Fear of Turbulence

[Bribe]

I have a huge fear of turbulence on aircraft. And I sometimes have to travel from my home in Berlin, Germany back to California, which is a nightmare flight of 12+ (Eastbound) or 14+ (Westbound) hours flight time.

The fear comes not from the thought of the plane crashing, but for fear of the turbulence getting worse and worse. Every time I feel a bump on the aircraft I expect it to get horrendously bad afterward.

I have not really experienced extreme turbulence, though my dad was once on an aircraft where the turbulence was so bad that the food trays hit the ceiling. I always think the turbulence is going to get that kind of rough, and there is a lot of turbulence to deal with (particularly flying Westbound, against the jet stream, and over the rocky mountains, notoriously unstable air).

Does anyone feel similar? How well do you respond to turbulence? Any advice you might be able to offer?

 

[Hoops]

Keep calm and carry on.

Spoiler

On a more serious note, you can try asking specifically for a seat in the middle, or near it. The turbulence there has less effect. On a cool website called Google, you can also find people with the same problem and possible solutions.

 

[HFR]

I'm scared of airplanes and have fear of high heights, so I made an oath to never fly on one.

Guess I'm stuck on this continent, then, but such is the fate for someone like me.

 

[Edhel-dur]

I'm scared of airplanes and have fear of high heights, so I made an oath to never fly on one.

Guess I'm stuck on this continent, then, but such is the fate for someone like me.

There are things known as... ships.

 

[Ironside]

I never went on a plane before, but I'm quite sure I would have fear too since I'm partly afraid of heights.

 

[HFR]

There are things known as... ships.

Hm, I thought about this, as well. Guess it's either that or swim to Europe.

 

[Hoops]

Chances of a crash
http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080228153847AA5It7n

Statistics
http://planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm
http://planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm

Fear of heights on a plane
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080615142504AA3HiGn

Could help.

 

[Bribe]

I have consulted Google plenty of times regarding this, I just thought sharing my own unique situation would help.

I don't feel comfortable knocking myself out for the flight because I think that is unhealthy to not walk around for such a long time.

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

I like wacthing upward or from above - both literally and metaphorically. I like seeing all tha lands from planes, so turbulence doesn't scare me. For 3 months I had this case of having to travel from to EU - NA a total of 3 times and I remember I was woken up by turbulence above the Atlantic. I was traveling with Air France airbus, you know from the ones that burned in flames not far from Brazil's coasts. Always have in mind that smth can happen but don't block your mind with it.

I remember an American native praying before flight while inside the US states. So yeah, there could be always something but what you do is - Dont think about it.

Afterall, air is considered to be the safest transport of all and not that plane crashes don't happen but look - the daily car accidents (atm I don't drive although I have a license, thank news + our crazy drivers for that), and you see this incident near Italy with the cruise? ...

EroticSideburns @ this shows how stupid some people are on the internet. 'I wanna know what's the chance cause someone's gonna fly with it' - *Answer by some nobody* - *Thanks, that's the real answer*. Yahoo Answers is a comedy place.

 

[Hoops]

EroticSideburns @ this shows how stupid some people are on the internet. 'I wanna know what's the chance cause someone's gonna fly with it' - *Answer by some nobody* - *Thanks, that's the real answer*. Yahoo Answers is a comedy place.

Some are reliable, some aren't. Some cite their sources, some don't.

Also, I wouldn't go on and criticise Yahoo Answers on its credibility, considering what website you're on.

I have consulted Google plenty of times regarding this, I just thought sharing my own unique situation would help.

Yea, sorry. I wasn't judging. It could bring some insight to the situation.

 

[Edhel-dur]

The worst part about flying, is that almost any kind of malfunction will just result in the plane crashing. When a plane crashes, most likely everyone will die. That's why I don't like traveling by plane at all, because I could be in that 1%.

Now if a ship has a malfunction.. sure it will sink, there will be deaths, but not everyone will die. Furthermore today a ship will take even 2 weeks to completely sink. They also have plenty of lifeboats and such.

Edit: Now, On-Topic, I've flown only twice with a plane, there were only slight turbulences, but I got scared too as I wasn't sure if they will escalate or not, and I thought that the plane might simply fail and crash.

 

[Vengeancekael]

Is it weird that sometimes I wished for the plane that I was on to crash or something? Guess I was just bored. Although having people pray the whole time on the plane really makes me nervous.

 

[Hoops]

That's why I don't like traveling by plane at all, because I could be in that 1%.

It's around 0.0000001%.

When a plane crashes, most likely everyone will die.

Not necessarily, no.

Statistics
http://planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm
http://planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm

 

[Hakeem]

How well do you respond to turbulence?

Excitement.

I don't feel comfortable knocking myself out for the flight because I think that is unhealthy to not walk around for such a long time.

I could see 12 hours being a bit much, but I don't see any reason you can't sleep half of the flight away to ease your mind.

For the other half, I dunno, just stop worrying about what might happen until it actually does? :V

I wouldn't go on and criticise Yahoo Answers on its credibility, considering what website you're on.

Ooooooooooh snap.

Almost any kind of malfunction will just result in the plane crashing.

Not at all. It takes a pretty significant failure of many subsystems to bring a plane to a destructive crash landing. Flight has been a very dangerous experiment for most of human history, so once we figured it out, we've been extra paranoid about making it safe. And we have. Probably the most dangerous part of the plane is that a human is sitting at the controls.

When a plane crashes, most likely everyone will die.

As EroticSideburns said.

Today a ship will take even 2 weeks to completely sink.

You know there's nothing to run into at 5000 feet? It only really "crashes" when it finally touches down.