Can turbulence fear be overcome with more flying?

[Gorilla]

if you dont mind me asking, why does it happen? I flew back on Southwest last night, taking off we had some serious turbulence out of dallas, felt like the plane was moving sideways, plane was all over the place as we were climbing......

Not to belittle your eperience, but you probably flew through moderate, not severe, turbulence. Severe is the type of bumpiness that levitates 200 lb galley carts, moves them through the air, and drops them on unsuspecting pax, while the flight attendants imitate the "carousel" from Logan's Run.

Up front, the autopilot kicks off, and the pilots are basically saying "holy &*^&" under their breath while trying to find a way out of it.

Edit: My apologies, I thought your quote was "severe" turbulence when it was in fact "serious" turbulence. Chop/turbulence is PIREPed as light, moderate, and severe, with severe being very rare.

 

[RUNNINHORN]

Yep. I almost quit because of it. I was more afraid of not making it in aviation that I was of turbulence.

Lose the instructor. Better yet, someone needs to give him a blanket party in the parking lot!

I was told that turbulence is just like pot holes in the road or burbles in a stream. The problem with that analogy is that you can see the burbles or pot holes. Turbulence just sneaks up on you.

I came to realize that, unless you fly through a level 5 thunderstorm, planes just don't get ripped apart in turbulence. It'll take some time but you will get over it and go on in your career. Good luck.TC

see, that is my fear for some reason now. That the first turbulence I hit in that 152 I train in is going to RIP the wings right off and ill plunge to my death, much like we plunged when we lost control. Anyway, guess I need to just find another instructor out here in Lubbock, Tx and get back in the seat........

 

[RUNNINHORN]

Not to belittle your eperience, but you probably flew through moderate, not severe, turbulence. Severe is the type of bumpiness that levitates 200 lb galley carts, moves them through the air, and drops them on unsuspecting pax, while the flight attendants imitate the "carousel" from Logan's Run.

Up front, the autopilot kicks off, and the pilots are basically saying "holy &*^&" under their breath while trying to find a way out of it.

Edit: My apologies, I thought your quote was "severe" turbulence when it was in fact "serious" turbulence. Chop/turbulence is PIREPed as light, moderate, and severe, with severe being very rare.

whoa, turbulence can do that much? Pick up those drink carts and move them??????

 

[taloft]

I'd recommend some time with an instructor who can put you at ease rather than one who will scare the crap out of you, but that's just me. A good instructor will push your comfort zone without making you more uncomfortable than you can handle. If you really really want to learn to fly, then don't let it stop you.

It's a basic tenet of instruction that learning happens best in an environment absent of fear or where it is at least minimized. Students manage this by placing complete trust in their instructor. Instructors manage it by fostering this trust and not misusing it. If you can't trust your instructor completely (especially primary instruction), then you need to find an instructor you can trust. It's harsh, but it's not necessarily a slight against your instructor. He may be fine for many students, but flight instruction is highly personal and requires a good fit for students and instructors.

That said, fear is a part of learning to fly. It's a good thing when fear is healthy but is unproductive when experienced otherwise. Consider that you've just received a lesson in both healthy and unhealthy types of fear. You've learned a healthy respect for turbulence (that's actually a good thing). You've also learned how excess fear can prevent you from moving forward (not so good). It's important to understand the difference, because this won't be the last time you experience it on your way to becoming a pilot. The question is are you going to master it or let it master you? Becoming a pilot involves much more than learning to fly an aircraft (as you've discovered).

 

[Gorilla]

whoa, turbulence can do that much? Pick up those drink carts and move them??????

Sure. When you are at -0.2 G, a 200 lb cart now weighs 40 pounds, and will "fall" towards the cabin ceiling. Toss in a litle side gust, which will slide the cart over, and it could drop on somebody when positive G returns. Every year, Flight Attendants especially are injured, either when they fall themselves, or something falls on them.

Airplanes are designed to handle bumpiness. I always think its a bit funny, after a flight is over, when I hear a passenger describing the turbulence we flew through... "That 'air pocket' was horrible! We must have dropped hundreds of feet!" - when we actually were +/- 20 feet the whole way on our assigned cruise altitude.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

I'll never forget the time when I was heading back home from my long solo XC about 50 minutes out. The turbulence ( moderate) was unbelieveable for a student. I was so scared and could barely hold my heading and altitude and kept telling the controller who was giving me flight following to "standby" as I attempted to get the plane under control.

