Well I tell you what I did - my first thought was there is not a damn thing I can do to help this plane fly. If we die no one will know how I acted, but if we live I will hate to have made a fool of myself.
I then took my wife's right hand with my left, and the stewardesses left hand with my right and suggested a prayer, then assured them all would be well. I then leaned forward and tried to calm the old Jewish man in front of me who was telling G-D, in a loud voice, that he was ready to go.
When we got down the stewardess asked me how I remained calm and I told her I just hate to make a scene in public. I was about 30 at the time, my wife and the stewardess were about 26.
Several years ago we took an "express" to Houston. We hit some really bad weather and were tossed and dropping and climbing all over the place. The pilot announced that we were encountering some bad weather (no lie) but the steward would take good care of us. Yeah, right.He was buckled in at the back of the plane, shaking and looking scared to death.