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I hate flying with passion and get extremely scared when flying through turbulences but, there was a journalist in my country, that also had experience as a pil

I hate flying with passion and get extremely scared when flying through turbulences but, there was a journalist in my country, that also had experience as a pilot and said once on TV that during turbulences, is one of the safest moments in a plane. I don't remember the reasons but is there anybody in here with knowledge in the field that could confirm/deny this?

mrWiz 2y ago
Do you recall why they said it was the safest? My first guess is because the pilots are paying more attention while flying through turbulence.
- MichaelNolan 2y ago
  My first guess is that during turbulence everyone has their seatbelt on. No one is walking around the cabin. It’s only at the start of unexpected turbulence that anyone should get hurt. Once your seatbelt is on things have to get pretty bad to get hurt.
sandworm101 2y ago
It is safe because you are flying. Airplanes almost never have issues at altitude. Problems occur when closer to the ground. Landing/takeoff are the most dangerous times, the transitions between flying and not flying.
- FabHK 2y ago
  The aviation industry has a perfect record, they've never left anyone up there.
ibejoeb 2y ago
That's just not true. No turbulence is better than turbulence. That said, experiencing light chop on a modern large airplane presents no danger to the airframe or properly secured passengers. You really should be strapped in, though, especially if you're on a small plane. Wake turbulence, for example, actually does present a significant risk to smaller aircraft.
bparsons 2y ago
Commercial airliners are built for extraordinary stress on the airframe. You can get a taste of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--LTYRTKV_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--LTYRTKV_A Other people will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the last time a large commercial airliner was lost to turbulence was 1966. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_911 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_911
- loopdoend 2y ago
  > Film footage shows Flight 911 taxiing past the still-smoldering wreckage of Flight 402 immediately before taking off for the last time. Wild how far we've come.
ThinkingGuy 2y ago
Airline pilot/author Patrick Smith has a pretty informative article about turbulence on his website: https://askthepilot.com/questionanswers/turbulence/ https://askthepilot.com/questionanswers/turbulence/
- aidenn0 2y ago
  "Fewer than forty feet of altitude change" A 40 foot drop is pretty scary; by comparison, an NCAA dive platform is 33 feet.
  - antoniojtorres 2y ago
    I agree. It’s funny to think of the gap between safety and scary when talking about turbulence. Large planes can take an absolute beating and be completely fine, but it could feel like the end of the world inside.
    - oceanplexian 2y ago
      A modern airliner is rated to something like 3-4G's including the safety factor, probably much more if it's not at max takeoff weight. I'm sure you could do a Mythbusters-style test but I'd assume most passengers would pass out from the negative and positive G forces long before the aircraft structurally failed.
      - TylerE 2y ago
        You'd lose that bet. The wings would fail long before people blacked out. They're only required to withstand 2.5g positive. Blacking out takes more like 6. We can see from various crashes that that sort of G load does in fact cause most wings to fail. Aircraft have to be built light for the sake of efficiency (or even, just, being able to get off the ground. There are certainly factors of safety... but not 3x+. Probably closer to 1.5.
        bozhark 2y ago
MisterTea 2y ago
I feel the same way about flying but a boating enthusiast friend bought up an interesting analogy. He asked me if I enjoyed boating and I said yes. Then he asked me if it was fun when you run over waves bouncing around and I said yes. Then he said that is exactly what turbulence is - wakes and waves in the air the plane is bouncing on so relax and enjoy the ride. Kinda made me feel a little better since I could now visualize what is going on but still - eh, Id rather be on terra firma.
- dmux 2y ago
  If you've ever sailed, a more apt analogy would be heeling over extensively (and potentially capsizing) due to a gale. You could be sailing along just fine and then all of a sudden you're overpowered. A sail, after all (at least when sailing towards the wind) acts just like a wing of a plane.

mrWiz 2y ago

Do you recall why they said it was the safest? My first guess is because the pilots are paying more attention while flying through turbulence.

MichaelNolan 2y ago
My first guess is that during turbulence everyone has their seatbelt on. No one is walking around the cabin. It’s only at the start of unexpected turbulence that anyone should get hurt. Once your seatbelt is on things have to get pretty bad to get hurt.

sandworm101 2y ago

It is safe because you are flying. Airplanes almost never have issues at altitude. Problems occur when closer to the ground. Landing/takeoff are the most dangerous times, the transitions between flying and not flying.

FabHK 2y ago
The aviation industry has a perfect record, they've never left anyone up there.

ibejoeb 2y ago

That's just not true. No turbulence is better than turbulence. That said, experiencing light chop on a modern large airplane presents no danger to the airframe or properly secured passengers. You really should be strapped in, though, especially if you're on a small plane. Wake turbulence, for example, actually does present a significant risk to smaller aircraft.

bparsons 2y ago

Commercial airliners are built for extraordinary stress on the airframe. You can get a taste of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--LTYRTKV_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--LTYRTKV_A Other people will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the last time a large commercial airliner was lost to turbulence was 1966. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_911 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_911

loopdoend 2y ago
> Film footage shows Flight 911 taxiing past the still-smoldering wreckage of Flight 402 immediately before taking off for the last time. Wild how far we've come.

ThinkingGuy 2y ago

Airline pilot/author Patrick Smith has a pretty informative article about turbulence on his website: https://askthepilot.com/questionanswers/turbulence/ https://askthepilot.com/questionanswers/turbulence/

aidenn0 2y ago
"Fewer than forty feet of altitude change" A 40 foot drop is pretty scary; by comparison, an NCAA dive platform is 33 feet.
- antoniojtorres 2y ago
  I agree. It’s funny to think of the gap between safety and scary when talking about turbulence. Large planes can take an absolute beating and be completely fine, but it could feel like the end of the world inside.
  - oceanplexian 2y ago
    A modern airliner is rated to something like 3-4G's including the safety factor, probably much more if it's not at max takeoff weight. I'm sure you could do a Mythbusters-style test but I'd assume most passengers would pass out from the negative and positive G forces long before the aircraft structurally failed.
    - TylerE 2y ago
      You'd lose that bet. The wings would fail long before people blacked out. They're only required to withstand 2.5g positive. Blacking out takes more like 6. We can see from various crashes that that sort of G load does in fact cause most wings to fail. Aircraft have to be built light for the sake of efficiency (or even, just, being able to get off the ground. There are certainly factors of safety... but not 3x+. Probably closer to 1.5.
      - bozhark 2y ago

MisterTea 2y ago

I feel the same way about flying but a boating enthusiast friend bought up an interesting analogy. He asked me if I enjoyed boating and I said yes. Then he asked me if it was fun when you run over waves bouncing around and I said yes. Then he said that is exactly what turbulence is - wakes and waves in the air the plane is bouncing on so relax and enjoy the ride. Kinda made me feel a little better since I could now visualize what is going on but still - eh, Id rather be on terra firma.

dmux 2y ago
If you've ever sailed, a more apt analogy would be heeling over extensively (and potentially capsizing) due to a gale. You could be sailing along just fine and then all of a sudden you're overpowered. A sail, after all (at least when sailing towards the wind) acts just like a wing of a plane.