You'll find more turbulence in the summer time and especially during the mid day. Try morning or late afternoon flights when convective turbulence is less likely.

Like the others said, you will get over it. Just ride the air waves and KEEEP YOUR SPEED UNDER CONTROL. This is primarily what you need to concern yourself about.

Airplanes have structural limits and by adhering to maneuvering or turbulence penetration speed, you and your aircraft should be fine. The heavier the airplane is, the faster it can travel through turbulence. Manevuering speed is dictated by the wieght of the aircraft.

Basically, by maintaining the speed at or below the maneuvering speed, you will stall before exceeding the structural load limits. Usually its a very minor stall with very little drop. The stall is kind of like an aerodynamic safety valve.

An airplane will always stall at the same angle of attack (AOA). Lets say its about 18 degrees in the Cessna. A light airplane may fly at an AOA of say +5 degrees in level flight.
That same plane loaded a little heavier may hold altitude but with the AOA at +10 degrees. We see that the heavier plane is much closer to the stalling AOA.

Load limits are predicated on this theory.

The heavier the plane is, the sooner it will reach its stalling AOA should a gust cause any stress on the wing. This will prevent excessive loads being placed on the structure. A lighter plane with its lower AOA will be exposed to the severe gust for a longer period oftime and thus will have more pressure placed on the wing for a longer period of time. This is why you should fly the plane at a slower speed. A lighter airplane flown at a slower speed will have a higher AOA than if it flew faster. By flying faster in a lighter airplane the AOA is lower than if you were flying slower.

anyway....

Know what your Va speed is for you AC and how it changes with weight. Maybe even make a card with the speed for various weights.

 

[SkyQueenC152]

yes! overcome your fears~sorry your instructor did that to you, I hope you are flying with someone esle! You will get use to the turbulence or if you prefer til you get more flight time stay on the ground if you're aware of turbulence. Airmets and pilot reports are great! Turbulence isn't that bad-just remember to fly Va and make steady easy control movements! best of luck!

 

[Murdoughnut]

see, that is my fear for some reason now. That the first turbulence I hit in that 152 I train in is going to RIP the wings right off and ill plunge to my death, much like we plunged when we lost control. Anyway, guess I need to just find another instructor out here in Lubbock, Tx and get back in the seat........

I have to imagine that if you can fly in W. Texas, you can fly just about anywhere. I couldn't play a round of golf when I lived in Lubbock, let alone fly with the winds the way they are out there.

How did a Longhorn end up in Red Raider country anyways?

Wreck'em Tech!

 

[Amish RakeFight]

...one more thing.


when flying in turbulence, accept variations in airspeed and altitude, but always maintain a wings level attitude. If you have pretty bad updrafts and downdrafts, you could ask for a block of altitude from ATC.

 

[chcook]

If going inverted is what is actually scaring you, I highly recommend taking about 5-10 hours of aerobatic training (in a taildragger, preferrably).

When I first started aerobatics, I had a parachute on, and I was strapped in by a 5 point harness. And yet, when the aircraft went inverted, I was so scared I actually reached up and hung on to the frame...as if that would do anything. The instructor never said anything, but I'm sure he was cracking up inside. Of course, this was all by choice, and I wanted to experience it. Five to 10 hours later, after practicing most of the basic aerobatic maneuvers, including inverted stalls and spins, I was totally relaxed and actually enjoyed the various maneuvers. I could think through them. I was relaxed!

It was the best thing I ever did!

I've experienced severe turbulence 3x in about 10 yrs. Altitudes varied by a thousand feet in just a couple of seconds. Heading was swinging 30 left then 30 right. We were basically at the whim of the turbulence. It was a serious situation, but my fear was for the people in the back, not for my life. We simply radioed that we were in severe turbulance, and unable to hold altidude. Controller was very accomodating. Like what could he do.

Anyway, grab the bull by the horns and get some aerobatic training. It'll change EVERYTHING!