but it is the one form of transport that will willingly put its passengers through some pretty scary situations just to get from a to b
Do you have any evidence for that? Can you show me just one line pilot who willingly scares passengers? I have never met any. Pilots in general are safety conscious to the extreme, and - unrelated - care a lot about making a flight comfortable for passengers. If possible, pilots stay far away from even mild turbulence, just to ensure passenger comfort (even if it has nothing to do with safety). To continue this off topic discussion (sorry for the thread drift): Driving a car will put you in a lot more dangerous situations, yet few people seem to think that is scary. Yet some people are easily scared by completely innocent turbulence. Turbulence may be annoying, making it more difficult to read or sleep, and you could spill some coffee, but it isn't dangerous. Frankly concerns about turbulence seem to be a very subjective, somewhat irrational fear. So why do some people perceive turbulence as scary Or is it something else that scares you?