I was once on a flight over Africa where there was a lengthy delay before take-off owing to thunderstorms over the airport.  We encountered a further huge storm en route to our destination, and despite diverting around it, we experienced severe turbulence.

Boisterous drunks on board quietened up before becoming quite ill, and in addition to the seat-belt lights being kept on the whole way, the cabin crew were ordered to their seats by the captain.

Initially it was quite fun, but the fun stopped after a short while.  It was definitely a white-knuckle roller-coaster ride.

Turbulence gives one the impression that the aircraft is flying out of control, but it is not.  The aircraft may feel as if it is going to come apart.  Again, it will not do that.

Pilots try to avoid turbulence, largely for the sake of the passengers.  Cargo planes regularly fly through turbulence that passenger planes avoid, and they do not fall out of the air.

As uncomfortable as it was, the plane was never in any danger.  Not even if it had been struck by lightning, which commercial aircraft are designed to be able to cope with.  Your plane will almost always be under control of the autopilot when going through turbulence.  The autopilot has a special setting for turbulence in which it makes fewer, and more gentle corrections.  This relies on the tendency for aircraft to self-correct from most random flight changes resulting from air movements.

As with anything else, turbulence varies in extent and intensity.  There is a four-point scale for it:

• Light.  You can feel it, but you can walk around okay and the seatbelt lights remain off.

• Moderate.  It is still possible to walk and the cabin crew continue their duties but the seatbelt lights are put on.

• Severe.  What I experienced in my tropical flight above.  It is unusual.  Cabin crew are commanded to their seats.

• Extreme.  This is very rare because of all of the precautions taken to avoid it.

So, what are the real dangers associated with turbulence?

1. Loss of altitude when you are close to the ground.  If you are close to the ground and you get pushed down, the plane could hit the ground.  Thunderstorms can cause this and aircraft will not take off when a storm cloud is over the airport.  The pilot may divert the flight to a different airport to ensure safety, or the plane may be put into a holding pattern in a safe part of the sky until the weather in the region of the landing field has improved.

2. Gusts near the ground.  One pilot I spoke to told of a landing at Schipol when the plane was hit by a gust of wind just as he lined up the plane with the runway in a side-wind.  The jet’s wings rotated several degrees in a second and it was all he could do to level the wings and slam it on the ground.  Fortunately it was a cargo flight, so there were no complaints.  Passenger flights are typically diverted to another city if there are strong side-winds at the destination.

Aircraft and airports are both equipped to detect wind shear conditions that could otherwise be of danger to the plane.

3. Injury.  Passengers who are not belted in can be thrown against the roof of the cabin.  Persons have in fact died or have been seriously injured, particularly when flying in “clear air” with the seatbelt lights off when unexpected turbulence has been encountered.  Loose objects such as the drinks trolley can be flung against you, causing injury; and luggage can shift in the overhead lockers and spring the lock, dropping items on you.  The best you can do to protect yourself against this is to keep your seatbelt on for the whole flight.

4. Structural failure.  Over the years a disturbing number of light planes, not equipped with weather radar and with only basic instruments (flying according to Visual Flight Rules) have come to a bad end through falling apart in bad weather.  Commercial operators are better equipped and will reroute or reschedule if the weather outlook is poor.  The planes are also, as the cost would suggest, stronger and more reliable than private aircraft.  And the pilots are much less inclined to take unnecessary risks.

All things said, turbulence can be extremely uncomfortable but it is very rarely a source of real danger.

Over the next few minutes you inexplicably start to feel unease.  You experience some of the following sensations:

• Feeling faint or dizzy
• Your limbs tingle or go numb
• Tightness, discomfort or pain in your chest
• Your throat closes up and you can’t swallow
• You become fearful of dying
• Your heart speeds up, pounds or palpitate
• You start shaking
• Shortness of breath, or you feel there is not enough oxygen in the air
• You start sweating profusely
• You have a cold chill or a hot flush
• Your tummy feels disquieted
• You feel nauseous
• You become detached from yourself
• Things start feeling unreal

Copyright DIY Travel Expert

You could be suffering from a panic attack.  (You could also be having a heart attack.  If you are at all unsure, ask the cabin crew for help right away.  As with other medical conditions, panic attacks need to be properly diagnosed by a medical professional.)

Panic attacks are extremely unpleasant, scary and disturbing; and typically last from a few seconds to around half an hour.  They are triggered in part by the anxiety that one experiences in the build-up to the flight, which makes it a much bigger deal than it really ought to be.

The first bit of hope that we can give you is that, although you feel that you are going to die, one does not die from anxiety or panic attacks.  It will go away, and you will get over it, however you may feel when in the grips of one.  The physical symptoms you experience at the time make the psychological strains that much harder to bear.  Some admit to having prayed for death.

