Turbulence is always felt more strongly than it actually is

Why it seems inside the cabin that the plane is being tossed from side to side, while from the outside it is clear that it flies straight. And how much G we actually experience during shaking.

An aircraft in a turbulence zone is clearly visible by its contrail: it shows air fluctuations. If we were inside at that moment, it would seem as if the plane were falling down, and we were being tossed from side to side.

But if you look from the outside, you can see that the aircraft continues to fly straight and stable. There are no strong fluctuations. This perfectly illustrates the main point: severe turbulence is primarily our sensation, not reality.

Why sensations are deceptive

Imagine that you are driving over a speed bump at a speed of 10 km/h: you will pass it smoothly and unnoticed. Now imagine the same bump at a speed of 100 km/h: the car will jump sharply, and you will feel it.

The aircraft flies at approximately 850 km/h. At such speed, even small changes in the air flow are felt more strongly.

Real G-forces

The G-force that acts on a physical body is measured in G. During normal city driving in a car, the G-force can reach approximately 2.2 G. In a train, it is about 2.6 G during sharp maneuvers. In an aircraft, even during severe turbulence, G-forces are usually within the range of 1.5 - 1.9 G. That is, the G-force in turbulence is even less than what we are used to on the ground.

By the way, the SkyGuru application has built-in functionality that helps to see this. You can record the G-force during normal walking or a car trip, and then during the flight, the app will show how much greater or lesser the G-force in turbulence is compared to what it was on the ground. This provides very good anchoring during the flight.

Next time you are flying in a turbulence zone, remember: even if it seems that the plane is shaking heavily, in reality it continues to fly just as smoothly, straight, and stable as it was flying before.