One thing you can try is, when you get to your seat, talk with a few people around you. Just enough to get a sense if somebody around you flies often. When you

One thing you can try is, when you get to your seat, talk with a few people around you. Just enough to get a sense if somebody around you flies often. When you get into turbulence, or the fear starts hitting you, look at the face (not awkwardly) of that person. You may even have a pilot sitting near you. If anything, look at the flight attendants faces. Are the flight attendants giving each other looks? Does any of the above people's faces show worry? 99% of the time, you will not see even a slight look of worry in frequent flyers. Just think about that, these people have been through it all. Crazy wind landings, extreme turbulence, bad storms, most everything. If they are not worried, take comfort in that. If they are worried though... well.. then.. yeah. Also, if you do this, and your daughter is with you, even if you are worried, try and stay calm and not show it. This will comfort your daughter as she is looking to you first. Edit: One more bonus! If you know someone who flies military aircraft, or know somebody who knows someone, try and talk with them sometime. Take them out for a beer. They'll tell you some things that will make bad turbulence in a commercial jet seem very minor =p Might give you a good relative scale of things.