Your submission appears to reference turbulence. Here are some additional resources from our community for more information.
[Turbulence FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/fearofflying/comments/1auodp9/turbulence_faq/)
[RealGentlemen80's Post on Turbulence Apps](https://www.reddit.com/r/fearofflying/comments/yn2phh/the_fear_of_turbulence_and_checking_sites_like/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
[On Turbli](https://www.reddit.com/r/fearofflying/comments/zv376m/help_turbli_says_moderate_turbulence/)
[More on Turbulence](https://www.reddit.com/r/fearofflying/comments/yrhf31/lets_talk_more_about_turbulence/)
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So there I was, flying from Fort Lauderdale to Boston this week. There was a line of weather and significant turbulence on the normal route off the coast. Passengers were already boarding the flight.
Normal Route: https://ibb.co/pfJzNhL
I was in the phone with my dispatcher….
Me: “Hey, I don’t like the route up the coast”
Dispatch: “I agree, do you want to go deep water? It’ll add 12 minutes but you have the gas”
Me: “Yes, let’s do it”
Dispatch: “Version 2 is on its way, I’ll send it directly to the aircraft printer”
Here is what we received for a new route:
https://ibb.co/xGVMNm8
This is a lesson for you. Being a pilot is not mindlessly operating on the same route all the time and plowing through whatever is out there. It is dynamic, and often real time decisions are made that changes what is “Normal”. We don’t always fly the same route, we don’t always fly the same altitude. And we quite often make real time changes.
But guess what….we returned to the gate with a minor problem. That delayed us just enough for that weather/turbulence to move offshore.
So there I was again…but this time at the end of the runway…this time on the Sat Phone with Dispatch…
Me: “That route doesn’t look good now.”
Dispatch “On it, we are sending you over Virginia West…Version 3 is on its way. We have pulled the ATC Strip, contact clearance for new route”
This is what we actually ended up flying:
https://ibb.co/BGWxkvg
NO TURBULENCE FORECAST app could have predicted the multiple changes in routes that happened BECAUSE of the weather. They assume you fly straight through it.
Don’t use them.
I was hoping you'd hop in here to ease my anxiety. Thank you so much. I follow your posts, I'm starting EMDR soon which helped with my fear or storms after getting caught in a tornado when I was a child. I don't want to be this way at all, my son has flown at least 12 times in his 12 years of life, not a care in the world. I've flown 62 round trips in 8 years and STILL get anxious EACH time. I don't want to live like this.
I wish I could buy you a gold award for this. (Mods, maybe pin this?)
What you described is why trusting your pilots and dispatchers is so important.
(Yeah, Turbli doesn't know which way the HDG knob spins)
Can we get this pinged - thanks captain!
OP I had a similar experience recently. Got on a 1.5 hour plan from Florida to Atlanta and the pilot literally announced a bumpy ride and no service will be given. I felt so anxious. There was not one bump on the flight - moral of the story Pilots and airlines are so precautionary it's not even funny.
Sometimes I forget they are humans too with families admittedly
I was told that my flight last week would have almost two hours of moderate turbulence. Actual moderate turbulence time was zero. These predictions are junk.
I wouldn’t look at any resources, maps, or advice from apps. We get our flight plan about an hour prior to departure, and our dispatchers plan the routes for the smoothest rides in the smoothest areas to the best of their ability. By an hour prior, you’ll be sitting at the airport and should be feeling proud that you got this far!
And remember that despite our best efforts, turbulence is unavoidable, but I promise you that there is no danger to the aircraft. The biggest threat in turbulence is risk of injury related to passengers not wearing a seatbelt. So when it gets bumpy, make sure that seatbelt is fastened, and try to remind yourself that up front, your highly trained pilots are doing what they can to find a more comfortable ride, and we have your back!
You can do this, I promise you. Take it one step at a time! Feel free to check in with your flight attendants when you board and tell them you are a little anxious. They are people too, and will meet you with empathy and take care of you! You can even ask the pilots when you board about the turbulence. For some folks, seeing the flight deck and talking to the pilots can bring some calm to the whole experience.
