The Rosie and Roula Show

219: Why Turbulence Freaks Us Out

• Roula Abou Haidar and Rosie Burrows

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0:00 | 7:12

Turbulence hits, the plane drops, your stomach flips — and suddenly you’re scanning everyone around you trying to work out if you’re the only one terrified. Some people are gripping the armrests, some look frozen, and others are somehow asleep like nothing is happening.

In this episode, Roula talks about flying through heavy turbulence and feeling completely overwhelmed by fear, while watching others act totally calm. Rosie shares her own discomfort with flying and they unpack the strange mental gymnastics that happen mid-air — from overthinking the safety demonstration, to watching the cabin crew for clues, to wondering what the unspoken etiquette is when people won’t stop talking.

It’s an honest, relatable chat about fear, discomfort, and all the weird thoughts that surface when you’re stuck in the sky with no control.

Are you genuinely scared of turbulence, or do you just pretend you’re fine?


TOPICS COVERED
 • Fear of turbulence and flying anxiety
 • Why some people seem calm during turbulence
 • Watching other passengers for reassurance
 • Overthinking safety demonstrations on planes
 • Cabin crew behaviour as a comfort signal
 • Airplane etiquette and unspoken social rules
 • Why flying is uncomfortable even when it’s safe

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Roula (00:00)
It happened that in December I flew twice. And both times the turbulence was so heavy that I was terrified.

Rosie (00:10)
Uggghhh

Roula (00:13)
and sitting on the airplane, looking at people, trying to see who's also scared. Because do I look not scared? Are they really not scared? Are they really sleeping through the turbulence? You know, all these questions that come to my mind on the airplane bring me to my question. Do you think everyone is scared of turbulence?

Rosie (00:25)
Yeah, yeah.

Roula (00:38)
Or do they look at act like they're not scared? What's your experience with this?

Rosie (00:56)
I turbulence. It is scary. makes you know when your stomach drops and when it's really bad it just does not end or you feel like you're dropping for ages. I hate it and my initial thought was surely everybody does but actually some people like scary roller coasters. I hate them. I feel unsafe. So perhaps some people don't aren't scared of turbulence. It's just an inconvenience or maybe they think it's some cool ride.

Roula (01:02)
.

I'm scared of them.

could be. When my husband was sitting next to me and he was sleeping really deep and the turbulence in that moment was so strong, I almost couldn't believe he's sleeping through it. So I held his hand because I needed to hang on to something and he didn't wake up. After when he woke up, he did not notice anything at all. And I was like, that's so cool that you didn't because

Rosie (01:37)
Yeah!

Why no?

Bye now.

Roula (01:55)
I really have a cramp in my neck. I'm just so scared. It was so scary. And I keep my eye on the crew to see how are they behaving. Are they going to serve us water now or not? ⁓ Okay. The other thing that I don't know what to do with it when the crew, before you start flying, they start the security procedure. Like where's your gas mask? My God.

Rosie (02:00)
Yeah...

Right, Yeah.

are the safety

demonstration thing. Yeah, yeah.

Roula (02:24)
your oxygen mask. Yes.

And it's like, are we supposed like to watch them? Does it feel wrong that we're staring at them this whole time? I've flew so many times. Should I not look? Because then it's embarrassing that I'm looking when I should have known. All these thoughts go in my mind on the airplane. Overthinking it.

Rosie (02:41)
Yeah...

overthinking it. But yeah, it is kind of awkward, it? Especially if the hostess

happens to be standing next to your seat or right in front of it and like, you're like, do I look? That's uncomfortable. So close. Do I look away? But then I feel rude.

Roula (02:58)
Exactly, I feel rude because she's taking the effort to show us this and I'm not giving them the attention. But it feels very like your every eyes are on them, quite penetrating. I guess they're used to it. It's their job. ⁓ Yes, flying, flying is such a such a hard. I don't know if I like it or I hate it. ⁓

Rosie (03:07)
Ugh.

Yeah, true. This is true. Yeah.

I don't

Roula (03:25)
Yeah.

Rosie (03:25)
really like flying. wouldn't say I'm scared of it, but it's so uncomfortable. And you know, like when the day comes that I come to visit you, my gosh, I'm gonna be complaining about the flight. It's a minimum of two flights to get there and it's just, the plane food, the lack of leg room, the uncomfortable seats, the sharing of the bathroom and stuffy air and ugh, ugh.

Roula (03:55)
You know, during COVID there has been a study that actually the air on the airplane is the cleanest. Yeah. That whatever system, I don't know if any listener is expert on this field, but I remember.

Rosie (04:06)
they filter it or something.

Did you travel during

COVID? Because it was awful. You had to wear your face mask on the plane. It was so claustrophobic. Did you?

Roula (04:14)
It was amazing. I loved it. I loved it with the face

mask. First, the person sleeping next to me, I don't have to see their mouth when they're sleeping. When I went to Lebanon a few times because my mom got sick and I got the calls, come to see mama, come to see mom. And if I fell asleep, I was finally falling asleep with my mouth open. I'm drooling and I don't care if anyone's noticing. So it felt that that's the only time where people wash their hands and

Rosie (04:24)
Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Mmm.

Roula (04:43)
shut their mouth on the airplane because there's a lot of talking. I also had this person sitting next to me who has been in conversation with another person, but he just didn't shut up. Completely talking, talking, talking. I'm like, where for recently three hours and a half we were flying and that person for three and a half hours didn't shut up. And to what extent I can turn around and say, please, can you just take a break from talking?

Rosie (04:46)
more hygienic.

my god, no thank you.

Roula (05:13)
That would also be rude. What's what's the etiquette on the airplane? No, not the etiquette. How much are we allowed to say to people on the airplane? And now you're talking too much. Can you just shut up?

Rosie (05:14)
You

true. You do like etiquette. You do like etiquette.

Yeah, don't want to talk to you. Or is this them talking to someone else or talking to you?

Roula (05:32)
No, they're them talking to someone else, but someone else did they open their mouth the whole time. So it wasn't interactive. It was like one sided conversation.

Rosie (05:35)
or to someone else.

Yeah, they're just

talking at the person. Ugh, yeah, that's yuck. Yeah, let us know listeners. Are you scared of turbulence? Do you think everybody is scared of turbulence? Do you have a scary turbulence story to share with us? I want to hear it.

Roula (05:45)
Yes.

Yeah, that would be awesome. We're not like chasing your scary story. But it's nice to hear these extraordinary, turbulent stories. Thank you for listening. Bye.

Rosie (05:57)
Mm-hmm.

Or a positive story, I suppose, if you enjoy it. Is there such a thing?

Yes, yes. Alright, bye!