Turbulence
My main fear of flying is that it will be turbulent for the duration of the flight & that my body would not be able to cope with stress. This is obviously an irrational fear & I never for 1 minute think that the a/c might fail.
Although I've travelled to New Zealand twice, to LA at least 4 times & made numerous hops to europe, Turbulance still really spooks me.
Of my many flights there are only 2 occasions when things have been of concern:
1) Auckland to Christchurch over the Tasmin Strait. ANZ-146. CAT there is apparently very common as it starts & stops (as if being switched on/off) when crossing the coast. It was VERY bumpy but not too alarming.
2) LAX to LHR (Jun 92) ANZ 747-400. We were at 30KFT+ but in thick cloud. Just as we were being served our dinner, the FO announced that there would be severe turbulence in the next few minutes & that all crew should clear everything away & strap in.
It was extremely scarey as we dropped on 4/5 occasions followed by the engines on full (?) power to help the a/c back to required altitude. 1 member of cabin crew could not get to her seat quck enough & resulted in banging her head on the cabin ceiling, a pax also required oxygen & further medical attention. This only lasted for about 15 minutes but was very scarey. I was even tempted to start praying.
Any ideas how I can cure/manage this fear (apart from the no no method of lots of alcohol pre-flight) ?
thanks