Takeoff And Turbulence



The two things that bother people most are takeoff and turbulence.



"It feels like the plane doesn't have enough power to get off the ground."



On takeoff, there is often a concern that the plane will not get off the ground. To help answer this from an intellectual point of view, consider that when Pratt and Whitney or GE make a jet engine, some of these engines are sold to the military where they are used routinely at 100% of the power at which the engines were designed to operate. Add to that that these engines are used at 103% to 104% of the power they were designed to deliver in wartime.



It should be very reassuring to you that the same engines, when used by the airlines, are operated at 93% of the power they are designed to deliver for takeoff, and around 88% during cruise. If  the pilots, during takeoff, wanted more power, they could get it by simply pushing the throttles forward toward the power settings routinely used by the military.



In order to make the engines last longer -- as much as twenty or thirty years -- we routinely use even less than 93% power for takeoff. If we do, indeed the time spent on the runway is longer, and that very well may make you believe something is wrong. This is another reason for meeting the captain. Ask how much power will be used for takeoff on this flight.



In any case, there is just not going to be a situation where you need to worry about there being enough power to get the plane off the runway.



"I'm afraid it will go up too steep and slide backwards."



The next worry is that the plane, as it climbs steeply, might slide backwards. I know this can happen with a car equipped with a manual transmission if stopped at a light on a hill. But the airplane is not stopped. It is moving forward at over 150 MPH. There is no way -- other than in imagination (yours, perhaps, because I can't even imagine it) that the plane going forward at 150 MPH could just stop going forward and then start going backwards. First, there is too much forward momentum. Then, couple that with engines which have enough power to move an ocean liner forward. It just isn't going to happen.



Another worry is that the wings might tip and touch the ground. This one I can, at least, understand. But I think the idea that the wings might touch the ground may develop because, since the passenger does not have his or her hands on the control wheel, there is no recognition that it  takes considerable force applied to the controls to make the wings tip at all, and more to make them tip more. The amount of force that it would take on the controls  to make the wing touch the ground would be far more than the pilots ever use when flying the plane.



Again, it just isn't going to happen, not only for that reason, but because the wing tip is pretty high off the ground when the plane is on the runway, and when it leaves the runway, the wing would not touch the runway no matter how much the plane tipped.



There is generally a feeling that the plane is a bit unsteady just as the plane leaves the runway. The wings often do tip just a bit at that point. Why? Because every plane is just a bit different. One wing may have a bit more fuel than the other. As the plane leaves the ground, the pilots have to get the feel of the plane to see if one wing wants to rise just slightly more than the other wing, and apply a tiny adjustment. It is the rising of one wing, more than the other, followed by the pilot's adjustment that causes this unsteadiness.



So, in this case, there is something going on, but it is of a minor nature. It is never a concern and never a challenge for the pilots in any way. So though you may sense it, it isn't a problem.



"It felt like the plane fell after takeoff."



About half a minute after leaving the ground, to make less noise as the plane leaves the airport environment, the power is reduced. When it is reduced, the climb -- also -- has to be reduced. When you are going up in an elevator, the elevator's climb has to be reduced -- in fact to nothing -- in order for it to stop and let you get off at your desired floor. When it reduces the rate of its upward movement, elevator passengers feel a bit lightheaded. The same thing happens when the plane reduces the rate of its upward movement (though not to zero), and passengers in the cabin feel a bit lightheaded.



The difference is, when in an elevator, you know what is going on. In an airplane, flight is a bit mysterious to begin with, and passengers who are anxious are primed to expect disaster. So, when that momentary lightheadedness takes place, along with less noise from the engines, the imagination takes over. An anxious passenger can easily imagine the engines have -- not just been cut back but -- failed, and the rate of upward movement is not slowed, nor stopped, but has reversed and the plane is plunging.



Simply knowing this noise abatement procedure is just as routine as what an elevator does can help. One can expect the engines to be cut back. One can expect the lightheadedness. Once that is established as routine and normal, the reduction in noise from the engines and feeling of lightheadedness can be accepted.



"Turbulence scares me."



Turbulence is not a threat to your physical safety. It does, however, present a threat to emotional safety. Why? First, it is not possible to see what holds the plane up. When we think in a visual mode about this, it seems anything should fall if we see nothing holding it up. Though we cannot see it, air is very real. But our personal experience with air is air moving at far lower speed than the speed used when flying. On a bike, you might feel an "airspeed" of 15 to 20 MPH. Compare that with 150 to 200 MPH when taking off. When air is moving that fast, to the airplane, air has become as solid as jello.



The jello exercise in the SOAR Video Program helps make the power of air more real to the logic the eye -- and the mind's eye -- need to accept that planes really do fly.



All this being said, I have come recently to believe that the main problem people have with takeoff and with turbulence is this: when flying, people try their best to keep the flight experience pushed out of awareness. People use every available effort to ignore the sounds and sensations -- even the awareness -- of flight. They sit on an aisle seat. They close the window shade. They use headphones to block out airplane sounds. They use drugs to try to isolate themselves into a cocoon.



Why do these cause so much difficulty?



A few weeks ago, I wrote here about the reticular activating system, the function used by the mind to filter out experiences which are routine so we can focus on more important things. Flight, actually, is routine. If a person allows the experience of flight fully into their awareness, they -- quite quickly -- find that the reticular activating system accepts this experience as routine and IGNORES IT.



If flying bothers you, you -- no doubt -- try your best to avoid awareness that you are flying. If the flight is smooth as silk, perhaps you can ignore it. But if turbulence starts, it intrudes, and no longer can you ignore where you are and what you are doing (or is being done to you by the plane).



That heroic attempt to banish flight from your mind, even while engaged in flight, makes it impossible for the reticular activating system to do its job of accepting the experience of flying as routine.



What can you do? You can "bite the bullet" and let the experience of flight in. Only by so doing will you ever allow your reticular activating system to think of flight as something which IT can ignore for you.



Embrace the experiences of flying as you would welcome the touch of a lover.



As you can see, I'm suggesting you really take the experience in so the reticular activating system will subsequently accept flying as routine and filter it out for you. However, if you go about this project with great focus on letting the experience in so it will quickly go away, that will not work. You will simply "inform" the reticular activating system that you regard this experience as a threat. What will the reticular activating system do? It, too, will regard this experience as a threat; it will not filter it out.



Sometimes parents will say, when flying, they don't want to show fear to their children and make them afraid. So, you have to sort of do the same thing with the reticular activating system. You have to show it you are not afraid of  the experience. You have -- not just pretend to let it in but -- really let the experience in in a most determined and committed way. You simply just make the resolution to suck in ever bit of the experience the airplane can throw your way.



Otherwise, I may get an email from you saying, "OK, Tom,
I really let it in and it didn't go away, so now what do I do?" All I
can say up front is, though you are letting it in as a means to -- subsequently --  get it to go
away, your approach has to be that you are letting it in because you want to feel it, and for no other reason.



What do you do next?



It is hard to "memorize" into a "chunk" anything that is so irregular as turbulence, or as complex as takeoff. But it can be done IF you bite the bullet and make a wholehearted and committed effort to focus intently on every move the plane makes in turbulence and let your mind do what it can with what you are focused on to memorize it.



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