Flight turbulence

[DillyGent]

Has turbulence on a flight ever caused the plane to crash?  I have 9 flights coming up in 14 days in November from the UK to the US then some internal ones and that's the only thing that bothers me.  Thanks in advance.

[delboy3]

Yes, planes have been shaken to bits in the past (most infamously over Mount Fuji in Japan, 1966) but don't worry for a moment. Modern radar can pick up a butterfly's fart and divert the planes to safety. Plus you're much more likely to win the lottery 4 weeks in a row than end up in an air crash.

[netibiza]

I hate flying but several times have been caught in turbulence.  It's just gets a bit bumpy and I keep my eye on the stewardesses, if they are still trotting up and down then I don't mind, once though they were told to strap up, that's when my bottle went.  It was all ok and yes they can usually fly higher to avoid it.

[Gef]

Modern planes in normal flight - no!

[andizuki1982]

Hi, It`s not the turbulance you should be worried about, it`s the tiny electrical componants that could malfunction that makes the plane impossible to land!

[andizuki1982]

Sorry only joking! There are thousands of flights a day leaving Heathrow alone which equates to a hell of a lot of planes in the sky. The chance of yours crashing due to turbulance is near 1000000-1. Enjoy your trip!

[Rebecca611]

I have flown in many planes throughout my life and I know that they are safe.  Reason - I was on a severely turbulent flight around 7 years ago.  The plane also hit an air pocket, and apparently (from the Pilot afterwards) we dropped 150 ft in a split second.  Luckily we all had our seat belts on, but the stewards and stewardesses who were serving us coffee hit the ceiling, and the whole of the plane was in such a state - tea and coffee dripping from the ceiling! I had a big bruise across my legs where I had yanked up off the seat into my seat belt.  Now that was scary, but these planes are built to withstand turbulence. We then continued on the same plane for another connection.  A Cathay Pacific Boeing 747 pilot (HongKong to London) told me that planes can withstand an immense amount of battering.  He gave an example of why this is, take a Boeing 747- it is possible to rotate the plane 360 degrees, an immense stress on the wings, and it won't break apart.

[Golem]

Yesterday I was on a United flight from Minneapolis to Chicago. The pilot told us we could listen to air traffic control on the inflight audio, so for about an hour I followed our flight on the radio. It's the first time I've known this happen and I asked the pilot afterwards and he said it was always the pilot's discretion whether he allowed it or not. The weather was pretty bad but it really helped to hear how the aircrew were continually asking for the smoothest flight path and requesting permission to alter course to avoid weather systems they could see ahead of them and the severity of any turbulance. It explained why sometimes the plane moves up, down or turns for no obvious reason and allowed me to anticpate the movement. A great help in soothing inflight nerves.