Turbulence, how much is too much.

robertxxx · 10-06-2011 11:33pm #1

Hi all,

How bad does it have to be to cause serious trouble ie: crash!

I was on a flight to Florida when I was about 13, first time on a plane and we dropped about 1000 feet in bad weather and it was total madness onboard, lockers opened up, the place was a mess and people were crying, what a first flight!! so how bad does it have to be.

I had no problem with flying after that until 15ish years later, another bad flight in oz and that made me a nervous flyer ever since.

Please talk about scary stuff.

River Song · 10-06-2011 11:47pm

robertxxx wrote: »

Hi all,

How bad does it have to be to cause serious trouble ie: crash!

I was on a flight to Florida when I was about 13, first time on a plane and we dropped about 1000 feet in bad weather and it was total madness onboard, lockers opened up, the place was a mess and people were crying, what a first flight!! so how bad does it have to be.

I had no problem with flying after that until 15ish years later, another bad flight in oz and that made me a nervous flyer ever since.

Please talk about scary stuff.

Hi Robert,

Well in the last ... 50 years or so no crash has been caused by turbulence. If you consider the amount of flying that goes on daily, that's a remarkable feat. The odds of crashing in a plane are statistically lower than doing so in a car, bus, bike, etc.. There is little to worry about with turbulence, although given your past experiences I'd understand your concern.

A few things I find ease people who ask me for advice are:

(1) Look at the crew. They will be calm and steady 99.9% of the time. Seeing them relaxed and joking (well maybe just slightly relaxed on Ryanair...either way) will help subconsciously reassure you that you're fine.

(2) Research it all. Know what turbulence is, how it's caused, etc. etc.. Knowledge will help, trust me!

(3) Remember that statistically airline travel is the safest mode of transportation, and that airplanes go through rigorous testing and maintenance to keep them tip-top and able to fly. Airlines wouldn't let thousands upon thousands of people fly on unsafe planes!

I hope your nervousness eases off, as when it does flying is a beautiful thing, and I hope you get through this

Terrontress · 11-06-2011 10:15am

I believe that air travel is only the safest form of travel when measured per km per trip. When measured per journey only it is less so because the likelihood of it being serious when something goes wrong is much higher than all other forms of transport.

Risk is measured by likelihood of occurrence multiplied by consequences of occurrence.

AfterDusk · 11-06-2011 10:40am

robertxxx wrote: »

I was on a flight to Florida when I was about 13, first time on a plane and we dropped about 1000 feet

1000 ft? No disrespect, but I highly doubt you dropped anything close to that.

Milan Cobian · 11-06-2011 2:19pm

we dropped about 1000 feet

That didn't happen. Small altitude variations up to about 20ft possibly, but more than that, no.

Darius.Tr · 11-06-2011 3:21pm

It just looked like a long drop, as everyone was panicking and scared...

robertxxx · 11-06-2011 4:26pm

neil2304 wrote: »

1000 ft? No disrespect, but I highly doubt you dropped anything close to that.

Yeah probably not, but when your 13 you believe that when your told.

Manic Moran · 11-06-2011 6:41pm

Any airplane is designed to have a maximum maneuvering speed, which is often a tad less than optimal cruise speed. At this speed, in the event of turbulence, the aircraft will stall before the stresses on the wing and airframe reach dangerous levels. The stall itself is momentary and self corrects.

I might argue the comment that ' no aircraft has been lost to turbulence'. Although perhaps no aircraft correctly flown has been torn apart by it, incidents like micro bursts which I submit are a form of turbulence, have resulted in un desired contact with something solid.

NTM

cyrusdvirus · 11-06-2011 11:19pm

Manic Moran wrote: »

I might argue the comment that ' no aircraft has been lost to turbulence'. Although perhaps no aircraft correctly flown has been torn apart by it, incidents like micro bursts which I submit are a form of turbulence, have resulted in un desired contact with something solid.

NTM

I'd agree with Manic on this. There was an L1011 that went into the ground at Dallas.

There is also AF447, which was not helped at all by the weather and turbulence.

River Song · 11-06-2011 11:37pm

And the AA MD80 at Little Rock, too.

xflyer · 12-06-2011 12:48am

The L1011 was a microburst not turbulence, you could of course argue that it's a form of turbulence but not typical. It's a fact of life but in itself it rarely breaks aircraft. Just scares people. Turbulence is a fact of my daily life. I don'r rush home and tell breathless stories to my startled wife if I hit turbulence. It's just part of the game. Scary if you don't fly much, barely interesting if you do.

