Patrick Smith, a commercial airline pilot who flies Boeing 757 and 767, has noticed that flyers' number one anxiety is turbulence. So much about it seems dangerous. But Smith argues that from the perspective of the pilot, turbulence is often a mere blip. Smith writes:

For all intents and purposes, a plane cannot be flipped upside-down, thrown into a tailspin, or otherwise flung from the sky by even the mightiest gust or air pocket. Conditions might be annoying and uncomfortable, but the plane is not going to crash. Turbulence is an aggravating nuisance for everybody, including the crew, but it's also, for lack of a better term, normal. From a pilot's perspective, it is ordinarily seen as a convenience issue, not a safety issue. When a flight changes altitude in search of smoother conditions, this is by and large in the interest of comfort.

The pilots aren't worried about the wings falling off; they're trying to keep their customers relaxed and everybody's coffee where it belongs…. In the worst of it, you probably imagine the pilots in a sweaty lather: the captain barking orders, hands tight on the wheel as the ship lists from one side to another. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Actually, Smith concludes, while the passengers are fretting about the turbulence, the pilots are having a casual conversation about their morning orange juice.