Can you offer any confidence-building advice on dealing with stress, wind, and turbulence?
Noel Stoll
New York
A.Many students and newly certificated pilots find that turbulence and wind make them nervous. This is a perfectly normal reaction to what may seem to be an abnormal situation-after all, we're not accustomed to being bumped and jostled around just because the wind is blowing. And a life spent mainly on solid ground certainly doesn't prepare us for the literal ups and downs of flying in wind and turbulence.
As with most things in aviation, the best way to gain confidence is to gain experience. And the best way to gain experience is to fly. Luckily, you don't have to tackle your fear alone, and you shouldn't, especially if you are stressed and nervous enough that your decision-making skills may be compromised. This is a great time to take advantage of your instructor's expertise.
Start by selecting a day when the wind is enough to make you uncomfortable but isn't really howling. Then ask your instructor for a special lesson. Plan a cross-country trip together with the emphasis on handling the bumps and the wind. Having your instructor along should give you the confidence you need to make the flight. When you reach your destination, try doing several approaches and landings, just for the practice. Turbulence and wind is never more disconcerting than when you're close to the ground, so honing your landing skills on a windy, bumpy day is a great way to gain confidence.
You may want to plan similar trips several times in increasingly windy or turbulent conditions until you feel comfortable. As you gain experience you will discover that you have all of the skills you need to cope with bumpy air, and you should see your personal comfort level increase.
When you are ready, try it on your own without your instructor on board. Remember to start out easy, perhaps on a day when pilots are reporting light chop or when the winds are gusting lightly. Again, keep your skills current and work up to increasingly windy or bumpy conditions. Of course that does not mean you should be out flying in severe wind or turbulence. Let common sense prevail.
You may find that you'll have a somewhat easier time with turbulence now that you are flying a Cessna 172. The slightly higher wing loading, compared to a Cessna 150 or 152, makes it more stable and less susceptible to the bumps that can toss around a smaller, lighter airplane.
