Fear of Flying: How to Cope with Turbulence

Do you guys watch The Good Place? If you don’t, first off, get on that (it’s such a good show). The premise is that everyone gets sent to either the Good Place or Bad Place when they die. Each person’s experience is entirely tailored to them. My Good Place would include an ever-flowing ice cream river, a person Starbucks attached to my house, and somehow calories would never count. Dreamy, right?

My Bad Place, though, would be the stuff of my nightmares. All my videos would buffer. The coffee would always be decaf. Just….no. But the ultimate Bad Place experience for me would be sitting on a plane that’s perpetually turbulent.

Turbulence and I go together like peanut butter and mint. It’s just not a good combo. A bumpy plane ride combines my overwhelming fear of heights with my hatred of that awful butterfly feeling in my stomach when you suddenly drop. Despite my love for traveling, flying on a plane is my own personal hell.

As someone who as (rather unfortunately) been on turbulent flights enough times to last me a lifetime, I’ve learned how to at least deal with the crappy situation. Today I’m sharing some background on turbulence and things you can do to survive your next bumpy ride.

Turbulence is rough air. If you want a science-y definition, go Google it, since I’m not about to drop some in-depth knowledge on its inner workings. Instead, I’m here to give you the quick and dirty.

Ever walk down a sidewalk, perfectly content, and suddenly felt a gust of wind hitting your face? That’s basically what happens to your plane. Your jet is just casually cruising along when suddenly the air around it is disturbed by other air currents. Instead of feeling a light breeze on your face, your plane bobs a bit. It’s kind of like driving on a back road and suddenly hitting a pothole. You jolt a bit but otherwise keep cruising along.

Okay – so even if we know what turbulence is, we still hate it. While we can’t really control bumps on a flight, there are some things we can do to calm down and get through it.

1.) Watch the Flight Attendants When the plane starts lurching, it’s easy to panic and feel like it's going down. But one glance at a flight attendant makes me realize how much I’m overreacting. The hostess? Calm, breezy, going about the drink service like it’s nothing. If the turbulence was a serious concern, those attendants would be buckled up like the rest of us. Next time you feel like you’re going into crisis mode, observe how indifferent the flight attendants are – it’s clearly just an inconvenience and no cause for concern!

2.) Pick your Seat Wisely The tail-end of a plane tends to bob and weave a bit more than the rest of the plane. The closer you get to the front of the plane, the less impactful turbulence will be. Since we can’t all splurge on first-class tickets, aim for seats right above the wings instead. The wings keep a plane smooth and balanced so it’s the go-to seat spot for less bumps on a budget.

3.) Distract Yourself When your mind is focused on all the ups and downs of a plane ride, it just feels worse. You start picking up on even the smallest bits of movement. If you can keep yourself distracted and occupied, you’ll prevent a mental breakdown and might not even notice some of the lighter turbulence. Try watching a show or movie that you don’t want to miss a second of and force yourself to NOT pause it. You’ll (hopefully) get so wrapped up in the plot that everything else falls to the wayside.

4.) Visualize Okay guys, I’m gonna ask you to get weird with me on this one. In an effort to tell myself that turbulence is nothing, I like to visualize a “bumpy” situation that I can handle. For example, I love boat rides. If the water gets really rough and our boat starts lurching up and down with the waves, it doesn’t phase me. So in a situation of plane turbulence, I try to imagine that I’m on a boat (not a plane) and the bumps are simply me rocking with the waves. Try a similar visualization technique with whatever works for you (driving down a bumpy road, Jell-O jiggling on a plate, etc).

5.) Trick your Brain Your brain processes fear in one part of the brain. Forcing the other side of your brain to work will (somehow, ask science) cause you to feel less fearful. So how do you do that? Take out a piece of paper and write or sign your name over and over and over again – with your non-dominant hand. This activity uses the other part of your brain, thus causing this oddly effective trick to work. One of the bumpiest flights I had was from Portland to Minneapolis and this trick helped me cope.

6.) Reduce your Stress Response Creating an environment that is as stress-free as possible can help make flights tolerable. A rollerball with a relaxing essential oil (check this post HERE) is perfect for feeling a bit more grounded. Listening to soothing music can put you at ease. Focusing on your breathing (try breathing in for eight, hold for four, and exhale for eight) can keep you distracted as well. Avoid caffeine, which can leave you jittery, and limit adult beverages to just one if you really need it.

7.) Check the Forecast Setting my expectations goes a long way in how I feel on a flight. If I think a plane ride will be fine but ends up super turbulent, I feel even more panicked. Thankfully, you can lookup the turbulence forecast for free HERE or HERE. It’ll help you set a baseline for what type of bumps you might encounter. Keep in mind it’s just a forecast – weather can change, good or bad. You can also ask the flight attendant upon boarding what the pilot’s turbulence predictions are.

8.) Pick Earlier Flights Most studies and reports show that early morning flights are less turbulent. The rationale is all science-y but it has something to do with the temperature of the ground – since the sun hasn’t been shining all day yet, the flights tend to be smoother. I will add the disclaimer that some reports dispute this claim, but hey – any little bit helps, right?

9.) Do Some Research Knowledge is power. If your mind goes to doom and gloom (thinking the plane is going down) with each lurch, read up on plane stress tests and the impact of rough air. Turbulence is just an inconvenience and not a real safety concern. Bumps, even severe ones, won’t make the plane fall out of the sky. The wings bouncing up and down doesn’t mean they’re failing – that’s what they’re supposed to do. Planes are designed to withstand turbulence beyond what we’ve likely experienced or imagined. Knowing this ahead of time can help you talk yourself down when you’re thinking the worst.

For those of you that can brush of turbulence like it’s nothing, I salute you. For me, bumpy flights are the stuff of my nightmares. However, my love for traveling is greater than my hatred of being up in the air – which means I’ve had to come up with some coping tricks to get me through. Hopefully the next time you’re dreading a flight these tips come in handy!

PSSSST – what does your version of the Good Place look like?

Don't forget to pin one of the images below to save this post on your Pinterest!