About IsItBumpy

IsItBumpy is made by a passenger who is afraid of flying, for other people who fly with nerves.

Why it exists

I’m afraid of flying. Before every flight I do the same thing: I look at turbulence maps, read the weather reports for the departure and arrival airports, check the official warnings for pilots and try to understand what I’ll meet along the way. Reading and understanding is what calms me most.

The problem is that this information is spread across many different websites, almost always in technical language and written for pilots. IsItBumpy brings together in one place everything I check before a flight, explained in plain words, in case it helps someone else.

What IsItBumpy can and can’t tell you

I know from experience that these tools are not infallible, and I’d rather say so clearly:

• Planes don’t fly in a straight line. They follow airways, detour for traffic or wind and change altitude during the flight. We calculate the most direct route between the two airports, so your plane’s real path may go somewhere else.
• A warning on your route doesn’t mean you’ll fly through it. Pilots receive the same storm and turbulence warnings, and they usually go around them or change altitude.
• Turbulence happens in small areas and changes fast. Weather models deal in probabilities, not certainties.
• Clear-air turbulence can’t be seen on radar or satellite, and sometimes appears where nothing predicted it.

That’s why IsItBumpy doesn’t promise a flight without bumps. What it does is help you understand what pilots know and get to the airport with less uncertainty.

Where the data comes from

We use public, official sources: pilot warnings (SIGMETs), METAR and TAF reports and pilot reports (PIREPs) from NOAA’s Aviation Weather Center at aviationweather.gov; weather models from Open-Meteo and MET Norway; natural-disaster alerts from GDACS; flight schedules from AeroDataBox; and maps from OpenStreetMap. Guides and route pages list their sources at the end.

How it’s funded

IsItBumpy is free. To cover its costs it shows Google AdSense ads and may include affiliate links, always labelled. None of that changes the forecasts. More details in the legal notice.

Important

IsItBumpy is an information website. It doesn’t replace information from your airline or instructions from the crew, and it isn’t medical advice: if fear of flying holds you back, talk to a professional.

Contact

You can write to [email protected]. I read every message, especially if something isn’t working or a forecast didn’t match what you felt on your flight. More ways to get in touch.