[Anonymous]

[a_canadian_traveller]

Good day. I could find only one thread about turbulence (January 2010), and the discussion seemed to focus mostly on the pilot’s use of the seatbelt sign in choppy conditions. I thought I would ask other frequent flyers: Have you ever encountered turbulence that was noteworthy, either because it was so severe that it rattled your otherwise calm nerves, or because of the crew’s handling of the aftermath (cleaning up, reassuring nervous passengers, etc.)?

I have never really had a fear of flying, but I have endured a couple of white-knuckle moments in the air that I confess left me feeling a wee bit shaken (pun not intended). In one instance, a flight attendant suffered minor injuries. Has anybody else ever witnessed a beverage cart become airborne? Unsettling, to say the least, if only because it happened so suddenly, without prior warning from the flight deck about rough air.

I would be interested to hear your stories. I find that what might seem harrowing at the time often makes for amusing conversation after the fact (provided that the outcome has passengers and crew alike safe and unharmed). Thanks to anybody who would like to share. Safe travels!

[a_canadian_traveller]

I could not find the appropriate forum (in-flight experiences?), so decided to post under Security (thinking safety), but I acknowledge that it is not the best fit.

[ImissConcorde]

My worst flight ever ……. Aer Lingus Dublin – Heathrow CAT = clear air turbulence Beautiful clear blue skies, aircraft all over the place. The nun beside me was green. I had to fly again the following week before I lost my nerve.

[canucklad]

I’ve had quite a few flights , when it’s become a bit ropey……considering how much I’ve flown i’ve been quite lucky (touch wood)

Will not iclude my near miss, faulty flaps, umpteen go arounds etc…..Sticking just to turbulence….

I always take my lead from the cabin crew as to how bad it is… so my top 3…

1) Last year…DUB > DXB in a 777….Emergency Exit Seat.at the galley,… bumpty bump—-seatbelt sign goes on….CC still serve up lunch. over the channel…..huge drop and roar as we enter mainland europe…..” crew take your seats immiedately”—– 2.5 hours of severe turbulence as we cross the continent===The young lass friom India was not a happy chappette, very anxious, with occasional panic look followed by re-assuring smile back at us…..They didn’t even have time to secure the trolleys ! 1 tipped over, fortunately not the one with my lunch on it!!

2) Landing in Alicante,during a thunderstorm, also last year….. the FR 737 was shaken about like a leg of chicken in a shake and bake bag!
Although the Weedgie hen party didn’t seem to bother as per my review! The worst weather the Costa’s had seen for many year we found out later!

3) HNL > SYD in a CP Air strech DC-8 more years than I would like to remember….. The flight was late arriving into SYD, missing the curfew so got diverted to MEL… which was OK as tis was our ultimate destination……Crossing the Oz alps. during a thunderstorm was thrilling….we must of been hit by lightning 3-4 times, the plane was being tossed about like a rottweiller with a rag doll …..People were crying, the guy in the row opposite was demanding copious amounts of Rye, in between holding onto his armrest shouting swoop dive with every lurch…..I was only a wee boy and thought the whole experiance was just thrilling !

But as they say as long as the aircraft maintains it’s forward momentum everything should be OK…..excluding Mountains LOL

[HongKongLady]

On a plane from Orlando to Gatwick a number of years ago when the plane dropped, s stewardess hurt her leg and I spilt my champagne, luckily most of it went in the aisle not on me. I was in premium economy but the crew had to hand out a good number of Pjs to damp passengers.

My most frightening was on a Cathay flight from Bangkok, we had been delayed due to technical problems, all was well I was having dinner, there was a little light chop then heavier this went on for a little while. Suddenly a cock pit announcement from a slightly hysterical captain shouted for cabin crew to sit down. In a blind panic stewardesses ran down the aisle with trolleys almost up ending one. My immediate thought was that something was terribly wrong especially as the turbulence has almost disappeared. No in 5 mins they all got up and resumed their work although one did look very shaken.
I was also once diverted back to Amsterdam suddenly, this was after two plane changes and taking the engineer with us, umm I did think when they told us, if we need an engineer on board maybe we should stay put, I was right and we had a sudden bank to the left and returned. We were all the installed in hotels over night. That was my last KLM flight.
Oh and a thunder storm over New York, extreme turbulence and a heavy landing with much swaying. As the cabin announcement said ‘thank you Chuck for that interesting landing’.
As a rule the crew deal with it well, although on many Cathay flights they have trouble keeping passengers in their seats, they like to get up and w,ander around when the seat belts are on, this very rarely happens on BA.

