Turbulence Death

From what I read, the death was attributed to a heart attack. Not that makes it any less horrific to the passengers. Turbulence is a real risk in flying, and a sound reason for keeping one’s seat belt fastened. I find it very reassuring that the planes can withstand this, and the pilots are trained to handle it and regain control.

My sister was an anxious flyer and had to take a class on reducing her anxiety before she could comfortably fly to Europe. The class instructor told them to think of turbulence as a boat being tossed about on rough seas—-scary and bumpy, but not life-threatening. That helps me a lot when the plane starts bouncing around.

Thank you Lola, my thoughts exactly.

I tell myself that there are multiple planes taking off from so many airports around the world, it will be okay!

Lola, my daughter gave me the same advice and it really does help!

Lola, great analogy, thank you. We once dropped so much that oxygen masks did come down. Even my husband was a bit rattled. We were close to our arrival at MSP, and other passengers were saying, oh, I hope we can land, while I was hoping we wouldn't. We circled for a while and then were diverted to Madison for fuel. When we did get home, we were told that we had had severe storms and people were in their basements.

After that experience, I keep my seat belt buckled while in my seat, always, and now when we get some significant turbulence, I'm clutching the armrests as if that would help.

When I was flying back from Beijing in 2010, I was seated next to someone who had previous experience in flying - they informed me with full confidence that no amount of turbulence could bring down an aircraft. I love flying in general, so that didn't really affect me either way, but my other seatmate was nervous and this news really seemed to help calm them down when we hit a rough patch.

Thanks for all the good advice. We are flying this evening to Amsterdam and I saw a snippet on the news. Seat belt will be fastened.

Unfortunately, keeping one’s seat belt fastened does not wholly protect you from injury. The damage is caused by stuff flying about the cabin—-which can include luggage if the overhead compartments are jarred open.