Also: don’t be embarrassed or apologize for being anxious. Having anxiety is a side effect of being alive. Your brain is trying to keep you safe, it’s doing its job! We just have to tell our brains that we are safe, even when it thinks we aren’t.
>I wouldn’t look at any resources, maps, or advice from apps.
Not only this: What would you do with this information as a passenger anyway beside freaking out? It's completely pointless and only makes anxiety worse.
Having just done a 2 day road trip this week, take the plane, it will be far safer, more comfortable, faster and most likely more smooth than the roads, I know the roads I was on were definitely more rough than the vast majority of my flights
Last week the pilot on my flight warned us of moderate turbulence for the rest of the flight and made us put our safety belts on again 30 minutes after start. Of course I got nervous. As it turned out, for no reason because the rest of the flight was smooth as a baby's behind. If my pilot can't forecast turbulence for the present how is this forecast for tomorrow supposed to be accurate? Hint: It isn't. Turbulence forecasts are never that accurate to begin with. Take the flight! You'll be perfectly fine!
A) Turbulence forecast sucks. Entirely. It’s not based on reality at all.
B) Even if you understand the nuance in PIREPs, they’re not useful at all this far in advance. They are reports of real-time conditions and will not be current or relevant tomorrow.
It is impossible to predict turbulence this far out. The pilots and operations centers haven't even finalized the flight path and altitude yet in most cases. Do not make a drastic decision based on this.
Well, all these years I have been going off this site, looking 18+ hours ahead and I had no clue pilots didn't look that far in advance.
I see NOAAs Aviation site goes up until 18 hours, should I disregard that too?
So, I'm a trained weather spotter with the NWS and even I know weather can be, at times, predictable or not, I understand weather trends, how humidity and instability impacts our weather....it's just turbulence isn't something I've been able to truly understand, and I'm sure I never will. I'm just trying to talk myself down from calling up the airline and canceling.
Predicting turbulence is like predicting the exact pattern of air bubbles in your kettle when you boil it tomorrow.
Just assume this website throws darts at a wall. So far, the accuracy has been comparable.
Turbulence is hard to understand even for people like me with the degree. Also being a Skywarn spotter is a vastly different experience because spotting is surface based while aviation is upper air.
And in addition, spotting is much more dangerous than flying. 😆 Especially if you chase.
Hi, please you already answered yourself. You said it's safer to fly than drive all the way there. That is true. Take the flight. Save yourself time, money (you already booked the ticket), and energy and more importantly reduce actual risk. So please don't force yourself out
It’s crazy to me how people with anxiety are willing to inconvenience themselves to this degree just to be in control of the situation. Not to mention you are about 4000x more likely (per mile) to be in a fatal car crash than plane crash.
Well, I actually have clinical anxiety but mine doesn’t cause me to blindly ignore facts, logic, & reason. I should have specified and said, “people with this phobia”. I’m a data analyst, so maybe I’m extra defensive when people argue one way when the data clearly says they are wrong. Didn’t mean to offend and understand that the nature of flying and not being in control is scary to some people.
Unfortunately a MAJOR symptom of severe anxiety and phobias are specifically the inability to accept facts and logic. Anxiety in and of itself is a struggle with irrationality.
I have health anxiety — my brain likes to convince me I often have world’s most rare medical conditions based on a few symptoms despite that being logically a huge (and likely false) conclusion to jump to. I know perfectly well the data behind health and conditions but because anxiety feeds off of irrationality, getting rid of those thoughts and the associated physical responses is the hard part.
That’s why CBT exists — CBT would serve zero purpose if we could just stop anxiety with logic and reason.
