being powerless over the situation. I simply don't like not knowing what is happening, when it's going to stop, how much worse it's going to get......the unknown I suppose.
I think these are the key points. It’s one thing when it’s day time and you can see that you’re passing through some cumulus and you know that it’ll all be over in a short time. It’s another thing on a dark night when you have no visual reference and experiencing CAT. I can remember one bumpy flight, at night, when we rode the tops at 350 for more than an hour. Traffic prevented us from getting a higher level and we just had to ride it out. At least the skipper came on and explained it, which took away the “unknown” factor and that helped ease the tension (well mine anyway). What I really don’t like is CAT, especially at night. You don’t know how long it’s going to last and the intensity can vary quite a bit as you fly through it. It can smooth out and then bang, a sudden jolt and you're off again.
In the days when I had major fears of turbulence, (I believe I’ve got it relatively under control now) I never had any problem whatsoever when riding J/S on the FD! So, if I knew in advance that things were going to be unpleasant, I'd try and get up front. In those days it was easy!