In-flight turbulence phobias?

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consnard

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jcosnard
In-flight turbulence phobias? I have been developing a turbulence phobia for a few months. How do I rehabilitate?
 
Assuming you are flying yourself? Single engine?

Motorcycles are safer statistically than GA.

So if you are willing to fly in a single engineer GA plane in the first place, what’s the big deal about a bit of bumps?

I had a similar reaction at some point. A few more sessions of bumps and successfully landing in such condition and it’s gone.
 
What EdFred said. The only way to get past it is to go through it.

I never suffered from turbphobia, but after a headbanging, basically out of control, such ripping turb I couldn't tune the radio, experience along the south shore of Maui, I realized those little planes (Piper Archer) can take a hellofalot of abuse. The 737 airliners coming into Kahului were reporting moderate turb.

What is it about turbulence that affects you?
 
I can relate. The worst part is wondering how bad can it get? I've been flying for 30 years and still had the crap scared out of me flying out of Sedona last year.

The few things I've learned that help;
- Your local conditions need to be understood. Talk to local pilots about their experience.
- Understand the weather. Get the weather briefing and pay attention to winds aloft at your altitude. Take forecast turbulence as gospel until you get more comfortable (they're not). Check the pireps for reports at your planned altitude (also a poor source as few pilots report it). Taking off with a good understanding of the weather can give you a clue as to how bad, or not, the turbulence will be. Also understanding the type of turbulence can give you a clue how bad it might get. Thermal turbulence from the ground heating up only gets so bad, rarely an issue. Climbing over a 3000 foot ridge on a warm windy day can give you a very good jolt and altitude variation, but it is short-lived. Flying over taller mountains on a windy day... yeah, people have died. Turbulence from low cumulous clouds, without high winds at your altitude, can be very uncomfortable, but again, it only gets so bad and not likely to cause an upset. Flying near thunderstorms....I'm sure you've heard the cautions. The takeaway is having an understanding of the type of turbulence you may face before you take off can help alleviate your fears.

- Set personal minimums. Mine are forecast for moderate low level turbulence, coincident with winds of 30 knots or greater at my planned altitude. Then follow your minimums unless you are specifically testing yourself that day.

- Actively control the plane in turbulence. This has the added benefit of focusing your attention, rather than worrying about it (at least a little). What I mean by "actively controlling" is, keep solid pressure on the rudder pedals when flying straight (or at all times), focus on maintaining altitude and airspeed. Make gentle corrections with ailerons as the wings bounce up and down. In other words don't just hang on for the ride. Not saying you can't just hang on for the ride allowing airspeed and altitude to vary - just that you will feel more in control, and hopefully less fearful, when you are actively controlling the plane.

- Don't take passengers when you expect turbulence. Your fear will affect them as well.

The more experience you get this less your fear will be.
 
Look to the distant horizon. Try to keep wings level and accept altitude changes and limit corrections to when necessary.

Repeat to yourself... "I don't need to be comfortable, I need to be competent."
 
consnard said:
In-flight turbulence phobias? I have been developing a turbulence phobia for a few months. How do I rehabilitate?
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There is only one acceptable solution; buy a plane with higher wing loading.
 
You will not get over it. Even when your total time has four zeros. You will, however, learn to avoid most of it.
 
If it’s a comfort item - go get on a sailboat in 10 (lake) / 30 (ocean) foot seas… makes severe turbulence look like child’s play.

If it’s a fear of structural safety, learn about turbulence penetration speed, IIRC 1.7x Vso? It’s roughly just under the top of the white arc. It’s pretty hard to break stuff there. Also when it’s bad, just maintain attitude… don’t worry much about altitude.
 
Slow it down, if not already at rough-air-penetration-speed. Don't worry as much about altitude changes. Try to keep wings level. Take up pickleball? Kidding... it's gonna happen... learn how to avoid it when able (look at PIREPS, turb forecast) if you don't have to fly. Learn how to deal with it when you get in it. Don't panic if you get bumped around. Bear down, trust your training and skills and you get out of it.
 
