How do you recover after a bad flight?

[Farro]

That’s a great idea on the coloring - I may try that. Xanax doesn’t seem to do the trick for me anymore. I also worry that if I always medicate, I will never beat my fear.

Totally feel the same.

I hope I can get through this flight and realize - hey, I can do this!

 

[Kmedders]

Totally feel the same.

I hope I can get through this flight and realize - hey, I can do this!

Good luck!! I’ve read it helps, when you start to panic, to start naming things you see in your mind. Like “grey seats, white walls, brown hair, four people” etc. supposedly that interrupts your brains ability to panic.

 

[Akck]

The way I look at it is that turbulence will not cause the plane to crash. The main danger would be from flying objects/people. While flying has never bothered me, we told our kids when they were little to think they were on a roller coaster having fun. So that’s what I think any time we experience turbulence. Flying to WDW? Well you just rode your first roller coaster, just like your first ride on the monorail at the airport. Don‘t like roller coasters? Then think you’re on the Safari trek as your can get bounced around on the vehicles.

 

[Frwinkley]

I once colored an entire picture of Cinderella with a red pen on a rough flight home from Orlando! My 5 year old had all the crayons….

 

[Sparkly]

Pretend you're on a rollercoaster. Then it's not scary, it's fun!

 

[disneyseniors]

wow - that worked??? I am going to look into it. I've done therapy with a pilot, medicated, drank, tried breathing techniques... but I'm still always so scared.

Yes, I did all that too but it didn't work for me. I have a good friend who is a pilot and he tried to help me, but it didn't work either. I know mine was an irrational type of fear, but I couldn't help it. I even cancelled some flights that I "had a bad feeling about".
I have a good friend who was also a hypnotist, so that's why I tried it. I won't lie, it wasn't easy reliving it but it was the only thing that helped me. It's worth a try but research hypnotists who have experience in this. Hope you find something to work. It is not something you can "just get over", at least not for me.
I also worried about being "under a hypnotists control", but that is NOT what happened. I knew what I was saying and what she was saying and what was happening at all times. There was no losing control issues at all.

 

[MrKnight]

Try distracting yourself during the flight, bring some head phones with good volume and watch a movie or TV show on your personal device, most airlines offer in-flight entertainment through the plane's Wi-Fi system or the airline app, select a good movie or TV show that you enjoy, focus on the screen and try to detach yourself from the fact that you are on a plane. I have found that this not only helps but it also makes time go by quicker. Some people also find it helpful to bring a blanket, small pillow, or anything else that will make you feel more comfortable, if the airline offers any type of upgraded seating on your flight with more space or a more comfortable seat, it may be worth the extra cost as well for your comfort.

 

[thegash35]

As a pilot - is turbulence scary for you? Is it easy to safely navigate? Is turbulence like what I described common or do I have reason to believe I won’t encounter something that severe again?

I'm not a pilot but I see that you haven't gotten a response yet so I'll throw in about as much as I know from just having general aviation interest.

There is something called CAT (clear air turbulence), like as the name implies, are disturbances in the air in clear weather and is not visible on radar or to the naked eye via cues like cloud formations, so it is difficult to impossible to avoid. There are several degrees of severity of CAT.

Modern airplanes do have weather radar and pilots always navigate around severe storm activity once in the air.

But well before a plane leaves the airport, a flight plan is filed and these flight plans take into account potential weather along the flight route. For example, this is why on a flight from NYC to Orlando you will sometimes see the flight take a more western inland track vs. a track that is out east over the coast. But once a flight is out of their departure area and under own navigation, they are basically following specific airways between different points on the flight plan. So another plane that might have passed along that airway previously would report to air traffic control that there was turbulence, and ATC can then alert other planes on that same route about the turbulence. If it gets uncomfortable enough, pilots can and will ask to deviate up or down (or left and right) to try to get out of it, but there are no guarantees since this kind of turbulence is basically invisible. Sometimes everyone on the plane just has to grin and bear it until it's over and just hope that it doesn't last too long.

So I guess the main summary is that pilots will always do whatever they can to avoid known areas of bad weather (including not taking off in the first place) because bad weather like severe thunderstorm activity is a legitimate danger, but there are some kinds of turbulence that can be uncomfortable and nerve wracking, but is not really a danger to the airplane and is just difficult to impossible to avoid.

