Clear Air Turbulence. This terrifies me. I've never coped with Z forces too well. I've had some bad turbulence over the Bay of Bengal when flying to Europe in my 20s. It felt like God hitting the plane with a crow bar. Stomach goes to head. But, the incident below probably makes my incident look like a walk in the park. Painted in breakfast.
www.9news.com.au/national/cathay-pacific-flight-turbulence-brisbane/0f4d24f9-66e2-4326-bf2e-a7820d206766
and
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-25/cathay-pacific-flight-turbulence-brisbane-hong-kong/106717348
It wasn't particularly clear air: there were intense looking cumulus clouds all around us, some dropping rain on the Kimberly below. Storm cells. We were in a Fairchild Metro 18, a favourite of many small FIFO sites, which we affectionately called the "Flying Pencil of Death". We dropped several times, rapidly enough that we would have hit the ceiling if we were unbelted. It was a little disconcerting. I'm sure some of the others felt the same, but nobody was going to let on they were anything but a rough, tough, FIFO miner who eats plane turbulence for breakfast.
That was the most memorable one anyway, maybe because it was the first bad one. Had a few bouncy flights around PNG since then, maybe I'm just more used to it now. Or just more ready to die.
Because of their altitude, and close to the equator, I naturally assumed it was. At any rate, the pilots did not see it.
Sorry I wasn't being clear there (😉). I assume those stories were about clear air turbulence. I just went off on a tangent describing some other turbulence I've been through, like your Bay of Bengal anecdote. Threw in some artistic license too. Don't mind me.
We taught our 2 girls, both under 4 at the time, to treat it like a fair ride. Buckle up and hang on! Nothing breaks the tension like a couple of younglings laughing themselves stupid. On a rough flight into Florida somewhere, we were actually thanked by the flight crew and some passengers. One big bloke said he'd never laughed so hard in his life. Still makes me laugh thinking about it decades later.
Good prospective on it. Don't be scared of it etc. The aircraft is more rated than us. But, mine is deep seated. I get the same effect when a passenger in a car, and I look down to read my phone or a book. The reference plane of the brain gets rotated 90 degrees. Some acceleration and braking, and acceleration again, and then Blluuurp !
