Turbulence Anxiety

Hey all..

New pilot with about 15 hours, excellent instructor...141 school and top
quality aircraft....I have complete faith in my instruction and aircraft
and a sincere lifeong desire to learn to fly.

However....Turbulence locks me up!

I can 'play' pilot on MS Sim 2004 in any weather, condition or emergency
and meet the requirements for all the things I have learned so far, but the
moment I'm in the air and start feeling the bumps everything gets thrown
off and in my mind I "get behind" and feel like im playing catch-up with
simple manuvers thus making it a frighting experience. Instructor says
besides the death grip on the wheel I do fine but in the melon things are
chaotic. Put me in 'clear air' and I do well and am in full command of all
my responsibilities and enjoy the time in the sky.

My Instructor continues to find ways to help me and I want to punch myself
in the face for being such a punk but I wanted to ask if anyone had any
tips on how they may have gotten over the anxiety?

The mental image suggested to me, which works very well: Picture the
bumps and jolts as you would if you were riding a surfboard. You are
surfing the air. (I suppose a skateboard image would work as well!!)

- Steve



On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 05:09:14 GMT, Doug wrote:

Hey all..

New pilot with about 15 hours, excellent instructor...141 school and top
quality aircraft....I have complete faith in my instruction and aircraft
and a sincere lifeong desire to learn to fly.

However....Turbulence locks me up!

I can 'play' pilot on MS Sim 2004 in any weather, condition or emergency
and meet the requirements for all the things I have learned so far, but the
moment I'm in the air and start feeling the bumps everything gets thrown
off and in my mind I "get behind" and feel like im playing catch-up with
simple manuvers thus making it a frighting experience. Instructor says
besides the death grip on the wheel I do fine but in the melon things are
chaotic. Put me in 'clear air' and I do well and am in full command of all
my responsibilities and enjoy the time in the sky.

My Instructor continues to find ways to help me and I want to punch myself
in the face for being such a punk but I wanted to ask if anyone had any
tips on how they may have gotten over the anxiety?

It's just something you're going to have to build up a tolerance to. I've
been flying almost 30 yrs and don't like turbulence. I fly to relax and
have fun and that's hard when you're getting beat up.


"Doug" wrote in message
...
Hey all..

New pilot with about 15 hours, excellent instructor...141 school and top
quality aircraft....I have complete faith in my instruction and aircraft
and a sincere lifeong desire to learn to fly.

However....Turbulence locks me up!

I can 'play' pilot on MS Sim 2004 in any weather, condition or emergency
and meet the requirements for all the things I have learned so far, but
the
moment I'm in the air and start feeling the bumps everything gets thrown
off and in my mind I "get behind" and feel like im playing catch-up with
simple manuvers thus making it a frighting experience. Instructor says
besides the death grip on the wheel I do fine but in the melon things are
chaotic. Put me in 'clear air' and I do well and am in full command of
all
my responsibilities and enjoy the time in the sky.

My Instructor continues to find ways to help me and I want to punch myself
in the face for being such a punk but I wanted to ask if anyone had any
tips on how they may have gotten over the anxiety?

Well,
I am not the expert on dealing with turbulence. The best thing I can tell
you is that you will have to learn to get used to it because it will not go
away. As a low time private pilot, I can't even recall the last time I have
flown in a smooth air. Probably, some time way back in flight training
during the winter time. To make the matter worse, I moved from flatland to
land of hills and trees. Now, I have to deal with mechanical turbulences
frequently. I don't blame you about being anxiety. You are only 15 hours
into flying. That is considered a rookie to turbulence in my experience. I
am sure that the more you fly, the more you get used to it. Eventually, you
will become like everybody else, riding through bumps like it is the second
nature.Anxiety will eventually disappear or reduce to minimum.

Toks Desalu
PP-ASEL
Dyin' to soar!

Doug wrote:

Hey all..

New pilot with about 15 hours, excellent instructor...141 school and top
quality aircraft....I have complete faith in my instruction and aircraft
and a sincere lifeong desire to learn to fly.

However....Turbulence locks me up!

