Best Place on Plane for Feeling the Least Turbulence?

[arkie87]

My wife is not a happy flier, and particularly dislikes the feeling of turbulence. I've told her that she should probably book seats towards the center of the plane, since this should reduce the g-forces from turbulence. I was wondering:

(a) Is this true, and if so, is the reduction significant? 

(b) Is the best place in the center, or the center of lift/drag? Is that likely to be in a specific location (center of wing? edge of wing? center of mass? etc...

TIA

[Gargamel]

While there would be situations where the nose goes in one direction and the tail in the other, most turbulence I've ever encountered has been the whole plane rising or falling as a whole, so every seat gets the same amount of turbulence.   But even if there is some theoretical best seat for turbulence, I don't think the differences would be noticeable enough to make a difference.    I'd recommend prescription sedatives, talk to your doctor. 

I would recommend a seat in the very back though, as you've never see an airplane backing into a mountain. 

[Superfluous J]

In my experience the tail end is the worst place to sit for turbulence. As @Gargamel says the worst of it is generally the entire plane going up and down, but even so the tail does get shook a bit more than the center of mass. As much as people complain about noodle craft, big metal things DO visibly flex when under pressure.

The COM is about where the wings attach to the plane, so you want to sit in the seats on or near the wings. Bonus: You can get either an emergency exit seat (legroom!) or the seat behind the emergency exit (they can't recline so you won't have someone's seat back in your face).

[StrandedonEarth]

17 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

I'd recommend prescription sedatives

My stepmom always self-prescribed a few servings of a non-prescription sedative, widely available in the airport lounge, and even served in-flight!

[kerbiloid]

Don't read in case of fearing the flights.

Spoiler

2 hours ago, Gargamel said:

I would recommend a seat in the very back though, as you've never see an airplane backing into a mountain. 

Several months ago we saw an airplane backing onto the runway. The nose survived.

Probably between the wings.

[mikegarrison]

5 hours ago, arkie87 said:

My wife is not a happy flier, and particularly dislikes the feeling of turbulence. I've told her that she should probably book seats towards the center of the plane, since this should reduce the g-forces from turbulence. I was wondering:

(a) Is this true, and if so, is the reduction significant? 

(b) Is the best place in the center, or the center of lift/drag? Is that likely to be in a specific location (center of wing? edge of wing? center of mass? etc...

TIA

Depends on the exact situation, but near the wings is probably the least amount of motion.

If the whole plane is displacing, then that's that. But if the plane is disturbed along an axis (pitch, roll, yaw) and then corrected back again, you will get the least apparent motion near the center over the wings.

[hms_warrior]

I guess the least turbulence you would get on a train. Or in a car ;-)

[RCgothic]

As an experienced flyer and engineer not prone to being unsettled by turbulence, sitting where you can see the wings flexing probably wouldn't be helpful. In severe turbulence that's what gets me the most.

I'd suggest an aisle seat in the nose, well forward of the wings.

Edited November 4, 2019 by RCgothic

[pmborg]

The seats that are in front of engines are more comfort from noise "point of view" because they are less noisy.
The seats that are near to CoG (at the wing chord) are the most comfortable in terms of turbulence.
But please note that CoG change a during the flight due fuel consumption.

[mikegarrison]

15 hours ago, hms_warrior said:

I guess the least turbulence you would get on a train. Or in a car ;-)

Trains and car can be pretty dang bumpy. Often more than planes, actually.

11 hours ago, pmborg said:

The seats that are in front of engines are more comfort from noise "point of view" because they are less noisy.

It's a little more complicated than this, but a short-hand rule of thumb is that the farther forward in the plane, the less noisy it is. That's because a lot of the noise comes from the turbulent boundary layer on the outside of the skin, and that TBL grows from front to back of the fuselage.

This is the main reason why the most expensive seats are usually the ones in front.

[pmborg]

Yes true, sitting in the front of the wings, is like being behind a "speaker" (engines in this case).

All of the engine sound will be disturbed in the air will be projected away from you.

About the bumpy, it's very often, we just need a summer day of more than 35 to land or takeoff or just passing near a cumulonimbus area.

 

[Superfluous J]

On 11/4/2019 at 5:42 PM, mikegarrison said:

This is the main reason why the most expensive seats are usually the ones in front.

I figured it was because you can get off the plane faster. I generally pick the furthest forward of the cheapest seats my own self.

[mikegarrison]

1 hour ago, 5thHorseman said:

I figured it was because you can get off the plane faster. I generally pick the furthest forward of the cheapest seats my own self.

That's another benefit. But I'll point out that planes don't always load/unload from the front.

[Superfluous J]

27 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

That's another benefit. But I'll point out that planes don't always load/unload from the front.

In 30 years and ... I have no idea how many flights, I do not believe I have ever entered or exited a plane anywhere but the front. Even when I've had to walk over the tarmac to the plane.

[mikegarrison]

42 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

In 30 years and ... I have no idea how many flights, I do not believe I have ever entered or exited a plane anywhere but the front. Even when I've had to walk over the tarmac to the plane.

Well, it's true.

For instance, one of these jetways is at the front, but the other is not.

Larger airplanes often load from closer to the middle, especially if they have two or three jetways.

[kerbiloid]

I was boarding Il-96 by the door behind the wings, from ground.
If you can find one (Il-96, I mean).

Edited November 6, 2019 by kerbiloid

[RCgothic]

Planes accessed by steps from the tarmac often load front and rear as well. Note the twin boarding steps in this photo.

Edited November 6, 2019 by RCgothic

[Nuke]

On 11/3/2019 at 5:34 PM, StrandedonEarth said:

My stepmom always self-prescribed a few servings of a non-prescription sedative, widely available in the airport lounge, and even served in-flight!

i remember one time i was on the phoenix juneau run. i hit up the airport pub in seattle and had several guinesses. i spent the next four hours needing to pee whilst the turbulence was so bad we couldn't used the lavatories. worst flight ever. fortunately i dont remember any of it. also dont fly through juneau, the way the mountains are shaped around there its always bad, has a way of funneling wind places it shouldn't go. 

Edited November 6, 2019 by Nuke

[magnemoe]

On 11/4/2019 at 11:42 PM, mikegarrison said:

Trains and car can be pretty dang bumpy. Often more than planes, actually.

It's a little more complicated than this, but a short-hand rule of thumb is that the farther forward in the plane, the less noisy it is. That's because a lot of the noise comes from the turbulent boundary layer on the outside of the skin, and that TBL grows from front to back of the fuselage.

This is the main reason why the most expensive seats are usually the ones in front.

Cars can be extremely bumpy, the primary purpose of the seat belts is to keep you in the seat in turnabouts and other sharp turns, yes this depend primary on the driver.  
My main issue with bumpy roads is that they damage your wheel suspension if you drive to fast. 

Trains is in average more bumpy than planes, however they don't get the extremes. 
 

[kerbiloid]

11 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Cars can be extremely bumpy

Spoiler