[Simon01]

Yes turblence will always be a problem.
What annoys me as crew is the passengers getting
up while the seat belt sign is on,often during moderate
to severe turblence.

[FormerlyDoS]

The FAA definitions of turbulence are stated in this document

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim/aim0701.html#aim0701.html.48

Most of what we think is ‘severe’ turb is moderate.

[canucklad]

Although Simon…… what really annoys me as a fair fare paying passenger is the ” CATTLEING ” controlling use of the seatbelt sign…..whether it be for insurance liabilty reasons; flying across Asia/Siberia typically …… or when Duty free trolleys are on the move or worst of all , dim the lights and CC disappear !!

[FirstTraveller]

I am always eager to know why airlines route their planes through turbulent area despite knowing in advance about these conditions???

[FormerlyDoS]

Turb is often unforecast and often unavoidable.

No (sane) airline captain will allow his aircraft to penetrate dangerous turbulence deliberately, but one cannot realistically fly a 2,000km diversion on a 1,500km flight to avoid a forecast area of turb.

Some choppy areas, e.g. the North Atlantic and the ITCZ are pretty much unavoidable on certain routes.

[a_canadian_traveller]

Thanks for sharing your tales, canucklad and HongKongLady. Very interesting. I, too, believe that I’ve been rather fortunate in that I know many people have experienced far worse turbulence than I have.

Two+ hours is a long time, canucklad. I imagine it became more of an annoyance than anything else after a while.

It is indeed a bit disconcerting when one hears the captain announce “Cabin Crew take your seats!” (particularly when there’s such urgency in his voice). Two occasions stand out for me. The first was UA HKG-LAX on a B-747-400, and we were bounced around during the night over the Pacific – naturally, as far away from land as we could possibly be, according to the flight map!

There was a young boy (ten years old?) sitting beside me. To my amazement, he slept through the whole thing. Hours later, as we touched down on the runway at LAX, he looked past me through the window, pale as a ghost, and then became sick to his stomach! How badly I wanted to say “NOW you’re throwing up?! Where were you when we were being tossed around the sky earlier?”, but of course I tried to assist the poor lad instead.

The other – and more frightening – incident occurred on an AC B-767-200, YYZ-YUL. It was completely unexpected, and cabin crew were in the middle of the beverage service. How they scrambled (as best they could) to get the carts back into the galley and get them secured. One male flight attendant was slightly injured. I was travelling with my mother. The funny part for me was that I had just gone to the rear of the aircraft where there were empty seats so that I could spread out the little bit of work that I had brought with me. As the aircraft shuddered violently, I worried about my mum, who I was certain must have been terrified.

When it all ended (coffee, tea, and juice on the walls, seats, and passengers) and I returned to our assigned seats, I thought I would try to put her at ease by making a joke, and I said something like “Well, wasn’t THAT exciting, mum?”. To my surprise and amusement, she looked at me, calm as could be, as if nothing had happened, and replied “Oh, my, yes. Why, I almost spilled my coffee”. Turned out that I was more rattled than her! One flight attendant later told me that she had never experienced anything like that in fifteen years of flying for AC. I confess that I almost lost my nerve to take our connecting flight!

[a_canadian_traveller]

Thanks to you, too, ImissConcorde. Although it’s not logical, I tend to not expect turbulence on short segments (like yours DUB-LHR and mine YUL-YYZ). Comes as more of a shock in those instances (no good reason for that, but it does for me). Was it reassuring to have the (green) nun beside you??? Did she speak?

[LuganoPirate]

Thankfully I’ve only experienced heavy turbulence a few times, but usually I sleep through it. I actually enjoy some mild turbulence as I find it puts me to sleep, like being in a cradle!!!

Once flying over the alps in a small Saab of Darwin from ZRH to Lugano, we experienced some very heavy turbulence. Even the lone stewardess was holding her jump seat in a vice like grip. I was with my then 6 year old who loved the drops as it gave the funny feeling in your stomach. He was laughing and saying, another one daddy, another one.

Now i was just as petrified as everyone else on the plane, dark, cloud and knowing the alps are not that far below you, but of course, the one thing you cannot do, is show fear to your children, otherwise they will be in hysterics! So all I could do was laugh with him and hope another “drop” would come along much I think, to the annoyance of all the passengers!

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

LP

I think we are in the same boat.

I quite enjoy it.

But then I have never experienced severe turbulence.

ImissConcorde

At least she wasn’t Blue…

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