12/24/2009( bwi-ord-hkg ) 12/31/2009( hkg- nrt- ord- bwi )

[cjyumd]

Hello all. Just got back last night from Hong Kong.

12/24 BWI- ORD UA0641/757-200
Very little turbulence if at all during the entire flight, however we were delayed for approx. 1.5 hour for plane issue. BTW, love the 757 take-off. No other planes give me that kind of G-feeling during take-off.

12/24 ORD- HKG UA895/747-400
Lite turbulence during the first 1.5 hour of flight. After that it was here and there for the rest of North America. It was fairly smooth untill we got to Southern part of Russia/ Ulaanbaatar- Mongolia and the rest of China was lite turblence all over. I was listening to UA channel 9, you can hear other airline pilots reporting more MOD-SERVE turbulence, requesting lower ALT.

12/31 HKG- NRT UA9676( Operated by All Nippon Airways ) 767-300
Little or NO turblence during flight.

12/31 NRT- ORD UA882/ 747-400
I guess it's the typical North Pacific weather. Lite turblence (5-10 mins) here and there during the entire flight.

12/31 ORD- BWI UA956/ A320
Little or No turblence during flight.

I find it's very helpful to look outside of the window to see what's going on with the airplane during turblence, to me an airplane is very much like a bird. It's very fascinating to watch and see the wing flex in response to the turblence.:)

[Miriamrn]

Hi
I have a flight scheduled to leave Lambert St Louis to Otlando 720 am Monday Jan 4th. I am terrified to fly due to such severe and I mean severe turbulance from previous flights! Scared the living or dying daylights out of me! Does anyone know how the trips from the Midwest to Florida have been in the last few days? Does it matter if you have an early flight vs one in the afternoon? How about icing? Worse in the am vs pm? Miriam

[cjyumd]

Hi Miriamn.
On the day of our flight to Chicago/ORD. I looked at the turblence map here and storm map at weather.com. Both looked like it will be a real BAD ride into ORD. To my surpirse, it was little or NO turblence at all. Don't let what happened before gets to you. Turblence is like driving on bumpy road in NYC or DC. For example riding a subway train in any city, just close your eyes and you will have almost just as bad of a ride/feeling as planes flying in turblence. I 've never heard anyone fearful of riding a train, so it's no big deal. Have a good time in Florida, don't spend your time worring about bumps in the road or air!!

I'm not an expert of anything, but i think flights are BETTER in morning during summer time because you will have LOWER chance of thunderstorm ( high-heat/ humidity in afternoon) and more chance of flying into storm cells( sudden drop in ALT.) Winter flying like now is just bouncy because of jet stream. That's why to me looking out at the window helps me, give me a sense of peace knowing it's just rough air. The wings WILL NOT snap off, everything will be fine!! Good luck............