I consider myself a recovering fearful flyer. I fly, but I dread it. Usually, my flights are on commercial airlines, (usually 737s) and for the most part, the flights are consistently smooth. I fly on small turbo props, which can feel like they get knocked around a little bit more than the bigger planes, but it is rarely terrifying. When turbulance hits, I repeat "this is uncomfortable, but not dangerous" over and over again until I believe it. So, I usually come away from my trips with, "Gee, what the heck was I so worried about?"
Yesterday, I was traveling with 7 others for business, so we chartered a jet. It was a brand new Citation XLS. It was so fast on the runway, and a fantastic flight until we flew over a huge thunderstorm (we were skimming the top the storm at 46000 feet) and hit some of the most violent turbulence I have ever experienced.
The wind was loud -- we could hear it against the plane as it literally moved the plane sideways. You could see the wind on the top of the cloud - whipping it up to little peaks that you see on the top of a lemon meringue pie. This was not just the typical "up and down" turb, this was side to side. The plane felt like it was getting tossed around. Then we could hear beeping coming from the cockpit, which scared me, because it sounded like some kind of warning signal.
I just kept breathing, repeating my "uncomfortable but not dangerous mantra", and looking out the window for the edge of the storm or any indication we were through the worst of it. The event probably lasted 60 to 90 seconds at the most. But I was shaking uncontrollably afterwards.
When we got off the plane, and asked the pilot about the event, he was very nonchalant -- "Oh? You've never been in turb like that before? Yep. It can get pretty rough up there sometimes. Sorry about that."
Ok. Here are my questions:
In a commercial flight, the crusing altitute is a lot lower, which would have put us in the middle of the storm I flew over. I expect a commercial flight would have gone around the storm. Did this pilot not avoid the storm because he thought he could go over it? How high can a Citation Jet fly? What do you think the beeping/alarm sounds I was hearing from the cockpit? Were we in any danger? And, if we were, what would or could the pilot have done at 46000 feet? Would he have dropped in altitude and gone through the storm, or were we in a situation that was sort of like the "point of no return"?
Sorry for all of the question...but it was very, very scary yesterday, and now I feel like all of the progress I have made has gone out the window.
Yesterday, I was traveling with 7 others for business, so we chartered a jet. It was a brand new Citation XLS. It was so fast on the runway, and a fantastic flight until we flew over a huge thunderstorm (we were skimming the top the storm at 46000 feet) and hit some of the most violent turbulence I have ever experienced.
The wind was loud -- we could hear it against the plane as it literally moved the plane sideways. You could see the wind on the top of the cloud - whipping it up to little peaks that you see on the top of a lemon meringue pie. This was not just the typical "up and down" turb, this was side to side. The plane felt like it was getting tossed around. Then we could hear beeping coming from the cockpit, which scared me, because it sounded like some kind of warning signal.
I just kept breathing, repeating my "uncomfortable but not dangerous mantra", and looking out the window for the edge of the storm or any indication we were through the worst of it. The event probably lasted 60 to 90 seconds at the most. But I was shaking uncontrollably afterwards.
When we got off the plane, and asked the pilot about the event, he was very nonchalant -- "Oh? You've never been in turb like that before? Yep. It can get pretty rough up there sometimes. Sorry about that."
Ok. Here are my questions:
In a commercial flight, the crusing altitute is a lot lower, which would have put us in the middle of the storm I flew over. I expect a commercial flight would have gone around the storm. Did this pilot not avoid the storm because he thought he could go over it? How high can a Citation Jet fly? What do you think the beeping/alarm sounds I was hearing from the cockpit? Were we in any danger? And, if we were, what would or could the pilot have done at 46000 feet? Would he have dropped in altitude and gone through the storm, or were we in a situation that was sort of like the "point of no return"?
Sorry for all of the question...but it was very, very scary yesterday, and now I feel like all of the progress I have made has gone out the window.
