why is turbulence no big deal for an aircraft the vast majority of the time, even though it feels like a big deal inside of the plane?
In: Engineering
Planes are designed with a substantial safety factor, where its wings can hold some multiple of its normal weight. Normally, we experience one gee of acceleration due to gravity, so planes are designed to withstand 5,6,7 gees in order to cope with turbulence and other unexpected phenomena. Not only this, but we as humans don’t mind acceleration itself (anything between 0.5 and 1.5 gees feels okay), but sudden changes in acceleration startle and scare us. This is why many car drivers apply the brakes slowly, instead of suddenly; it makes the ride feel smoother even if the peak acceleration is higher. Planes, meanwhile, don’t really mind sudden changes in acceleration – it makes no difference to the plane what direction it is being thrown, so long as it isn’t being thrown too hard.
Because the plane is built to tolerate much stronger shaking than the human body’s comfort level. Basically, no wind less than flying into a tornado should break the plane up.
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