Fear of flying

[Min 6]

MUST READ ABOUT TURBULENCE. Very interesting to read

pilots have four ratings for turbulence: Light, Moderate, Severe and Extreme. If you have a glass of water in front of you during a flight and you can see surface ripples, youre in light turbulence. If the water starts sloshing around but dosent spill out of the glass, youre in moderate turbulence. Its not until the glass is literally flying above your tray and the water is in your lap that youre in severe turbulence. (By the way, if the bumps are steady and rythmic rather than irregular, pilots call it chop instead of turbulence.

 

Everyone knows someone who claims to have been in extreme turbulence "so bad I thought for sure i was going to die"

However, the truth is that few people even pilots who have been flying for thirty years have ever experienvced extreme turbulence. In fact, over 99 percent of the turbulence people feel on commercial airplanes is only light or moderate chop (even when it feels like it must be sever or extreme)

 

 

IMPORTANT

 

What pilots know but most passengers dont is that airplanes fly just as capably in the midst of turbulence as in smooth, calm air. Turbulence dosent make the pilots panic or clutch the controls in a desperate effort to control the plane. Turbulence dosent tear wings off commercial airplanes or shake the fuselage apart

 

Flying through turbulent air is much the same as steering a powerboat across choppy water.

in fact, some pilots who fly their own private airplane on their days off actually look for turbulent air because its fun to fly through. However, pilots on the job try to avoid turbulence simply because they know the passengers dont like it.

 

to know the rest.. i suggest you to find this book name "The Flying Book - everything you've ever wondered about flying on airlines" this is the wicked book that i neva sick of reading it. it tells you everything from a to z.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Min

[Min 6]

 

How safe is flying

Thinking about extremely small figures can be just as mind numbing as trying to comprehend the very large ones above. For example, one way to reckon airline safety is by the percentage of airplane flights that crash with at least one fatality.

What if air travel were 99.99 percent safe? That would result in three fatal air crashes everyday of the year. In fact, air travel is approximately 99.9999996 percent safe. That means only about .0000004 percent of airplane crash. But that number is simply too small to be maningful for most people. Instead, they jst think, "well, it seems like i hear about a lot of disasters".

 

Lets look at some real safety numbers:

 

- More people dis in car crashes in the US in six months than have died in all the airplane accidents worldwide in the last 100 Years.

 

- If air travel were as safe as driving in a car, a jet aircraft carry 120 people would crash without survivors everyday of the year.

 

- there's more to type.. which i cant.. too long. bear in mind this is the FACT

 

to know the rest.. i suggest you to find this book name "The Flying Book - everything you've ever wondered about flying on airlines" this is the wicked book that i neva sick of reading it. it tells you everything from a to z.

[Adam Amir 0]

statistic shows that its more dangerous riding a taxi to the airport than the actual plan ride...

[Nik H. 3]

1. The best seats in an aeroplane during turbulence are the ones nearest or where the CG of the aircraft is located, normally just slightly aft of the center of the wing. The reason is that there will be the least polar movement effect due to minimum leverage. It is also the area of least flex. Aeroplanes are designed with some amount of flexibility built in as a too rigid structure will induce metal fatigue faster. Just as the wings visibly flex during flight, the fuselage too flex. Aircraft with long fuselage to width ratio are the worst. Examples are the A340-600 or the DC8-62. The B777-300 is more affected by turbulence compared to the B777-200.

 

2. Turbulence will be worse the lighter the aircraft is as an aircraft with lighter wing loading will be affected more, as wing loading is a subject of weight over wing area. So a fully loaded aircraft will be less affected by turbulence as compared to when it is empty.

 

3. The speed of of an aircraft when it enters turbulence is reduced in proportion to its weight. Ie, a B777 with a full load will enter turbulence at a higher speed when it is fully loaded compared to when it is lightly loaded. Generally, turbulence penertration speed is midway between its MMO ( max speed ) and stall speed, which varies depending on its weight. Reducing too much speed will also reduce the controllability of the roll, pitch and yaw control devices which is why saying simply reducing speed in turbulence is not entirely correct. At high altitude, the spread of speed between maximum and minimum can be as little as 40 knots.

 

4. Older airplanes such as the B737-200/300, the B747 Classics gives the best ride in turbulence. The best of the best is the DC10. Modern aircraft such as the A330/340 are the worst, with the B777 being just slightly better. These modern airplanes have very wings, giving lower wing loading than the older ones, hence are more susceptible to air disturbance.

