Plane turbulence is, as survey after survey shows, one of the most common flying-related fears out there. While caused by minor changes in air currents and almost never a sign that the flight is at any risk, the frightening experience of being shaken in the air is enough to put some off flying entirely.
To help combat that fear, one pilot at a major airline even launched a "Dial A Pilot" program in which one can pay $50 to spend 15 minutes asking pilots questions about the flying experience. According to the founder, a "lack of understanding of why the turbulence is happening and what's causing it" makes this by far the most common flying fear they address.
Related: Elon Musk Says Air Turbulence Is Not a Big Deal
Over in Brazil, the "Aviaçao e Curiosidades" TiKTok account similarly captures the interesting and sometimes frightening moments that occur during flights. At the end of October, two pilots shared what they saw during severe turbulence from the cockpit of a Boeing 737-800 BA plane.
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'Why we goin' so fast?' travelers ask of viral cockpit video
The imagery of white clouds coming straight at a shaking plane in the dark evoked many worst fears. The video quickly garnered up more than 6.1 million views and was upvoted more than 152,000 times.
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"WHY WE GOIN' SO FAST?" wrote one TikTok user named Morgana McKae.
"How do they know they aren't going to hit anything?" asked Nadaan Nadia. "OMG this is so scary."
One commenter also asked "who's driving this bus?" while one of the most upvoted comments said that "turbulence still feels incredibly dangerous to me even though pilots say it's not."
On a flight with severe turbulence? Here's what you should do
While the video of the shaking and the heavy fog only exacerbated some people's fear of flying, numbers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research show that over 65,000 flights a year go through turbulence while an additional 5,500 experience severe turbulence. A changing climate has also increased turbulence by, according to some estimates, more than 55% between 1979 and 2020 as more parts of the sky now have changing air currents.
But even so, the biggest risk around turbulence is not a plane crash as many travelers seem to think. Even in the case of a sudden drop, pilots would always have enough time to regain control of the aircraft. Since the start of commercial aviation, there has not been a single instance of a plane crash caused by turbulence.
The much more probable risk of injury comes from being tossed around inside the plane to flight attendants or passengers who do not stay seated as instructed.
Back in August, a Delta DAL flight from Italy to Atlanta ran into turbulence that sent several passengers "flying up out their seats." A total of 25 people (including almost every flight attendant on the flight) suffered injuries and harrowing images of some being taken out of the plane on stretchers upon landing circulated on social media.
Many in aviation used the incident to remind travelers why instructions to stay seated are not to be disregarded.
