An off-duty pilot filmed himself staying calm during 'horrible turbulence' and showed how he flipped his water bottle upside down to check if he should be worried

30.08.2023 - 10:07 / insider.com

A pilot who teaches people about plane turbulence on social media filmed his experience with a rough flight and demonstrated how he manages to keep calm.

Jimmy Nicholson, an Australian pilot who was also a star on "The Bachelor Australia," posted a now-viral TikTok on Monday of him and his wife enduring what he described as "horrible turbulence."

"Some of the worst turbulence I've ever felt," Nicholson said as the plane rocked and other passengers yelled in fear.

"We're at the back of the plane, so it's worse here," he added.

Nicholson advised his viewers to remind themselves that turbulence is "completely normal" and that their plane was "not going to fall out of the sky."

He then displayed a "water bottle trick," in which he turned a clear plastic bottle upside down. The water's movement inside gave him a better sense of how bad flying conditions really were.

"The water isn't moving too much is it?" Nicholson wrote in his video, which showed wobbling water levels.

Finally, Nicholson recommended that passengers open up the small vents above them for more fresh air, and to look outside a window.

"It's not comfortable. It's probably some of the worst I've been in," Nicholson said of the turbulence on his flight. "Could be widespread storms, so they just have to pick their path of least resistance and go through it."

Nicholson added that planes are built to withstand "way worse" than turbulent conditions.

Turbulence can often make a passenger feel as though their plane is about to plummet from the sky, but these disturbances are very common in flights and often not dangerous.

Only 34 serious passenger injuries have occurred in the US as a result of turbulence between 2009 and 2022, per the Federal Aviation Administration.

Passengers can better avoid injury by keeping their seat belts buckled, and by following the airline's safety instructions, the FAA advises.

In another TikTok, Nicholson compared flight turbulence to driving over potholes on the road. "Guarantee, pilots at the front are very, very chill. All we're caring about is our coffee being spilt," he added.

A representative for Nicholson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.