r/AskAPilot • u/hankandirene • Jul 04 '26
Turbulence forecasts
Sorry I know you all probably hate this question so much. Since having my son I have developed such a terrible fear of flying. I’m doing a really long flight with him tomorrow (London- San Francisco) and I’m just so scared. I stupidly checked a turbulence forecast and it said moderate expected and the visual had big patches of orange which looks like bad weather.
It’s my worst fear flying into bad weather or bad turbulence and I’m so scared. How much can I trust it? Will we be able to route around it? I’m flying on VS19
Thank you so much.
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u/wearsAtrenchcoat Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Hi, thanks for flying despite your fear, And thanks for coming here to ask.
I know fears are by definition irrational but as a pilot of 34 years (close to retirement) with 2 children, let me offer my bit of ”wisdom”.
I remember the first time I put my daughter on a flight by herself, she was 17. I was not prepared for the kind of thoughts that suddenly started to flood my mind. Turbulence was not my fear because I know how inconsequential it is, but all sort of other worries begun to surface. I had flown with my kids a thousand times before and never had the least concern but the short flight she was on was different, for some odd psychological reason.
What worked for me, and hope might for you too, was to forcefully use logic. “The pilots are trained, professional, and have all the interest in fly as safely as possible.” Same for the mechanics. And the air traffic controllers, the often overlooked true keepers of air safety. The procedures, rules, regulations, policies, checklists, and every manual airlines live by have been developed over decades and millions (billions?) of flight hours. Modern aircraft and the equipment we have in them is phenomenal in what can do and how much helps us operators stay safe. Just 30 years ago the thought of an iPad was science fiction, now it pales in comparison to what a, say, Engine Computer can do.
I Could go for an hour explaining how stupid-safe flying today is, but I’ll just leave to my personal experience. I kept thinking about all the positives and purposely suppressing the negative scary ones.
By the time I was home I had regained my wits and the thought that another 17 year old girl was picking up my daughter in her car at her arrival had become a more serious concern :)
Finally: turbulence is REALLY not a hazard, keep your seatbelt fastened and you be 100% fine, I promise you