then the winds really picked up as we came towards Edinburgh.

We came down to land once, and we dropped so suddenly that the pilot pulled up and circled again. We then made a second approach, and had various smaller drops. but landed safely but very heavily and bounced etc.

All the while my then-husband was saying 'it's fine. don't be silly, it's fine' - out of trying to help me.

As we taxied in, I could hear all the regular commuters talking about how shitted up they'd been and how glad they were to be on the ground.

I used to be terrified of turbulence and winds, which was pretty impractical as I fly a lot. Reading about aircraft flying techniques helped a lot to understand what's actually going on - and I had plenty opportunities to practice reading the feel when flying regularly to Scandinavia (very windy). Basically the windier it is, the harder the landing will be (a true smash), that's normal. The "aircraft being blown around by the wind" is most likely the pilot swinging wings to naturally slow down before landing. Turbulence during a long haul helps me fall asleep (weird, I know). When cabin crew look worried that's probably because of the anticipation of passengers throwing up as described by many posters earlier. God I miss flying.

My second ever flight, returning home from Cyprus aged 8. Horrific turbulence, the worst I've ever experienced, people were sick, things fell out of lockers, it was hell. It scared me so much I refused to fly for most of my childhood and even now 25 years on, I hate any kind of bumpy flight.

Turbulence isn't dangerous, the taking off & landing is, but it's far more exciting. I used to worry that the plane would loop the loop when banking in my early flight days, but I learnt to move my body with it like riding a motor bike & came to quite enjoy it. I almost almost threw up on a flight to Lanka, I usually just hold a sick bag now & I feel so much better for it. My fear of sick is greater than any fear of the plane crashing. I did an Inter islander from Maui to The big Islander some years back which was a bit 🥺. Flying is my life, I'd never stop.

Hit turbulence and the steward let go of the metal food trolley which hurtled the full length of the aisle, how no one got injured I do not know. Also, not turbulence but had a pilot slam the brakes on at the very last second during take off due to some kind of error warning on the controls, a few hundred metres more and we would have been in the sea, that was very jarring and scary , especially when we finally did turn to return for take off and we could see how close to the end of the runway we were.

@GoBubbles The "aircraft being blown around by the wind" is most likely the pilot swinging wings to naturally slow down before landing Eh? Pilots don’t swing wings to slow down!

@aibutohavethisusername

Flight back to Heathrow from Glasgow or Edinburgh, can’t recall which. We were on the plane on the stand for over two hours due to terrible weather. When we finally took off there was turbulence the whole flight. The passengers all clapped when we touched down at Heathrow.

A similar thing happened to us flying out of Dallas, we sat there for about three hours with the most wonderful electric storm over the airport. Eventually the crew started to get ready for take off, the Captain came on and said The good news is we're cleared to start taxi-ing, the bad news is we're 34th in line! Our first trip to the US was on a charter flight, knees under the chin for 7 hours. As we approached Newark the Captain, a very chatty man. came on and said There is work going on and the main runway is out of action, we've been allocated the shorter runway. This isn't a problem but there will be no room for finesse, we put it down and slam all the breaks on, hard, amnd stop it! I have never been pressed so hard into a seat, I thought we'd be out through the rear door, but he managed to stop it, just.

Turbulence never bothers me as I can usually just snooze through it.

Except on one flight to the US when it was so bad I felt sick trying to read because I couldn't keep the book in front of me. Couldn't sleep and they refused to serve any drinks or food because even the crew had to be seated for several hours. That was a long, boring and nauseous flight.

Yes many times as used to travel globally for work. The worst experience was coming into land in Edinburgh and the pilot aborted very late. Found out upon landing that an Easyjet plane had 'pulled' out in front of us. I was very thankful for a brilliant pilot that day.

@Inthemuckheap I used to live in Edinburgh, travelled a lot, and that also happened to me when flying home once - I wonder if we were on the same flight?! The plane was about to touch down and all was really quiet then suddenly the engines roared and it went up like a lift 😳 I can't remember where we were flying back from though as it was quite a few years ago now.