The last time I had experienced a strong turbulence was during my trip from Narita, Tokyo going back to Manila. The plane plummeted twice. Without warning, while the crew were busy serving food, the plane dropped by almost 100 feet. A few minutes later, it happened again. For the rest of the flight, all of us were quiet and no one bothered to eat the food served.
Now, going back to the present time. I saw Jon busy scanning the pages of his iPod. I learned later that it was his way of hiding the fear he felt inside. The scared Edith, who was sitting on the other side, was trying to call the attention of Jon but Jon completely ignored her.
The shaking of the plane lasted for almost 15 minutes, which seemed to be eternity. I looked at the window and I saw rain. Then, suddenly, I saw a blue sky. “Thank God,” I said. Ferina, who sat beside me, wondered: “Is it over, sir?”
Turbulence is one of the most unpleasant but familiar experiences for those who travel by air. “The definition of turbulence is fairly straightforward: chaotic and capricious eddies of air, disturbed from a calmer state by various forces,” writes Michelle Z. Donahue for National Geographic.
“Turbulence is probably the single most common cause of anxiety for airline passengers, yet it rarely causes the pilots any concerns about the safety of the aircraft,” says the website, flightdeckfriend.com.
But according to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), turbulence is the number one cause of injuries to passengers and flight attendants in non-fatal accidents. Two-thirds of those injuries happen above 30,000 feet – just when you’re told you can get up and move about the cabin.
“The odds are stacked against injury and death caused by turbulence,” writes Julia Hammond, an American travel writer. “Honestly, you’ve got more of a chance of dying if you tumble out of bed in the night, get hit by a toppling vending machine or struck on the head by a falling icicle.”
That said, there have been a very small number of fatalities over the years. The most recent was in December 1997 on a United Airlines flight from Japan to Hawaii. A Japanese passenger was thrown from her seat and hit the ceiling, knocking her unconscious. Sadly, she later died from her injuries.