 

5. Airframe failure causing catastrophic mid air break-up has happened but are very very rare. Aeroplanes are built very very strong, and modern aircraft must be able to withstand + 2.5 to - 1.5 G to meet civil airline certification. Most aeroplane are built to withstand twice the Regulatory requirement. The B747 wing can flex 18 ft at the wingtip before onset of deformation.

 

6. Turboprops rocks more than jets primarily because turboprops fly at an altitude where cloud activity are most intense.....between 10,000 to 28,000 feet. Jets normally fly higher than that altitude.

 

7. A good knowledgeable pilot will be able to use and decipher the weather radar returns better than an average button pushing four striper and while all pilots will be able to avoid the most hazardous precipitation related turbulence, the better ones will be able to give their passengers a more comfortable ride.

 

Feel free to add or correct.

[Azreen 0]

1. The best seats in an aeroplane during turbulence are the ones nearest or where the CG of the aircraft is located, normally just slightly aft of the center of the wing. The reason is that there will be the least polar movement effect due to minimum leverage. It is also the area of least flex. Aeroplanes are designed with some amount of flexibility built in as a too rigid structure will induce metal fatigue faster. Just as the wings visibly flex during flight, the fuselage too flex. Aircraft with long fuselage to width ratio are the worst. Examples are the A340-600 or the DC8-62. The B777-300 is more affected by turbulence compared to the B777-200.

 

2. Turbulence will be worse the lighter the aircraft is as an aircraft with lighter wing loading will be affected more, as wing loading is a subject of weight over wing area. So a fully loaded aircraft will be less affected by turbulence as compared to when it is empty.

 

3. The speed of of an aircraft when it enters turbulence is reduced in proportion to its weight. Ie, a B777 with a full load will enter turbulence at a higher speed when it is fully loaded compared to when it is lightly loaded. Generally, turbulence penertration speed is midway between its MMO ( max speed ) and stall speed, which varies depending on its weight. Reducing too much speed will also reduce the controllability of the roll, pitch and yaw control devices which is why saying simply reducing speed in turbulence is not entirely correct. At high altitude, the spread of speed between maximum and minimum can be as little as 40 knots.

 

4. Older airplanes such as the B737-200/300, the B747 Classics gives the best ride in turbulence. The best of the best is the DC10. Modern aircraft such as the A330/340 are the worst, with the B777 being just slightly better. These modern airplanes have very wings, giving lower wing loading than the older ones, hence are more susceptible to air disturbance.

 

5. Airframe failure causing catastrophic mid air break-up has happened but are very very rare. Aeroplanes are built very very strong, and modern aircraft must be able to withstand + 2.5 to - 1.5 G to meet civil airline certification. Most aeroplane are built to withstand twice the Regulatory requirement. The B747 wing can flex 18 ft at the wingtip before onset of deformation.

 

6. Turboprops rocks more than jets primarily because turboprops fly at an altitude where cloud activity are most intense.....between 10,000 to 28,000 feet. Jets normally fly higher than that altitude.

 

7. A good knowledgeable pilot will be able to use and decipher the weather radar returns better than an average button pushing four striper and while all pilots will be able to avoid the most hazardous precipitation related turbulence, the better ones will be able to give their passengers a more comfortable ride.

 

Feel free to add or correct.

 

Aduh Aduh Capt, i wish i'm in position to add or correct your facts!!!! Trying to understand the physics behind your explanation is difficult enuf!!!!

[Li Ren 2]

 

Thanks you Capt Nik for the extremely clear explanations

[Naim 6]

...

4. Older airplanes such as the B737-200/300, the B747 Classics gives the best ride in turbulence. The best of the best is the DC10. Modern aircraft such as the A330/340 are the worst, with the B777 being just slightly better. These modern airplanes have very wings, giving lower wing loading than the older ones, hence are more susceptible to air disturbance.

...

 

Thanks for the pointers, Nik, and that's why DC10 has always been my favourite jet, A320/330/340 the least.

[Li Ren 2]

5. Airframe failure causing catastrophic mid air break-up has happened but are very very rare. Aeroplanes are built very very strong, and modern aircraft must be able to withstand + 2.5 to - 1.5 G to meet civil airline certification. Most aeroplane are built to withstand twice the Regulatory requirement. The B747 wing can flex 18 ft at the wingtip before onset of deformation.

 

I hope those who fear the aircraft's wings will break will be relieved throughout the journey after watching this video.

Edited March 16, 2009 by Li Ren