Comment by thedudemabry

Lots of great advice in this thread. But as someone with a moderate fear of flying who travels occasionally for work, one analogy has helped me reason through my fear. At speed, an airplane is dealing with air as if it were a boat in water. The air you're flying through is as thick and powerful at speed, and turbulence is nothing more than ripples in the water. The air is literally capable of lifting the gigantic vehicle that you're in. It's way harder for the plane to resist the thick-air than it is to keep on flying. Keeping this in mind has helped me worry far less about periodic disturbances.