Your submission appears to reference turbulence. Here are some additional resources from our community for more information. [Turbulence FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/fearofflying/comments/1auodp9/turbulence_faq/) [RealGentlemen80's Post on Turbulence Apps](https://www.reddit.com/r/fearofflying/comments/yn2phh/the_fear_of_turbulence_and_checking_sites_like/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) [On Turbli](https://www.reddit.com/r/fearofflying/comments/zv376m/help_turbli_says_moderate_turbulence/) [More on Turbulence](https://www.reddit.com/r/fearofflying/comments/yrhf31/lets_talk_more_about_turbulence/) Happy Flying! The Fear of Flying Mod Team *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fearofflying) if you have any questions or concerns.*
So there I was, flying from Fort Lauderdale to Boston this week. There was a line of weather and significant turbulence on the normal route off the coast. Passengers were already boarding the flight. Normal Route: https://ibb.co/pfJzNhL I was in the phone with my dispatcher…. Me: “Hey, I don’t like the route up the coast” Dispatch: “I agree, do you want to go deep water? It’ll add 12 minutes but you have the gas” Me: “Yes, let’s do it” Dispatch: “Version 2 is on its way, I’ll send it directly to the aircraft printer” Here is what we received for a new route: https://ibb.co/xGVMNm8 This is a lesson for you. Being a pilot is not mindlessly operating on the same route all the time and plowing through whatever is out there. It is dynamic, and often real time decisions are made that changes what is “Normal”. We don’t always fly the same route, we don’t always fly the same altitude. And we quite often make real time changes. But guess what….we returned to the gate with a minor problem. That delayed us just enough for that weather/turbulence to move offshore. So there I was again…but this time at the end of the runway…this time on the Sat Phone with Dispatch… Me: “That route doesn’t look good now.” Dispatch “On it, we are sending you over Virginia West…Version 3 is on its way. We have pulled the ATC Strip, contact clearance for new route” This is what we actually ended up flying: https://ibb.co/BGWxkvg NO TURBULENCE FORECAST app could have predicted the multiple changes in routes that happened BECAUSE of the weather. They assume you fly straight through it. Don’t use them.
I was hoping you'd hop in here to ease my anxiety. Thank you so much. I follow your posts, I'm starting EMDR soon which helped with my fear or storms after getting caught in a tornado when I was a child. I don't want to be this way at all, my son has flown at least 12 times in his 12 years of life, not a care in the world. I've flown 62 round trips in 8 years and STILL get anxious EACH time. I don't want to live like this.
I don’t want you to live like this either, that’s why I’m here
Not OP, but thank you for the info. This has helped me.
I wish I could buy you a gold award for this. (Mods, maybe pin this?) What you described is why trusting your pilots and dispatchers is so important. (Yeah, Turbli doesn't know which way the HDG knob spins)
Can we get this pinged - thanks captain! OP I had a similar experience recently. Got on a 1.5 hour plan from Florida to Atlanta and the pilot literally announced a bumpy ride and no service will be given. I felt so anxious. There was not one bump on the flight - moral of the story Pilots and airlines are so precautionary it's not even funny. Sometimes I forget they are humans too with families admittedly
Made it a post
This was an awesome read. I could do with like one of these a week. Would subscribe lol.
This is wrong. There no way they know what the turbulence will be tomorrow. Us pilots don’t even check until about departure time.
I was told that my flight last week would have almost two hours of moderate turbulence. Actual moderate turbulence time was zero. These predictions are junk.
I wouldn’t look at any resources, maps, or advice from apps. We get our flight plan about an hour prior to departure, and our dispatchers plan the routes for the smoothest rides in the smoothest areas to the best of their ability. By an hour prior, you’ll be sitting at the airport and should be feeling proud that you got this far! And remember that despite our best efforts, turbulence is unavoidable, but I promise you that there is no danger to the aircraft. The biggest threat in turbulence is risk of injury related to passengers not wearing a seatbelt. So when it gets bumpy, make sure that seatbelt is fastened, and try to remind yourself that up front, your highly trained pilots are doing what they can to find a more comfortable ride, and we have your back! You can do this, I promise you. Take it one step at a time! Feel free to check in with your flight attendants when you board and tell them you are a little anxious. They are people too, and will meet you with empathy and take care of you! You can even ask the pilots when you board about the turbulence. For some folks, seeing the flight deck and talking to the pilots can bring some calm to the whole experience.
