TURBULENCE and AIR POCKETS

[Mairi]

Hi everyone, i am not a pilot but i am about to start flying lessons. I fly several times a year and i am scared of turbulence. I find i get very tense and i also panic if the plane hits an air pocket, its the fact it literally drops down in the sky.... how much turbulence can a 777 or 737 take before it becomes a danger and the possibility of a crash? I flew on a houston gatwick flight recently and it was big bumps the whole time nearly but we didnt change altitude and i became very distressed..... is it dangerous,, shouldnt we have changed altitude??? can anyone explain this? Mairi

[bomarc]

good luck on flying lessons.

many years ago, terms like "air pocket" were in fashion. there are more modern terms and you will learn them. but even the wright brothers used the term "wind flurries" for something we know now as windshear.

planes can take quite a bit of turbulence before they fall apart in the sky...there are different levels of turbulence...light, moderate, severe, and extreme. in 30 years of flying I don't think I have ever hit extreme...for this is damaging to the plane. Severe means the plane is momentarily out of control...I might have come close to that once or twice.

pilots know to stay away from the producers of the really bad stuff...mainly thunderstorms...funny how God gives us lightning to scare us away from the really bad stuff...but there is also turbulence associated with wind going over huge mountains...called mountain wave...you will learn about that.


some advice on how to handle turbulence as a passenger or a pilot. SEAT BELTS must be fastened tightly enough to keep your rear end firmly in the seat. if it lifts up just a tiny bit, your brain sense negative gravity and your brain goes nuts and scares you. some less experience pilots who aren't strapped in firmly will even pull back on the controls to reestablish the normal feel of gravity and you can get into trouble doing this.

One time I did lose 3000feet, air speed fluctuations of 100 knots...but we kept it right side up...so it does happen, and you can survive.

I hope you will read a book called "weather flying" by a fantastic guy named robert buck (rip) a hero among airman. also read "stick and rudder" by langweische. ''fate is the hunter" by gann is good too.


so strap in extra tight at the first sign of turbulence and you should be ok. in small planes you will learn about maneuvering speed, Va. In big planes you will learn about rough air penetration speed. different things, but helpful to know.

happy landings

[RYR-738-JOCKEY]

I just want to comment on the airpocket-issue. There is no such thing. They are created by journos. Try to envision a water pocket....
A vacuum cannot be maintained on earth, as long as it's not within a contained area, ie with walls surrounding it.

[Mairi]

Thank you for your reply, i will amke sure i read these books, so is the turbulence when lockers open etc moderate kind? or severe?

[G--SPOT]

Turbulence can be a little uncomfortable and tedious but is not in itself dangerous unless there's windshear also and you're at lower speeds such as during TO and landing, and I've never heard of a plane crashing due to turbulence alone.
What you probably would consider to be bad turbulence, we as pilots probably would normally consider to be just light to moderate. In 11 years of commercial flying I can only remember 2 or 3 occasions when I've experienced genuinely severe turbulence.
As to how much turbulence an aircraft can take before it suffers damage, I think you'd be surprised. Videos of wing strength testing, show they can almost be bent vertically before breaking and I would be very surprised if turbulence could damage a modern aircraft.
You also asked about why the pilot didn't change altitude, and there may be various reasons. Perhaps other aircraft reported the turb to be the same or worse above and below, or maybe as is often the case over the atlantic he was unable to get clearance. Whatever the reason I'm sure it would have been considered.
Also air pockets don't really exist, they are just turbulence pobably caused by high level winds.

Anyway hope that helps, good luck with you're flying lessons hopefully they'll make you more comfortable about flying!

[G--SPOT]

Thank you for your reply, i will amke sure i read these books, so is the turbulence when lockers open etc moderate kind? or severe?


That sound more like a dodgy plane than bad turbulence to me! Have only ever heard of that after heavy landing not during turbulence.

[Mairi]

the other thing i noticed was a crack in the cabin from the passenger window out the way it was about 3 inches and zig zaggy! the time the overheads opened was not the houstin flight that was a flight my friend was on but found crack scary....

[Mairi]

speaking of those things, the other day i flew from abz for the weekend away and the usual announcement came on about keep seatbelts fastened until signs go off.. but wait for it,, the signs were not on ... at all. I mentioned it to the crew and they did go on on the way down but i was not impressed!! take it my feelings were right?? As my job as a driving instructor trainer i do everything by the book and i am very disciplined with procedure... thats wht i am training to be a pilot

[PIGDOG]

Hi there,

Not too long ago I was doing some hour building in Florida. The weather was ok, but it was quite bumpy. By the time I'd clocked a few hours in the circuit and cross country, I barely even noticed it.

It's amazing what we can get used to. The best way, I think, is to do some absorbing task that requires a high level of concentration; like navigation :8:) But as a pax, force your mind to focus on something else, and the turbulence will fade (By that I mean it won't seem nearly as overcoming).:ok:

[Mairi]

so is it bad that the seat belt signs did not come on for take off??? is that a reportable incident??

[Tarq57]

so is it bad that the seat belt signs did not come on for take off???
A little bad. They should have been turned on. Could be an electrical problem or finger trouble. If you'd already heard the audio announcement though, you already knew to fasten the belts. (As does anyone who flies.)

is that a reportable incident??

No. That's more of a nit-picky observation.

[nano404]

http://www.thedigitalaviator.com/blog/?p=366

Hope that helps.