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Dealing With Anxiety About Turbulence
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The incident in which several people were injured onboard a Continental flight has caused undue anxiety. As an airline captain who works with people who are afraid to fly, I've received several emails from clients who are very upset by this incident.
Here is an example.
"This is precisely the kind of scenario that bothers me. A perfectly qualified crew on a well-maintained and modern jetliner was tossed about like a rag."
The idea that the airliner was the airliner was tossed around like a rag is pure imagination. If you were flying nearby and watching the Continental flight, you would have seen absolutely nothing unusual. The movement during this turbulence was so small you would not have been able to see it.
"How can we be sure that the weather we may be in is safe?"
You are always safe in turbulence provided you take the simple precaution of wearing a seat belt whether the seat belt sign is on or off. Perhaps you saw photos of the plane parked at the terminal after the flight. That should be reassuring. Turbulence did no damage to the plane.
Turbulence is not a problem for the plane. Airliners are built to handle far more turbulence than Mother Nature can dish out. To see what airliners can deal with, see some of the Hurricane Hunter videos available online.
"I realize also that no one who was seated with their seat belts fastened got physically hurt. But, the mental jarring would have been unprecedented."
If you are simply concerned about being frightened, that can't be guaranteed. And, it is essential to recognize that emotional fear and physical danger are not the same. We all need to be able to tolerate being afraid, and then to use the mind to determine whether the fear is a false alarm or something we need to act on.
"I remember you saying that a modern jetliner barely moves more than an inch vertically even when in severe turbulence. But if as reported in the press, if some of the flight attendants hits the roof of the cabin, the aircraft must have dropped by at least several feet."
Think of croquet. In something called "sending your opponent", you place your ball against your opponent's ball. You put your foot on your ball and strike your ball. Your ball moves only a fraction of an inch. The opponent's ball zips off several yards.
Rotate that ninety degrees. The plane is like your ball. The plane moves up sharply, but only a fraction of an inch. The unbelted passenger is like the opponent's ball. The unbelted passenger moves a greater distance.
Some passengers will not follow the most basic instructions and wear a seat belt at all times. Except in the rarest situations, passengers get away with not wearing a seat belt. This was one of those rare occasions when they didn't.
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