Jeremy Clarkson recalls terrifying plane turbulence where he ‘knew he was about to die’

It’s been a pretty big week in Britain. So, obviously Jeremy Clarkson has given his thoughts on a load of it because he’s always got something to say.

And in his most recent opinion piece for The Sun, he spoke about trains, Chelsea football, his farm and planes, among other bits and bobs.

This follows the severe turbulence that hit a Singapore Airlines flight at the beginning of the week.

On Monday night (20 May), the plane departed from London’s Heathrow Airport with 211 passengers and 18 members of crew before hitting devastating turbulence. A British man died during the turbulence, while many others were left seriously injured.

A Singapore Airlines flight encountered turbulence so bad, one passenger died and several others were injured. (Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)

One British woman was reportedly thrown from her seat and into an overhead locker because it was that bad.

And the scary event has understandably left a lot of people fearful of such events and wondering how they would react in a similar situation.

But Clarkson writes that he’s ‘been there’ and therefore he ‘already knows’ what response he’d have.

The former Top Gear presenter described: “I was in a plane that had been built in Russia in the Fifties and used by the Angolan Air Force before being bought by a ramshackle airline in Cuba, and we were flying into Havana when it was struck by lightning.”

The 64-year-old explained how this apparently caused the plane to ‘turn upside down and start plummeting towards Earth’.

Clarkson claims he nearly died when he once experienced severe turbulence. (Amazon MGM Studios)

“So how did I feel knowing I was about to die?” he wrote. “Well, here’s the funny thing.

“Instead of air vents, there were little Pifco-style fans above each seat and, as the plane turned over, my hair got caught in the blades.

“So that’s what I was thinking as the engines screamed and the pilot tried to regain control: ‘This is really annoying’.”

With many people left a little extra nervous about flying since the tragedy this week, a TikToker shared a hack which could help people get over their fear.

Anna Paull explained the hack using a cup of jelly, claiming to have learnt it from a 'real pilot'.

Naturally, many feel nervous when flying due to the change of turbulence. (Getty Stock Image)

She said: "Pretend this is the air that you're flying in - this jelly right here. And this napkin is the aeroplane."

Despite the weirdness, the TikToker urged people to 'trust' her.

Anna used the jelly model to enact what happens when you feel turbulence.

"You feel the plane shaking but this is not just going to fall down you know? It's stuck in there, because there's pressure coming from the bottom and the sides," she said.

Topics: Jeremy Clarkson, Travel, UK News