Travel News

Web Site of the Week: Turbulence Forecast

Sky Thunderstorm TurbulenceIt’s time for another Web site of the week to help you travel better.

This week is a great one for those of you who may still be a bit nervous about crashing when you’re flying.

Web-savvy traveler Johnny Jet finds out how you can get the scoop on the likely level of turbelence on your flight.

You may not be able to really avoid turbulence, but at least you’ll be prepared.

This Web site is designed for pilots and offers maps that update hourly with forecasts of air turbulence. The focus is on U.S.-based flights, but you can find forecast maps from all over the world. Some of the maps indicate the altitude that the advisory is for, while others show the degree of severity by using different color shades. The good news is that pilots have this information before they fly and they do everything they can to avoid it. They even get turbulence reports from the planes in front of them.

When I was a kid, turbulence used to scare the heck out of me, but I got over it when a pilot I was sitting next to calmed my nerves by saying, “Just think of turbulence as a bumpy road and everything will be fine.” He reassured me that nothing would happen to the plane; they’re built to withstand turbulence. That’s why the flight attendants never look scared. He went on to say that the only time turbulence can be dangerous is when passengers don’t have their seatbelts fastened because pilots have no idea when they might hit the rough stuff.

Johnny Jet can be found online at www.johnnyjet.com.

Want more great Web sites? Check out previous Web Sites of the Week.

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