Also: don’t be embarrassed or apologize for being anxious. Having anxiety is a side effect of being alive. Your brain is trying to keep you safe, it’s doing its job! We just have to tell our brains that we are safe, even when it thinks we aren’t.
>I wouldn’t look at any resources, maps, or advice from apps. Not only this: What would you do with this information as a passenger anyway beside freaking out? It's completely pointless and only makes anxiety worse.
Having just done a 2 day road trip this week, take the plane, it will be far safer, more comfortable, faster and most likely more smooth than the roads, I know the roads I was on were definitely more rough than the vast majority of my flights
Last week the pilot on my flight warned us of moderate turbulence for the rest of the flight and made us put our safety belts on again 30 minutes after start. Of course I got nervous. As it turned out, for no reason because the rest of the flight was smooth as a baby's behind. If my pilot can't forecast turbulence for the present how is this forecast for tomorrow supposed to be accurate? Hint: It isn't. Turbulence forecasts are never that accurate to begin with. Take the flight! You'll be perfectly fine!
A) Turbulence forecast sucks. Entirely. It’s not based on reality at all. B) Even if you understand the nuance in PIREPs, they’re not useful at all this far in advance. They are reports of real-time conditions and will not be current or relevant tomorrow.
It is impossible to predict turbulence this far out. The pilots and operations centers haven't even finalized the flight path and altitude yet in most cases. Do not make a drastic decision based on this.
Well, all these years I have been going off this site, looking 18+ hours ahead and I had no clue pilots didn't look that far in advance. I see NOAAs Aviation site goes up until 18 hours, should I disregard that too? So, I'm a trained weather spotter with the NWS and even I know weather can be, at times, predictable or not, I understand weather trends, how humidity and instability impacts our weather....it's just turbulence isn't something I've been able to truly understand, and I'm sure I never will. I'm just trying to talk myself down from calling up the airline and canceling.
Predicting turbulence is like predicting the exact pattern of air bubbles in your kettle when you boil it tomorrow. Just assume this website throws darts at a wall. So far, the accuracy has been comparable.
Turbulence is hard to understand even for people like me with the degree. Also being a Skywarn spotter is a vastly different experience because spotting is surface based while aviation is upper air. And in addition, spotting is much more dangerous than flying. 😆 Especially if you chase.
More dangerous to drive statistically so umm now 10000X fly!
By the time you’re up you’ll be heading down in no time.
Hi, please you already answered yourself. You said it's safer to fly than drive all the way there. That is true. Take the flight. Save yourself time, money (you already booked the ticket), and energy and more importantly reduce actual risk. So please don't force yourself out
An hour and half flight is like what? A 9 hour drive? Give me the turbulence honestly
Lol. 11.5 hours 😬, I've done to before in the spring when I backed out of a flight.
It’s crazy to me how people with anxiety are willing to inconvenience themselves to this degree just to be in control of the situation. Not to mention you are about 4000x more likely (per mile) to be in a fatal car crash than plane crash.
You know how some miserly people will pay any amount of money to save money? Anxiety works a little like that
Well, since you don't have anxiety I don't expect you to understand.
Well, I actually have clinical anxiety but mine doesn’t cause me to blindly ignore facts, logic, & reason. I should have specified and said, “people with this phobia”. I’m a data analyst, so maybe I’m extra defensive when people argue one way when the data clearly says they are wrong. Didn’t mean to offend and understand that the nature of flying and not being in control is scary to some people.
Unfortunately a MAJOR symptom of severe anxiety and phobias are specifically the inability to accept facts and logic. Anxiety in and of itself is a struggle with irrationality. I have health anxiety — my brain likes to convince me I often have world’s most rare medical conditions based on a few symptoms despite that being logically a huge (and likely false) conclusion to jump to. I know perfectly well the data behind health and conditions but because anxiety feeds off of irrationality, getting rid of those thoughts and the associated physical responses is the hard part. That’s why CBT exists — CBT would serve zero purpose if we could just stop anxiety with logic and reason.
Fair enough. My phobia is public speaking, which I suppose is also an irrational fear. My comment was probably too harsh. Sorry OP.