I am on that plane (back in June 2007) and I felt the turbulence (air pockets from a windy June day in Oklahoma City) for several days afterward. Maj. John Klatt of the Oklahoma Air National Guard mercifully ended the flight early when I was ready to pass out. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World File
What would compel a motion sickness prone reporter to fly in a stunt plane? I met the height and weight requirements (Read: I am short and small). Maj. John Klatt of the Oklahoma Air National Guard was part of the 2007 Guarding America Defending Freedom aerobatic team and offered the flight to a Tulsa World reporter at Wiley Post in Oklahoma City. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World File
I do not fear flying. I fear the weather surrounding my flight.
Perhaps its revisionist history, but I don't remember dealing with turbulence nearly as much as I have in flights around Oklahoma and Texas as I did in and out of Wisconsin.
When Southwest gave its little "bling" for us to fasten our seatbelts as we entered something called a "circle pattern" in the midst of windy San Antonio weather, I was bracing for the worst.
We hit air pockets. We hit the remnants of some rain. I was clinching my teeth, closing my eyes and trying to think of anything except air travel.
Now, safely back on the ground (or rather, the fifth floor of the Tulsa World building), I had to ask Tulsa National Weather Service meteorologist Karen Hatfield if there was any way I could have known to take motion sickness medicine beforehand. Here goes!
What causes turbulence? 1) When you fly through or near an upper level storm system or jet stream, the upward motions in the atmosphere associated with that can cause the plane to rise and sink quickly.
2) When you are landing or taking off and happen to fly through a frontal surface, the density difference and wind shear can cause the same rising or sinking feeling. (Hatfield: "I had that happen once on a flight into OKC, and being the weather nerd that I am, I loved it!")
3) Flying over mountain ranges - like the Rockies - can result in turbulence from mountain waves.
4) With small planes especially, turbulence can be caused at lower altitudes during the afternoon hours by convective thermals; days with cumulus clouds present will have this kind of turbulence.
It's related to weather, so can you forecast turbulence? The Aviation Weather Center, located in Kansas City, issues SIGMETs (SIGnificant METeorological Information) for expected turbulence. They can be accessed here:
tulsaworld.com/turbulence. There are also links on that page to pilot reports of turbulence.
Would any types of weather ground a plane so we don't have to endure turbulence hopefully? The specifics are based on which airport you're flying into/out of. They are called the "airport minimums" and are based on how high the clouds are, what the lowest visibility is, etc. Thunderstorms on station always ground flights, and each airport has its own protocol for how to deal with snow, sleet, and freezing rain.
You can check flight info and more on Tulsa International Airport at
tulsaworld.com/airport. This site also includes toll-free numbers and site links to each major airline (American, Continental, Delta, Southwest and United) that serves Tulsa.
From someone that deals with motion sickness regularly, my best combats to turbulence are (a) make yourself too tired to be awake during the flight, or (b) take LIGHT motion sickness medicine or anything containing ginger beforehand. The heavy motion sickness medicines will make you too groggy to function hours after your flight - and the turbulence - are over.
--Althea Peterson
PS: Those photos and the captions are 100 percent real. The accompanying story that does not mention how motion sick I felt ran on June 7, 2007
here. I was only a few months into my first year at the Tulsa World at the time.
