AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2013 - 24

LICENSE TO LEARN

Turbulence—yuck!

BY ROD MACHADO

Don’t let your imagination shake you up
I DON’T LIKE CLEAR AIR TURBULENCE, and my passengers like it even less. It’s one of those things that saps
the fun from flying, because it affects the neural nooks
that are the primitive levels of our biology. It’s unlikely
that you or your passengers will learn to like turbulence,
but by understanding and sharing with your passengers
what it can and can’t do to your mind and airplane, you
can make turbulence tolerable.
Pilots and passengers alike worry a great deal about
the potential for structural failure in strong turbulence.
This concern is almost always misplaced when speaking
of clear air turbulence. Years ago, I looked at six years of
accident data covering 16,220 accidents. Seventy-three

While a proactive imagination might serve you
well in daily life, it’s a big nuisance in the cockpit.

ROD MACHADO

will present a
seminar on aviation
humor at AOPA
Aviation Summit
October 10 through
12, 2013, in Fort
Worth, Texas.

24 | AOPA PILOT August 2013

of these accidents involved in-flight structural failure
as a result of pilots attempting to fly in or near adverse
weather, or attempting to fly VFR in IMC. Only two out
of the 73 accidents resulted in in-flight structural failure in clear air turbulence. One of these resulted from
unknown causes, and the other was a suspected encounter with wing tip vortices.
If you’re out of the clouds and beyond the reach of
convective turbulence, keeping your airplane upright
and under control is relatively easy to accomplish. You
should find solace in knowing that structural failure
almost always is associated with excessive airspeed
from loss of control. That’s why it’s extremely rare for
clear air turbulence to result in the in-flight disassembly of a properly flown airplane. Tell your passengers
the good news. I’m not saying that clear air turbulence
isn’t something to respect; I’m saying it’s something you
don’t have to fear.
Why is turbulence such a discomforting experience for most people? There are two good reasons that
explain our adverse reaction to this phenomenon.
The first is that we are hard-wired to be straight and
level. If you grew up with a circus troupe of tightrope
walkers (as many of us did), it’s unlikely you made any
friends by playing the game called jiggle the rope. That’s
because no one likes the feeling of losing their balance,
especially when it’s lost at 50 feet above the ground.
Human beings have a specialized vestibular system
designed to help them remain upright. That system

is confounded in turbulence, when Mother Nature
plays her favorite game, called jiggle the airplane. As
the airplane tilts to one side, it instinctively induces the
feeling that we’re about to fall. Just look at the hand
motion of passengers (and pilots who aren’t holding
the controls) in turbulence and you’ll see them grabbing for something in an attempt to prevent their
plummet. This is how turbulence affects the deeper
layers of our biological being.
It takes experience for pilots to learn that it’s
extremely rare for any airplane to actually tip over (roll
beyond 90 degrees, or even inverted) in flight because
of turbulence. After years of flying in, near, and around
California’s mountains, I’ve never encountered turbulence that rolled me beyond 60 degrees of bank, much
less beyond the vertical. I’m not saying that this can’t
happen, but I am saying that it’s extremely rare. Most
pilots become less fearful of turbulence as they accumulate experience. While their basic biology prevents
them from ever liking aerial rock and roll, they do learn
to live with it.
It’s one thing to experience consistent moderate chop. Despite the bumps, we find the regularity
somewhat acceptable because it seems predictable. It’s
something entirely different to experience a light chop,
then at unpredictable intervals a significant swat, followed by the who-knows-what additional kung-flew
blows we might suffer. This is where we often are
slaves to our imagination.
Our imagination is the second reason we dislike
turbulence. We are unable to predict how bad the turbulence might become. In the absence of real data, we
tend to imagine the worst of outcomes. In my opinion,
this is what creates the most angst among both inexperienced and experienced pilots. While a proactive
imagination might serve you well in daily life, it’s a big
nuisance in the cockpit. Unfortunately, when it comes
to your neocortex, you can never leave home without
it. You can, however, find refuge in the knowledge that
it’s extremely rare for clear air turbulence to turn an airplane turtle—let alone break one apart. Knowing this is
the antidote for an active imagination; apply as needed.
Despite the unpredictable nature of turbulence,
with knowledge in our pocket and our noggin, we can
learn to live it with it. Like it? That’s rough.
AOPA
WEB

www.rodmachado.com

http://www.rodmachado.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2013

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