I can 'play' pilot on MS Sim 2004 in any weather, condition or emergency
and meet the requirements for all the things I have learned so far, but the
moment I'm in the air and start feeling the bumps everything gets thrown
off and in my mind I "get behind" and feel like im playing catch-up with
simple manuvers thus making it a frighting experience. Instructor says
besides the death grip on the wheel I do fine but in the melon things are
chaotic. Put me in 'clear air' and I do well and am in full command of all
my responsibilities and enjoy the time in the sky.

My Instructor continues to find ways to help me and I want to punch myself
in the face for being such a punk but I wanted to ask if anyone had any
tips on how they may have gotten over the anxiety?

I agree with the previous responses. I started out with air sickness
which would be triggered with any turbulance. So, I started out with
that fear. Then I had the feeling of being behind the aircraft. I was
trying to keep it straight and level at all times rather than "ride the
waves" which of course ended up with the tight grip and worse control.
Once I got to about 25 hours I noticed that my perception had changed.
I was walking across the parking lot and some wind picked up some leaves
and my mind created an image of the air. It was as if I could literally
see the air. This continued to develop and turbulance became easy to
visualize as waves in the water. Sure, you went up and down, left and
right, but as long as the average was in the right direction you were
fine. As practice I will exaggerate the looseness on the grip and try
not to do any aileron control. Of course, at some point you are rolled
15 degrees and you don't roll back, so you give the yoke a slight twist
to bring you back. At this point turbulance is no longer an issue
except for comfort, landings, teeth and airframe structural integrity.
Today, I have about 90 hours and I realy don't notice mild turbulance
anymore as a flying issue. I do notice it as a possible warning of
heavier turbulance nearby and look for the telltale signs.

Eric Ross
PP-SEL

Doug wrote:

Hey all..

New pilot with about 15 hours, excellent instructor...141 school and top
quality aircraft....I have complete faith in my instruction and aircraft
and a sincere lifeong desire to learn to fly.

However....Turbulence locks me up!

The airplane will not break.

Take an Aerobatics course and get used to 'g' loads and unusual attitudes.



Jack

"Doug" wrote:
However....Turbulence locks me up!

I started my training in winter and it all went fine till I went to Arizona
in April and got my first taste of thermal turbulence. That almost
completely ruined my training, it probably added another 20 hours to my
training costs since all I could keep my mind on was that little airplane
falling apart from the turbulence. But then it wore off, and now flying even
through some serious shaking is like wrestling with an old buddy, more like
a fun challenge. I say you'll get used to it too, it's just human nature to
get defensive when the body position in space is upset, and the only way to
overcome it is with training and time.

Good luck

HECTOP
PP-ASEL-IA
http://www.maxho.com
maxho_at_maxho.com

Doug wrote:

However....Turbulence locks me up!

Besides just getting used to it, as others have suggested, you could
also go for a glider rating. This would teach you that termals are a
pilot's friend rather than an annoyance. Be careful, though, as once
you've experienced the silent way of flying powered by the sun, chances
are that you will never fly an aircraft with an engine again.

Stefan

Just one word:

Exposure. That will do the trick.

Don't know if it will help, but my non-pilot wife, says that what helps her
is to think of the turbulence like the bumps in a road when she drives the
car (i.e., the bumps in the car don't scare her,,, nor should the bumps in
the air, she reasons).

--
--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil
PP-ASEL
Student-IASEL

Check out my personal flying adventures from my first flight to the
checkride AND the continuing adventures beyond!
Complete with pictures and text at: www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -

go under the "hood" - after that nothing seems too rough! :-)


"Doug" wrote in message
...
Hey all..

New pilot with about 15 hours, excellent instructor...141 school and top
quality aircraft....I have complete faith in my instruction and aircraft
and a sincere lifeong desire to learn to fly.

However....Turbulence locks me up!

I can 'play' pilot on MS Sim 2004 in any weather, condition or emergency
and meet the requirements for all the things I have learned so far, but
the
moment I'm in the air and start feeling the bumps everything gets thrown
off and in my mind I "get behind" and feel like im playing catch-up with
simple manuvers thus making it a frighting experience. Instructor says
besides the death grip on the wheel I do fine but in the melon things are
chaotic. Put me in 'clear air' and I do well and am in full command of
all
my responsibilities and enjoy the time in the sky.

My Instructor continues to find ways to help me and I want to punch myself
in the face for being such a punk but I wanted to ask if anyone had any
tips on how they may have gotten over the anxiety?