I thought that as I spent more time in airplanes, that my fears would subside. And, while they may have somewhat, and I fly quite a bit, I am terrified whenever there is the slightest bit of turbulence, and close to panic when there is significant turbulence.
I know this is mostly silly because I know the numbers and I know how safe flying in a plane is. But, am I in statistically more danger during bouts of turbulence?
I am afraid of flying too, at the same level that you seem to be, and I also fly frequently. Turbulence is the scariest part for me as well. I’ve done a TON of reading on this to help reduce my fear, and by far, turbulence is not a big deal at all. The minor bumps and shifts we feel are normal and the pilots can get through it just fine with no worry. Even moderate to severe turbulence is fine - you will not just fall out of the sky, trust me!
I am still afraid, but reminding myself that it’s a normal part of flying and it’s really not a big deal seems to help. I also feel like as long as the flight attendants seem unconcerned (i.e. strapped in to seat but reading a magazine or otherwise seeming relaxed), I should too.
I think we react so badly because we really have no solid way of understanding just how high in the air we are when the plane is cruising. We feel the plane drop out from under us and it feels like we dropped hundreds of feet…and we probably did! But we’re cruising at tens of thousands of feet, so even a drop of 500 or 600 feet (which I assume is an extreme) isn’t going to crash us.
I’m not afraid of the plane dropping (well, I am afraid of stalling during moderate turbulence on landing and takeoff). What I am more afraid of is structural failure. I know that turbulence-caused in-flight breakup is extraordinarily rare, but it doesn’t help that during even moderate turbulence I can hear the hull of the plane creaking, and “feel” the tremendous lever arm of the hull being asymmetrically stressed.
Here ya go. Turbulence risks to airline passengers - People have been killed as a result of turbulence but its extremely rare. Large jets can take more abuse than you think.
I should say that I’m not scared of the turbulence itself, but the fear that the plane is going to crash as a result of turbulence.
The most likely way you would be injured from turbulence is that one of the overhead compartments would open and something falls on your head. The plane is designed to handle stresses that would bounce you around the cabin.
I’ll try to tell myself that next time at 30,000 feet!
Planes in stable flight are generally stronger than you are. If your body isn’t being torn apart by the turbulence, the plane isn’t either as a general rule.
Don’t start feeling too comfortable however. Certain type of turbulence really are bad news and can crash an airliner, cause an airplane to lose control, or leave the plane itself undamaged but kill or seriously injure the passengers inside.
Wind shear is a type of turbulence associated with thunderstorms. An aircraft flying through wind sheer can lose altitude quickly and uncontrolably even to the point of a crash ([see Delta Airlines 191).](see Delta Airlines 191).)
There is also wake turbulence generated by aircraft themselves that affect the airplanes following them sometimes even miles back. Really bad wake turbulence from a large jetliner can cause a small plane to go out of control and crash. Under some circumstances, it can even crash another airliner following it (see American Airlines 587).
Perhaps the scariest of all is clear air turbulence which just comes on suddenly and violently with no warning. You can be strolling back to the lavatory over the Pacific Ocean and then BAMM, you wake up with the drink cart and two flight attendents on top of you. Clear air turbulence can kill or severely injure and has on several occasions.
I don’t mean to scare you. All of these events are incredibly rare but they have happened.
That is extremely unlikely as it would take an almost unimaginable amount of turbulence for that to happen. Google airliner wing tests for videos of the abuses a wing can take. What’s more likely to happen in turbulence is bouncing an unbelted passenger off of the ceiling or getting hit by a loose object flying around the cabin. I’m not a pilot but I’m a huge air-time (as in negative gees) junkie. I love the moments of weightlessness you sometimes get in bad turbulence. I was once on a flight where there was actually some screaming because of the turbulence - an indication of how bad it was but I was loving it. When it first hit (and there was no warning), the contents of the cup of coffee I was drinking sailed about a foot straight up out of the mug but I manage to catch about 95% of it on the way back down. That’s why I’m always belted unless I’m visiting the head.
That link isn’t restricted to clear-air turbulence - it claims to list all 6 jet-aircraft turbulence incidents that caused fatalities since 1980. These are clearly considered distinct from wind-shear incidents that can be a problem for aircraft close to the ground.
It’s worth noting that only one of these six resulted in the plane crashing. The other five produced a total of six fatalities - an impressively low total for 30 years. If you take standingwave’s advice and keep your belt buckled, you can reduce the actual hazard of turbulence to something near zero.
I think it’s also safe to say that before turbulence is genuinely a threat to the aircraft, it’s going to feel truly violent to anyone on board. Passengers can be screaming in terror with the plane in no danger at all.
It seems scary, but if you were to look in the cockpit you would see that the flight crew are completely unconcerned. For them it’s like driving a boat over a choppy sea. Sometimes the sea is flat, sometimes it’s bumpy, it’s no big deal either way. Same in the air.
Also worth noting that while people commonly refer to “severe turbulence” to describe their experience, technically that term refers to something much worse, such as you would find inside a tropical thunderstorm, and that no pilot would deliberately fly into. Most people’s “severe turbulence” is actually in the “light” or “medium” categories and presents no threat whatever to a plane at cruising altitude.
However in turbulent conditions you will be safer if you are wearing your seatbelt.
Screaming like a little girl? Sorry…that was me.
Consider also: Getting killed in a plane crash is quite possibly one of the quickest most painless ways to go.
The photo ops may be horrific, with planes crashing and exploding into fireballs, leaving all bodies burnt beyond recognition. But when a big plane goes splat (especially from high altitude), the passengers are all smithereens in a fraction of a second, faster than a pain nerve impulse can get from one synapse to the next. The big fireball comes later.
We should all be so lucky as to die like that.
I’m OK with light turbulence–the kind that feels like potholes on a bad road. But twice I’ve been on flights that felt like roller coasters, complete with screaming passengers and full barf bags, and on both flights (different airlines, years apart) nobody on the flight crew said anything reassuring during the 40-45 minutes of white-knuckling. I know the flight crew was probably trading dirty stories in the cock pit the whole time, but if the pilot had just once said something like, “Ah (All pilots start announcement with “Ah,” don’t they?), folks, as you can tell, we’ve hit some choppy air. As soon as we get around this storm in 20 minutes or so, things should smooth out,” it would probably have helped quiet the passengers. Why is that not standard procedure?
As it was, all I could do was grasp the bottom of my seat, do deep breathing exercises, and listen to the moans of my seat mate.
Did I mention I don’t like roller coasters?
This is a cool story. And would be a perfect physics demonstration, if you get the students up there with you.
This is a cool fact also. Probably a little overstated, but it makes sense. It ignores however, the agonizing pain the passenger feels as he plummets.
I would like to say to the OP I’m Sorry that Parts of This Thread–This Response Included–May Not Be All That Reassuring. 
I’ve experienced some (for a pax) scary rides in the past - notably going over the Himalayas with, as far as I can tell, a near-constant updraft beating the plane from left to right; clipping the edge of a storm over New Delhi where the plane went zero-G for what felt like two seconds; and landing in Hong Kong in a monsoon cloud with the plane thrashing around, at one point being hit by lightning (which I know is harmless), while the tops of buildings and boats in the harbour were visible below. I really don’t like it.
But I tell myself the following, in addition to the “pilots rarely notice it” thing:
Though you only get that perk in 1st class.
Please return the flight attendant to her full upright position.