Fear of small planes

[vestman95]

I flew a commuter flight from Green Bay to Milwaukee
on Monday afternoon and it was terrifying. We were bouncing
around all over the place. I am not used to flying on small
commuter planes. It seems like they are effected more
by the wind/unstable air. This was a Beechcraft 1900.
Has anyone else had similar experiences? Are there
planes/jets that handle turbulence better?
Thanks...

Jeff Koehn
http://www.jeffkoehnart.com

[tb_neg]

Size does matter to a certain extent when it comes to turbulence. Think of a heavy phone book, compared to leaflet in the wind. Those prop planes are very little and they don't travel as fast (about half speed), so it makes everything seem worse, although they are very safe.

When traveling between small cities though, you may not have much of a choice, and indeed, that's the biggest craft that travels between those two city pairs. (GRB-MKE).

Another factor, since the airports are so close, it looks like you only go up to 11,000 ft or so, not enough to get over the surface winds.

Although, it looks like it's only two hours by car :D

Where you connecting in MKE for another flight?

[vestman95]

Size does matter to a certain extent when it comes to turbulence. Think of a heavy phone book, compared to leaflet in the wind. Those prop planes are very little and they don't travel as fast (about half speed), so it makes everything seem worse, although they are very safe.

When traveling between small cities though, you may not have much of a choice, and indeed, that's the biggest craft that travels between those two city pairs. (GRB-MKE).

Another factor, since the airports are so close, it looks like you only go up to 11,000 ft or so, not enough to get over the surface winds.

Although, it looks like it's only two hours by car :D

Where you connecting in MKE for another flight?

Yes, I was connecting to Denver. Incidentally, the flight back to Denver
was the smoothest I've ever experienced. Usually, it's a safe bet that
when we get over western Nebraska, turning into Northern Colorado,
it's at least slightly bumpy and often very bumpy (by my standards)
but this time it was smooth as silk...until right before landing...then we
hit some cross winds, but it still wasn't too bad.
Next time I fly in June, I will probably fly United through Chicago
because they have CRJs into Green Bay...I like them alot better
than the little 19 seaters. Or I might try NorthWest after reading
how they forecast turbulence and fly around it.
Thanks for your input.

Jeff Koehn
http://www.jeffkoehnart.com

[Amethyst]

I hate small planes too and refuse to fly in any. I give huge kudos to anyone who isn't scared.