Severe (or more) turbulence... how common?

"John Harper" wrote in message news:1075704296.323452@sj-nntpcache-5...

So here's my informal sample... how many people here have had a
similar experience? Anyone care to guess how unlikely this it?


I've had it twice in 15 yrs. (about 1900 flying hrs.).

The first was on my student dual X-C. It was windy, but we weren't
flying over any mountains or ridges. It was one big jolt and that was
it. My instructor had just undone his shoulder harness to retrieve
something from the back seat. His head slammed into the ceiling and
was a little disoriented for a few minutes. Both my hands and feet
left the controls when it hit. I had an interesting bruise from the
shoulder harness and on my shins where they hit the bottom of the
panel.

The second was coming out of a pass in the Alaska Range on the
leeward side. Winds aloft at the peaks were in the 40 Kt range and
there were standing lenticulars all over the place. I flew into a
rotor right about where it should have been. Not very smart and I
should have known better. The plane was uncontrollable in pitch and
roll for about 15 seconds.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)