Another thing I will say is that I've looked up bumpy flights I've been on on Flightaware and there's basically no change in altitude. So yeah sometimes in a really bad case a plane might hit some kind of downdraft that causes it to lose a bit of altitude in a short period of time that might be felt by passengers, most turbulence is barely impacting the airplane at all even though it feels like it is inside the plane. If you were outside the airplane watching it fly through turbulence it wouldn't even look like it was bouncing around. I am a very nervous flyer but I use the "pretend you're on a bus on a bumpy road" thing and also picture myself looking at the plane from the outside and all those things help me deal with it. So does Xanax, but I like to avoid that kind of stuff whenever possible. Flying more would probably also help - I don't fly very often so it's more difficult to just get used to it.

 

[Kmedders]

I'm not a pilot but I see that you haven't gotten a response yet so I'll throw in about as much as I know from just having general aviation interest.

There is something called CAT (clear air turbulence), like as the name implies, are disturbances in the air in clear weather and is not visible on radar or to the naked eye via cues like cloud formations, so it is difficult to impossible to avoid. There are several degrees of severity of CAT.

Modern airplanes do have weather radar and pilots always navigate around severe storm activity once in the air.

But well before a plane leaves the airport, a flight plan is filed and these flight plans take into account potential weather along the flight route. For example, this is why on a flight from NYC to Orlando you will sometimes see the flight take a more western inland track vs. a track that is out east over the coast. But once a flight is out of their departure area and under own navigation, they are basically following specific airways between different points on the flight plan. So another plane that might have passed along that airway previously would report to air traffic control that there was turbulence, and ATC can then alert other planes on that same route about the turbulence. If it gets uncomfortable enough, pilots can and will ask to deviate up or down (or left and right) to try to get out of it, but there are no guarantees since this kind of turbulence is basically invisible. Sometimes everyone on the plane just has to grin and bear it until it's over and just hope that it doesn't last too long.

So I guess the main summary is that pilots will always do whatever they can to avoid known areas of bad weather (including not taking off in the first place) because bad weather like severe thunderstorm activity is a legitimate danger, but there are some kinds of turbulence that can be uncomfortable and nerve wracking, but is not really a danger to the airplane and is just difficult to impossible to avoid.

Another thing I will say is that I've looked up bumpy flights I've been on on Flightaware and there's basically no change in altitude. So yeah sometimes in a really bad case a plane might hit some kind of downdraft that causes it to lose a bit of altitude in a short period of time that might be felt by passengers, most turbulence is barely impacting the airplane at all even though it feels like it is inside the plane. If you were outside the airplane watching it fly through turbulence it wouldn't even look like it was bouncing around. I am a very nervous flyer but I use the "pretend you're on a bus on a bumpy road" thing and also picture myself looking at the plane from the outside and all those things help me deal with it. So does Xanax, but I like to avoid that kind of stuff whenever possible. Flying more would probably also help - I don't fly very often so it's more difficult to just get used to it.

Thank you!! I will probably screen shot this and read it during my next flight

 

[Farro]

Thank you!! I will probably screen shot this and read it during my next flight

It's very hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that turbulence is not going to bring the plane down. I hate turbulence.

People worry about landings but I love them! Means I'm almost on the terra firma!

(take offs I pretty much close my eyes and grit my teeth)

 

[Kmedders]

It's very hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that turbulence is not going to bring the plane down. I hate turbulence.

People worry about landings but I love them! Means I'm almost on the terra firma!

(take offs I pretty much close my eyes and grit my teeth)

Same!! Landing is the only time I’m not nervous. The closer I get to the ground, the better… as long as it’s controlled of course lol

 

[Maistre Gracey]

As a pilot - is turbulence scary for you? Is it easy to safely navigate? Is turbulence like what I described common or do I have reason to believe I won’t encounter something that severe again?

For me, when I’m in the cockpit, it’s more of an annoyance than it is scary. I understand that changes when you are in the back. It’s like not being the driver of a car. It’s a different feeling.
Turbulence is very common. *True* severe (or extreme) turbulence is not. There is no way for me to judge what you experienced, as everyone has a different tolerance. There really is no way to predict whether or not you experience uncomfortable turbulence again.