I found some today, got roughed up a bit but if you asked me about it next week. I wouldn't even remember. I could make up a story though, if you like. Terrible it was, plunged hundreds of feet, passengers screaming, well one did, then she laughed as everyone else took the p.

Stay out of CBs though, they're no fun, bit scary really.:eek:

Wats_in_a_name · 12-06-2011 9:59am

Have any commercial aircraft been lost to microbursts sincer doppler radar was introduced?

Plowman · 12-06-2011 6:10pm

This post has been deleted.

Manic Moran · 12-06-2011 9:42pm

CB = Cumulonimbus = Thunderstorms, or at least, thunderstorms in training. They are very tall clouds, indicating serious updrafts (and accompanying downdrafts)

NTM

xflyer · 13-06-2011 12:07am

Yes indeed, very scary, very dangerous, Easy to die in a CB. People don't seem to realise, clouds can be bad places. It could be full of ice even in the middle of summer. VERY dangerous!

Clouds appear very innocuous, all fluffy and romantic. You would not believe how rough they are once inside, violent and filled with ice. You really don't want to go there.

Bearcat · 13-06-2011 7:57am

Plowman wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

google air france crash a330 mid atlantic. you'll start to get the picture after reading same.

jimbob86 · 13-06-2011 8:14am

Landed in tenerife when i was about 15 and the plane was all over the place ...we were getting thrown around like rag dolls,same thing a few hatchs opened,people screaming and crying.Not trying to sound like a hero but i actually enjoyed it...it was like bein on a rollercoaster,i dont no why but i couldnt stop laughin either(prob cos everyone was freaking out),at the end of the day your more likely to be killed on the way to the airport the pilots are well trained sure its just the norm to them,and if in the highly unlikely case you are gona crash theres not a thing you can do about it anyway.

cyrusdvirus · 13-06-2011 8:19am

jimbob86 wrote: »

,and if in the highly unlikely case you are gona crash theres not a thing you can do about it anyway.

vwery fatalistic attitude to adapt.... and the exact same one i use too!!

Fratton Fred · 13-06-2011 10:01am

Is it just my own interpretation, but is it more bumpy just above clouds than in them?

Also, is it just me, or is Dublin quite a temperamental airport to land in, especially when it's windy? There seems to be fairly regular cross winds there.

Fratton Fred · 13-06-2011 10:04am

Oh yeah OP, I forgot to mention that pilots have an evil sense of humour and get bored, especially on long flights, so they like to scare the passengers every now and then......allegedly! :-))

xflyer · 13-06-2011 10:27am

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Is it just my own interpretation, but is it more bumpy just above clouds than in them?

Also, is it just me, or is Dublin quite a temperamental airport to land in, especially when it's windy? There seems to be fairly regular cross winds there.

Depends on the cloud but anywhere in the vicinity of convective clouds you'll get bumps. Personally I find little turbulence when skimming along the tops of many clouds, dive in and it gets rough very quickly.

Tenger · 13-06-2011 2:03pm

neil2304 wrote: »

1000 ft? No disrespect, but I highly doubt you dropped anything close to that.

As they were a 13 year old on their first flight I think we can forgive the OP for having this assumption. Regular flyers have to realise how unnerving the experience of flying can be. It's very easy to dismiss passenger fears when you yourself are in the cockpit with all the info at your disposal and many 1000's of hours under your belt.

Most I have ever 'dropped' was 400ft in approx 3 seconds, all loose items lifted up to overhead bin level before falling back when 'drop' arrested. Quite disturbing but as it was on approach no injuries to pax or crew.

SNAKEDOC · 15-06-2011 4:02pm

the most unnerving experience on a plane for me is an aborted takeoff right when you think the plane will lift gracefully into the sky your launched into the seat in front of you. not nice especially when its your first time flying. just bad luck.

highlydebased · 15-06-2011 10:24pm

The "drop" sensation is a g force sensation- similar to what you'd experience on takeoff.

If the aircraft really dropped you'd know about it.

robertxxx · 17-06-2011 10:25pm

I also had an aborted landing at Hamburg airport, we were about 500/600 feet above runway and next of all the plane went into full power and up like a rocket, i was thinking A; He knows what he's doing. and B; Maybe he's had a hart attack.

But in the end he was radioed by the pilot that landed before of birds on the runway??

amen · 19-06-2011 3:37pm

no aircraft has been lost to turbulence

at least two that I know of: A: Jet (think it was a 707) flying near Mount Fuji destroyed in turbulence. B: Plane near Denver got caught with rotar turbulence from the rockies

I also think there was MD88 landing after a DC 9 on a touch and go in the 80s and the MD88 was flipped and crashed due to the turbulence from the DC9.

Turbulence, how much is too much.

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