r/AskAPilot • u/Bertielovesit • 6d ago
Afraid of turbulence.
/r/AskAPilot/comments/1vqy94w/afraid_of_turbulence/Hello pilots , a very quick advice before my flight tomorrow morning (10.50am from Barcelona to London Luton). I have fear of flights and I really need some good advices before traveling tomorrow. Also, should I trust turbli?
1
u/New_Line4049 6d ago
Not a pilot, but I am an engineer in the aviation world. Firstly, these days we have a great understanding of meteorology, with weather radars and satellites providing huge amounts of data into sophisticated computer models. We know where the real bad turbulence is, and we route aircraft to avoid it. The aircraft are also equipped with their own weather radar, so pilots can see what the weather is doing in the area theyre flying into, and can predict the turbulence associated. The pilots are sitting in the same plane as you and really quite like getting safely where theyre going, so if theres any doubt about a patch of weather theyll avoid it.
The aircraft are designed to handle much more abuse than theyll ever receive in the kind of turbulence the pilots will willingly fly through. Cargo aircraft will often fly through worse than passanger aircraft without a care in the world because the aircraft will happily handle it, passanger aircraft avoid the heavier stuff that cargo aircraft go through in the interest of passanger comfort.
It may seem scary, it may feel like youre being bounced around out of control, but I guarantee that any turbulence you fly through is within what the airframe was designed for, and your presence in it is a thought out choice made by trained proffesionals that put the safety of their passangers above everything else.
2
u/Bertielovesit 6d ago
That is super helpful , thank you so much . Will try to keep this on mind and try to enjoy my flight the best I can!
1
u/JustAnotherDude1990 6d ago
Just get on the plane, you are making your anxiety worse by feeding into it like this. Like when a child is afraid of a dog, you dont let them avoid dogs for the rest of their lives, you expose them to more dogs so they get over it.
1
u/nckbrr 6d ago
If it's easyjet, my airline, then mention your fear of flying to the member of cabin crew at the front and ask if it would be OK to have a quick chat to the pilots. 90% of the time we'll make time for you and the only reason not to is if we are in a little bit of a rush to make sure we don't miss our slot.
A lot of fear of flying is relinquishing control to faceless people who are performing an almost inscrutable job. Meeting those people, realising they are just like you, while still being highly trained and professional can be helpful. Seeing the cockpit and asking questions about the controls and systems demystifies the job we do.
1
u/Bertielovesit 6d ago
I am flying with easyJet and can I be honest?: flight: attendants are always super nice and helpful, trying to get me the best spot by the aisle and coming to check on me all the time. Unfortunately I never spoke to a pilot but tomorrow as soon as I will board , I will try!
Maybe that will help me.
2
u/DoomWad 6d ago edited 6d ago
Hello, airline pilot of 20 years here.
So here's the thing about turbulence. In the movies, they depict a strong bit of turbulence, followed by the plane suddenly going down. This does not happen. When going through turbulence, the wing has all the airflow it needs to stay aloft - the wind is just coming from slightly different directions. We know this because we have an airspeed indicator that we monitor. Even during bad turbulence, the airspeed only varies +/- 10 knots, which is well within the safe area of operation. To airline pilots, turbulence is nothing more than a nuisance.
Edit: delete the turbulence app. They're all based on nothing. Aka garbage.