PS- my wife refused to fly for years. She will now fly on airplanes that have TV, as that occupies her and keeps her mind off flying.

 

[disneyseniors]

Turbulence can shake the airplane pretty good, but I’m having a hard time with the “nose dive” stuff.

You can have a hard time with it, but it happened. It looked just like in the movies when the plane is going down. It was terrible. I knew something was up when there were NO announcements and no flight attendants were up even though we were at cruising altitude. I think the pilots must have been surprised by the intensity of the turbulence, I don't know.
So you can believe it or not but I hope you don't have to ever have that happen on your flights.
Also as I said in another post, it was 43 years ago and technology is much, much more advanced now. So there is that.

 

[disneyseniors]

It's very hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that turbulence is not going to bring the plane down. I hate turbulence.

People worry about landings but I love them! Means I'm almost on the terra firma!

(take offs I pretty much close my eyes and grit my teeth)

I don't know why this turbulence happened, but it was a long time ago when my kids were 5 and 7 and they are now 48 and 50 y/o, LOL. Our regular flight was delayed for 12 hours as there was a problem with the plane and another one was sent from another city! The weather was horrible before the flight and of course, during.
I think that now the planes are more advanced, I just don't know.
I don't think there's much to worry about in 2021 but it happened 43 years ago.

 

[disneyseniors]

It's very hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that turbulence is not going to bring the plane down. I hate turbulence.

People worry about landings but I love them! Means I'm almost on the terra firma!

(take offs I pretty much close my eyes and grit my teeth)

I don't know why this turbulence happened, but it was a long time ago when my kids were 5 and 7 and they are now 48 and 50 y/o, LOL. Our regular flight was delayed for 12 hours as there was a problem with the plane and another one was sent from another city! The weather was horrible before the flight and of course, during.
I think that now the planes are more advanced, I just don't know.
I don't think there's much to worry about in 2021 but it happened 43 years ago.

For me, when I’m in the cockpit, it’s more of an annoyance than it is scary. I understand that changes when you are in the back. It’s like not being the driver of a car. It’s a different feeling.
Turbulence is very common. *True* severe (or extreme) turbulence is not. There is no way for me to judge what you experienced, as everyone has a different tolerance. There really is no way to predict whether or not you experience uncomfortable turbulence again.

PS- my wife refused to fly for years. She will now fly on airplanes that have TV, as that occupies her and keeps her mind off flying.

As I said before, this happened 43 years ago. So I would imagine that technology is very advanced now. We were told that we were in the air after a tornado apparently left the area. Who knows? I'm not a pilot. I'll have to run this by a friend of mine who is a pilot and was on the Presidential flight staff for years Actually, I remember I did run this by him afterwards. He tried to help me with explanations of how planes fly, safety procedures, etc, but it didn't help at the time.

 

[disneyseniors]

To Denise W.:
I was wondering what the purpose of the haha emoji was? I don't think anything was funny. So it must sarcastic? It comes across as rude to me.

 

[DVC-Don]

Only hit really bad turbulence once back in 1986 coming into O'Hare (Picture passengers vomiting into the aisle, not me) Wine bar in the terminal took care of me until my connection was ready.

 

[2Lunds]

Please don't take stressed out FAs personally right now - from everything we're seeing in the news this is a hellish time for them with trying to enforce all these new guidelines, in addition to their job which is keeping us safe.

Have you thought about relaxation apps on your phone? Even an audiobook could be helpful. I find that more relaxing than reading because it's easier to be distracted from a book than from something you're listening to with earbuds in.

 

[Kmedders]

Please don't take stressed out FAs personally right now - from everything we're seeing in the news this is a hellish time for them with trying to enforce all these new guidelines, in addition to their job which is keeping us safe.

Have you thought about relaxation apps on your phone? Even an audiobook could be helpful. I find that more relaxing than reading because it's easier to be distracted from a book than from something you're listening to with earbuds in.

I usually have a tough time focusing on an audio book, but the relaxation app suggestion is brilliant. I am definitely going to try that! Thank you!

 

[2Lunds]

I usually have a tough time focusing on an audio book, but the relaxation app suggestion is brilliant. I am definitely going to try that! Thank you!

Oh yay! I hope it works for you