Turbulence tales

Captain Halliday

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Jun 1, 2014
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Had an interesting experience with turbulence on a MEL-BNE flight this evening. No doubt others have too, so here’s a thread in which you can add you turbulence tales.

Tonight’s flight was on a 738. We were descending through about FL220 and approaching Gold Coast. The cabin crew were preparing the cabin for landing but the seatbelt sign was still off and the FO was giving arrival details on the PA.

The turbulence started very suddenly and began with what felt like the aircraft dropping. From row 26 it was easy to see the non-seatbelt wearers. Three pax almost hit their heads on the overhead bins.

At first it was just that large bump with the falling feeing. The FO carried on with his announcement. But a few seconds later we entered cloud and the reel fun started. Lots of bumps and swaying of the aircraft. Certainly the worst I’ve experienced. Some of the few remaining service items and a couple of phones hit the floor.

It was sufficiently bad that the FO stopped mid-sentence. The seatbelt sign came on followed by the “all passengers and crew be seated with seatbelts fastened immediately.”

I was told once the addition of “immediately” is a cue word for the crew. And they certainly responded.

The two forward crew appeared to make it to their seats, one at the rear did also, but only after being jolted into several pax seated in aisle seats.

However, the crew member who was about row 15 dropped her box of rubbish on the floor as she needed both hands to stabilise herself. She made an attempt to reach the back of the cabin, but simply couldn’t compete with the movement of the aircraft and with no spare seats she sat in the aisle at about row 22 holding firmly onto two armrests.

I won’t attempt to guess the duration of the turbulence but it was long enough for me to check FR24, windy.com and the BOM radar.

When it passed the FA headed to rear and sat down.

The seatbelt sign was turned off briefly after that, but none of the four crew left their seats and nor did the pax.

I wasn’t especially bothered by it, though it certainly was not comfortable. But there were lots of pax gripping their armrests and/or loved ones.
 
Among the worst turbulence I've experienced was on QF63, somewhere over the Southern Ocean. It was quite sudden and ended after a few minutes, but the ceiling was covered in coffee/wine at the end of it.

I recall the pilots turning on the fasten seat belt sign and announcing "passengers and crew be seated with seatbelts fastened". They didn't say immediately, but a flight attendant who happened to be walking past added the word "immediately" out loud after the announcement finished and sat down in the nearest available passenger seat rather than walking back to the galley.

The seatbelt sign was turned off briefly after that, but none of the four crew left their seats and nor did the pax.

Was the bag of rubbish still in the aisle for landing?
 
My most turbulent and frankly scary flight was on 9/12 2001 (yes, the day after ... and Edited- thanks VPS). It was Air France, Abidjan to CDG but in a completely generic, white painted airframe (can't recall it) and an obviously contract crew. Lots of thunderstorms with lightning for and hour or more after departure. Besides the pretty severe lumps and bumps, I'm pretty sure we got a few strikes and the generic crew didn't inspire much confidence if there was an issue. And then there were the events of the day before ... :(
 
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An AA 757, sitting on the ground at LAX bound for SFO, 5 hours late due to weather along the west coast, Captain walks row to row explaining to every passenger in person why we were still at the gate, he didn't want to push back in case we couldn't leave and then he had no gate to return to for us to get off. He also did not want to leave LAX until SFO was open again as had been shut most of the day.

Explained the drinks and snacks would be served and collected before we pushed back and asked every passenger to stay belted at all times and use the bathroom now not in the air and apologized for some extra flight time to avoid the worst of the weather.

The part that gave me confidence was he was in his mid to late 50's, nice bouffant of graying hair and seemed like he was looking forward to retirement and golf.

It was an extremely terrible ride and I've never been so pleased to get off a jet aircraft. When I looked later at the flight path the route was way out to sea and back in further north adding 40 mins to the normal flight time.

In hindsight, I would have hired a car and driven LA to SF considering the turbulence and arrival around 6 hours late. A rough ride it was.
 
My most turbulent and frankly scary flight was on 9/12 2021 (yes, the day after ...). It was Air France, Abidjan to CDG but in a completely generic, white painted airframe (can't recall it) and an obviously contract crew. Lots of thunderstorms with lightning for and hour or more after departure. Besides the pretty severe lumps and bumps, I'm pretty sure we got a few strikes and the generic crew didn't inspire much confidence if there was an issue. And then there were the events of the day before ... :(
do you mean 2001 or 2021 - not many people flying in 2021
 
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Most exciting I’ve had was a VA ATR72 SYD-CBR about half way through the short journey. We were bounced around like a cork in a stream for about three minutes; snacks, drinks and personal items everywhere. I don’t recall any announcements from the crew but there must have been. Late afternoon storm build up time; no vis outside, only grey cloud.

What I do remember was the screaming coming from a couple of the pax every couple of seconds as the aircraft bounced about. Was an interesting ride.

Can’t have been bad though as Mstr Scarlett in the seat beside me slept through the whole lot.
 
Mrsoatek regaled me with a tale of woe on a QF flight to LHR (from memory and A380). Somebody hit the overhead bins and was injured, and several pax were using the provided paper bags. The injured person was moved down the back of J for some privacy and to be attended to by airline staff and a doctor. This occurred somewhere over Russia in the pre-covid era. I thanked her very much for not waking me up from my slumber in the adjoining seat where my ear plugs kept me blissfully unaware of what was going on.
 
A few experiences over the years - although turbulence doesn't worry me. As a glider pilot, we sought the bumpy bits, as it meant lift in thermals. And, that's also why I always wear my seat belt.
Many years ago, on a Fokker Friendship from Melbourne to Wynyard we hit a bad patch and the flight attendant who was walking past me started going airborne. I grabbed her and pushed her down to the floor as I knew the weight was suddenly going to return.
On more than a few MEL-CBR runs, particularly in the winter, the turbulence over the Snowy Mountains means everyone stays strapped in and no cabin service. They usually announce it at Melbourne before take-off so everyone is forewarned.
 

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