Christmas Eve 1997
The worst turbulence I ever experienced was on a BA ATP from BHD to Man on Christmas Eve 1997. There was a howling gale and lashing rain in Belfast as we boarded and the captain warned it would be 'a little bit bumpy' immediately after take off and just before landing.
The first few minutes were a bit of a roller coaster ride but it settled down once we gained altitude and the meal trays and beverages were served as normal - Then the descent began.
The plane actually seemed to be bouncing off the clouds as if they were some kind of trampoline when we started to come down and it just got worse and worse.
The gale blowing over Manchester was so loud it drowned out the noise of the engines and as the plane rose and fell only the seatbelts stopped us banging our heads on the overhead bins.
My wife felt very sick but could not actually sit forward in her seat to throw up into the little bag because of what I can only assume were g forces.
One second we were looking down the wing at the lights of Manchester and the next we were looking up it at the clouds.
The pilot came on the intercom and acknowledged we were experiencing heavy turbulence.
Periodically, for about 15 minutes he kept informing us of how far we were from the runway and encouraged us by telling us it wouldn't be much longer.
During the final minute the motion was so violent we just didn't know how he was going to get the aircraft on the ground but when it came to the bit we barely felt the wheels touch the tarmac.
As soon as we stopped the cabin crew handed out soda water to settle queasiness.
A young man sitting behind us stood up, grabbed his belongings from the overhead and literally ran off the aircraft.
As we walked out along the glass tube which leads from the terminal to the railway station we could see the lights of other aircraft on approach literally dancing around in the sky.
The storm was so violent during our train journey to my parents' home in Cleveleys there was a major delay when a shed was blown out of a garden and on to the line.
We had experienced turbulence many times before Christmas Eve 1997 and have flown through bad weather many times since. But this was definitely the worst.