Doug wrote:

Hey all..

New pilot with about 15 hours, excellent instructor...141 school and top
quality aircraft....I have complete faith in my instruction and aircraft
and a sincere lifeong desire to learn to fly.

However....Turbulence locks me up!

I can 'play' pilot on MS Sim 2004 in any weather, condition or emergency
and meet the requirements for all the things I have learned so far, but the
moment I'm in the air and start feeling the bumps everything gets thrown
off and in my mind I "get behind" and feel like im playing catch-up with
simple manuvers thus making it a frighting experience. Instructor says
besides the death grip on the wheel I do fine but in the melon things are
chaotic. Put me in 'clear air' and I do well and am in full command of all
my responsibilities and enjoy the time in the sky.

My Instructor continues to find ways to help me and I want to punch myself
in the face for being such a punk but I wanted to ask if anyone had any
tips on how they may have gotten over the anxiety?

I agree with the previous responses. I started out with air sickness
which would be triggered with any turbulance. So, I started out with
that fear. Then I had the feeling of being behind the aircraft. I was
trying to keep it straight and level at all times rather than "ride the
waves" which of course ended up with the tight grip and worse control.
Once I got to about 25 hours I noticed that my perception had changed.
I was walking across the parking lot and some wind picked up some leaves
and my mind created an image of the air. It was as if I could literally
see the air. This continued to develop and turbulance became easy to
visualize as waves in the water. Sure, you went up and down, left and
right, but as long as the average was in the right direction you were
fine. As practice I will exaggerate the looseness on the grip and try
not to do any aileron control. Of course, at some point you are rolled
15 degrees and you don't roll back, so you give the yoke a slight twist
to bring you back. At this point turbulance is no longer an issue
except for comfort, landings, teeth and airframe structural integrity.
Today, I have about 90 hours and I realy don't notice mild turbulance
anymore as a flying issue. I do notice it as a possible warning of
heavier turbulance nearby and look for the telltale signs.

Eric Ross
PP-SEL