Agree it is a comfort thing. If it's hot, put a cool wet towel over your shoulders. Wear a Relief Band for nausea. You may not be aware of it, but you're probably getting a little motion sick discomfort. The more you do, the more you desensitize to it. Do a little at first, and you'll get used to it.
 
I’m a CFI. I still tense up when the wind knocks us into a 30 degree turn and the student doesn’t correct it right away. It is what it is.

The plane wants to fly. How many “death by turbulence” incidences have you heard of? I’d be more worried about weather killing you than the bumps on a hot, windy day.

Contrary to what some are saying, I do think you learn to cope over time. I don’t even think about anymore when I’m flying corporate and I’m in control.
 
consnard said:
In-flight turbulence phobias? I have been developing a turbulence phobia for a few months. How do I rehabilitate?
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I love turbulence during cruise. It makes life more interesting. But I don't like it during landing.
 
EdFred said:
Go fly in turbulence.
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Can't stress this enough. Was what got me out of my "phobia".
Easier said than done but it really is what it is.

If your desire to fly is greater than your phobia, then it'll conquer.
 
I’m not afraid of it, I just don’t like it. It’s about as much fun a driving down a potholed road. Then again, somebody probably likes doing that!
 
Who really enjoys turbulence? For any trip, I will use weather tools to plan an altitude that will avoid it if possible. Generally, that means flying above the cloud tops if they are low enough. Usually the worst place to be is just below the bases or in and out of the tops. On most days, though, is is cooler and smoother up high. I usually file for the lowest altitude that will get me reliably above the tops and within the capabilities of me and the airplane. Typically, around 8,000-10,000 is enough to get a decent ride. I'd often rather be high and smooth in a strong headwind, than lower and faster and getting beat up.
 
1) Check the weather and PIREPs beforehand so when do encounter turbulence you know it's not the dangerous (wing-spar-snapping) kind. If you see C172s reporting light turbulence OK. If you see 787 dreamliners reporting moderate turbulence, not OK.
2) Do some solo flights where you expect to encounter light turbulence. Repeated exposure will make it less terrifying. Choosing to go into those situations for training is also empowering (IMHO).
3) Don't try to fight every bump. Go with the flow while maintaining control of the attitude. This single-handedly lowers my stress level >50%.
4) Don't be afraid to climb higher to get out of it. For some reason people are gluttons for punishment and choose to stay lower.
5) As someone else said, don't fly with pax in turbulence until you're more comfortable. Fear can be contagious... and no one likes to see their captain sweating profusely :eek:

To me... turbulence is kind of like going for a run outside but if someone running besides you keeps shoving you. It's uncomfortable, annoying, can be exhausting, slows you down, and you constantly have to keep readjusting, but it's not actually dangerous (assuming you've done proper preflight weather checks to ensure this is true!).
 
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consnard said:
In-flight turbulence phobias? I have been developing a turbulence phobia for a few months. How do I rehabilitate?
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First and foremost, understand that the wings are not going to fall off. I think that is what scares people the most, so I'll say it again. The wings are not going to fall off.

Its sort of like driving in a car on a potholed street except that the potholes are invisible in an airplane.
 
Just pretend it's a white water rafting trip. Keep the raft upright and enjoy the ride.
 
Ride roller coasters. I find turbulance fun. My wife told me that it is inappropriate to go "Whee!" on a commercial airliner when we hit a substantial downdraft in a thunderstorm. She says there were others freanking out (admittedly, it was perhaps the roughest ride I'd ever been on in an airliner).
 
Everyone’s journey is different but Eventually you pass a point of experience from which things are just comfortable after. For some people it’s 200hours…some it’s 500 hours…some just have it in their dna and it’s day zero. Turbulence isn’t fun and you may never be 100 pct comfortable in it - and that’s ok as long as it’s not a panic stricken phobia thing. But if it’s panic phobia now don’t worry…keep flying and you hit some pivot point where it’ll just be annoying.

for me it was around 350 hours….but I also fly lots with cfis in rough weather whenever I could to acclimate myself to it. Now I’m good solo in bumpy but it’s never awesome.
 
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