‘Too scared to scream’: These Canadian air passengers experienced severe turbulence

Petronila Taruc describes the chaos that ensued from the worst case of flight turbulence she experienced.

Petronila Taruc has experienced turbulence every year she and her husband have flown to the Philippines from Vancouver.

But the 86-year-old retired legal secretary said one incident around 2015 stood out.

As turbulence increases globally and is projected by researchers to get worse because of climate change, Taruc was among the readers who shared with CTVNews.ca their harrowing experience with the weather phenomenon.

Deaths are rare, but incidents have shown it can be dangerous. While it’s unclear what type of turbulence readers experienced, a kind of turbulence called clear-air turbulence is unpredictable and happens when wind speed or direction drastically changes.

Passengers like Taruc described the chaos. Taruc recalled how the flight crew was pouring coffee and handing out water when the turbulence started, which caused the drinks to spill.

Then she said she heard a “sudden creaking” and felt the airplane plummet.

“I thought the airplane might just break apart, and I didn’t have time to even get scared,” Taruc said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca.

A memorable flight five decades ago

George Sharpe said one encounter with severe turbulence has been etched in his mind for five decades.

He clearly recalled being on a flight to Toronto from Vancouver when turbulence struck at 37,000 feet during a thunderstorm over Moosomin, Sask., in the early morning hours on July 7, 1973. He said passengers were advised to prepare for “some rough air.”

“All of a sudden we hit the big one just right off the bat,” Sharpe, a retired mining consultant, said in a video interview from Regina, describing how the plane went down 500 feet and then up 500 feet.

One woman suffered a neck injury while she tried adjusting her seatbelt.

He recalled the injured woman was slammed into the ceiling above her seat like a “rag doll.”

The 76-year-old said people were holding their breath and some were praying. Objects were flying around, such as batteries, coats and hats. “People were so scared that they were even too scared to scream,” he said, estimating the turbulence lasted about 20 minutes.

Even with his seatbelt on, Sharpe said it caused abdominal pain.

‘People were screaming’

John Parry, a retired technical writer from Toronto, said he was settling down to eat beef Stroganoff and drink a glass of Merlot when the plane stopped cruising at 37,000 feet and started falling.

“When we reached the end of the fall, that’s when things really started to get interesting,” Parry said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca about the incident in November 2005. “Items were falling out onto the heads of people below. People were screaming.

“Some people were vomiting,” added the 72-year-old, who was a frequent flyer for decades. “One of the cabin crew got knocked off her feet in the galley.”

He estimates that the severe turbulence lasted about three or four minutes.

Parry said he had a “spreading puddle of wine” in his lap for the rest of the flight to Shanghai.

‘You’re sitting there, you’re helpless’

Nigel Osborne from Durham, Ont., said he felt not only fear that he was going to die but also helplessness. The worst turbulence he ever experienced happened in 2005 when he and his wife were returning to Toronto from a destination wedding in Mexico.

He said the pilot warned passengers about turbulence as the plane flew into a massive thunderstorm over Florida.

“We were in the ride of our lives,” Osborne, 62, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca, adding that it felt like being on a rollercoaster for up to 20 minutes.

Osborne said buckling up saved them from being thrown from their seats.

“There were times the plane was just plummeting,” he said. “There was a huge bang, and then the plane would lurch up again.

“This went on for (what) seemed like an eternity,” he added. “You’re sitting there, you’re helpless.”

Passengers like Osborne may feel helpless when turbulence strikes, especially with an unpredictable type of turbulence. Clear-air turbulence is projected to intensify because of climate change, according to a study published in the Geophysical Research Letters journal in June 2023.

Clear-air turbulence rose from 1979 to 2020, with the largest increases found over the busy flight regions of North Atlantic and continental United States, according to the study.

Even with these harrowing experiences shared by CTVNews.ca readers, no serious injuries or deaths were reported involving 67 turbulence incidents or accidents between January 2020 and June 2025 in the country, according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada in an email to CTVNews.ca. It said at least 21 people suffered minor injuries, but noted that the data may be “incomplete.”

Taruc wasn’t aware of anyone in the Philippines-bound flight who was hurt, but she said the experience made her more cautious.

“Ever since, whenever I travel, no matter where, even if it’s a short distance only, I always keep my seatbelts on,” Taruc said.

After the severe turbulence she experienced a decade ago, she said, she would only remove her seatbelt to go to the bathroom and stopped drinking alcohol before flying, which she used to do to calm her nerves. That way, she could be alert and prepared in case anything happened.