What can you do about panic attacks

For a number of people anxiety precedes the panic.  If you are able to reduce the anxiety, you may well be able to ward off the attack.

It is said that the writer Tolstoy and his brother claimed to be members of an exclusive club.  Membership was obtained by standing in a corner for half an hour and not thinking about anything white.  If you try it you will soon find that you are thinking of the word white and white things.  The brain cannot unthink any idea – it is made to think about something.

You can’t “fight” anxiety any more than you can concentrate on not-thinking about something white.  You have to replace you’re anxious thoughts with peaceful, calm and pleasant thoughts.  Or put another way, you must divert your attention elsewhere.

1. Medication.  Responsible physicians can prescribe non-habit-forming drugs that can provide support to alleviate the anxiety and panic, without impacting on your intellectual capacity or reducing you to a zombie-like state.  Anxiety can also be a side-effect of medication that you might be taking for other conditions, in which case your medical practitioner may try changing the prescription to alleviate the symptoms.  Diet pills and cold and flu medication can heighten anxiety.  You may also be advised to avoid certain foodstuffs, for instance caffeine, that can heighten anxiety in many people.  Certain anti-depressants may take a month before they are fully effective, and you would need to take them even when you are not experiencing an attack.

Benzodiazepines are not recommended by many medical practitioners.  They take 30 minutes to an hour to act, by which time the panic attack would have subsided by itself, and they are highly addictive.

2. “First-aid”.   Relax.  Options that you may have when on the ground, like going for a walk outside, are clearly not available to you when you are in the air, which can greatly heighten the tension of the experience.  If you feel the beginnings of a panic attack, close your eyes.  Breathe in and out deeply a few times.  Try to relax any areas of your body in which there is muscular tension.  If you are travelling with a loved one, get them to massage the back of your neck.  Physical contact is a deep-seated need in humans and appropriate physical contact can provide silent reassurance.  Hugging or grabbing the hands of strangers will create additional problems of a different kind.

3. Think positive thoughts.  Having a Polly-Anna outlook on life is not what we mean.  When you are experiencing a panic attack, imagine being in a happy, peaceful place.  What is important is that you must push your thoughts in a positive direction.  By thinking about something nice, you drive out the anxious thoughts, at least for a while.

4. Eliminate sources of anxiety.  This is something that you can only do before or after the attack, not during one.  In fact if you try address these causes during an attack you are likely to just make it worse.  If you are going through a crisis in your life then you probably need to get help with that rather than looking at the travel aspects – it is best to attend to root causes.  And you may need professional help with that.

If the source of anxiety is the travel itself then you are already doing something useful about it by reading DIY Travel Expert.  Understanding the symptoms is a good starting point.  We also have articles that explain what is happening during various stages of the flight and considerations as to how you can ensure your personal safety.  Knowledge about flight operations is one established way of fighting fear of flying.

Psychologists specialising in travel anxiety are likely to use two approaches: cognitive behavioural therapy or exposure therapy.  Cognitive behavioural therapy unpacks the thinking and behaviours that lead to the attack and help you to understand your fears in a realistic way.  Reading our series of articles on fear of flying and anxiety will provide much information that can assist with this.

Exposure therapy typically means taking a course in which you are shown around the aircraft, get to sit in it when it is not going to go anywhere and gradually desensitise yourself to your fears.  The good news is that this is not needed for most people.

Don’t dwell on your fears. When you’re sitting there, seat-belt done up and the jet is taxiing down the runway, remind yourself that flying is one of the safest modes of transportation. And then channel your thoughts to something pleasant, such as what delights await you at your destination. Keep doing this every time your thoughts stray, replace a negative thought with a positive one.

Deep breathing. But not so deep that your neighbour looks at you strangely! Focus on breathing calmly and controlling your thoughts. Thinking about ways that the plane could crash is not at all healthy and could bring on a panic attack. Breathing calmly and thinking of nothing at all for a few seconds can be very helpful.

Reading. Most airlines have an in-flight magazine and safety chart. Always read the safety chart and pay attention to such factors as where you are in relation to the closest exit, brace position and so forth. Then, find an article that takes your fancy in the in flight magazine and read it during take-off, if you are especially nervous during that time. This will keep your mind focused on something other than your fear.

Don’t drink while flying. From personal experience, I have found that having a drink on board can actually exacerbate anxiety symptoms. You are far more likely to have better sleep on board, and thus a calmer trip, without the benefit of hard spirits. If you do decide to have a drink, choose wine rather than spirits.

Change your thinking pattern. In the time leading up to your journey, focus on positive aspects of flying. The marvel of modern technology, that all those tons of weight can safely lift into the air. Get your excitement up about your journey, by doing research on your destination. Take along reading material for on-board.

If you do feel unable to cope with the idea of flying, consult your physician, who may prescribe something to help you through.