Flight ordeal - Turbulence.

PurplePow

Taken from a website:

"The last major air disaster attributed to turbulence was on March 5, 1966, in Japan, near Mount Fuji, when a BOAC 707 was destroyed, along with all 124 passengers and crew. The FAA says that "The aircraft suddenly encountered abnormally severe turbulence ... which imposed a gust load considerably in excess of the design limit."
But as Captain John Cox, a retired airline captain with US Airways, owner of Safety Operating Systems and author of USA TODAY's "Ask the Captain" column points out, that was nearly 50 years ago and today's aircraft "are designed and tested to withstand far more turbulence than most people have ever experienced. If you had a flight where it was a memorable experience of turbulence, we call that 'moderate chop'."

ellay864

I'm not a fan of flying, alwasy been nervy but recently had to fly a lot more on business so getting better BUT still hate it if it's anything other than smooth. Thanks to the post with mention of that Ask the Pilot blog - I just found it and found a great peice about turbulence that puts things in perspective a bit
http://www.askthepilot.com/questionanswers/turbulence/

Gloomendoom

supermassive wrote: »

I have never been so at ease with my own death. It was sort of peaceful.

I know exactly what you mean. Odd isn't it. No fear at all.

Mankysteve

There something distinctly unnatural feeling about flying but its the safest form of transport, not a short away but a miles and miles and miles.

jlh7

I had something similar - the best way is definitely to get back on a plane!

Pilots fly through turbulence all the time and will ascend or descend as appropriate to get above/ below the bumps, and cabin crew sitting down is really very routine.

Think of it like this - you are not "floating" in the aeroplane, the air acts as a "road" that you fly over. It's like being in a car and going over a bump in the road - scary yes, but the road is still there afterwards...

And don't let your boyfriend hurry you back into it!

Molly41

Delree wrote: »

Why not take sleeping pills for the next one and sleep the entire flight. I know two people that do this.

Yep me too - yummy diazepam mixed with some anti sickness meds and Im away with fairies for hours. Poor hubby has no conversation and has to get me on and off the plane - he has resorted to a wheelchair on several occasions!

trolleyrun

Try comparing flying with being on a boat. The difference is you can see the waves in the sea but not in the air. It's pretty much the same principle though.

The seatbelt sign gets switched on so passengers don't injure themselves falling over. The crew get told to sit down for the same reason.

The crew don't get paid "danger money" and their life insurance isn't higher than for a "normal" job. Pilots are very well trained and know what they're doing. If you tell the crew you're a bit (or a lot) nervous, they'll keep an eye out for you and give you some extra reassurance.

JulieElizabeth

I don't have a fear of flying

It's a fear of crashing into the side of a mountain or nose diving into the sea

heartbreak_star

Molly41 wrote: »

Yep me too - yummy diazepam mixed with some anti sickness meds and Im away with fairies for hours. Poor hubby has no conversation and has to get me on and off the plane - he has resorted to a wheelchair on several occasions!

If I was Cabin Crew I'm not sure I'd let you on the plane in that state in case something happened to you

(EDIT: also a very ironic post looking at your signature )

I'm with your husband, OP. You need to sort this out if you want to go continue having the holidays you have always had.

Best of luck!

HBS x

purpleshoes_2

Molly41 wrote: »

Yep me too - yummy diazepam mixed with some anti sickness meds and Im away with fairies for hours. Poor hubby has no conversation and has to get me on and off the plane - he has resorted to a wheelchair on several occasions!

Id rather sort out the issue with flying tbh, I know what its like to be a nervous flyer but Im not sure diazepam and anti sickness meds is a good combination and as someone else said, what if an emergency did happen on the plane and you needed to be alert?