It's interesting to hear that some people actually enjoy turbulence. You would think that anything that introduces stress to aircraft components would be a cause for concern when travelling in a metal tube with little chance of survival in the event of catastrophic failure. Planes are reliant on routine and properly thorough maintenance which isn't exactly a guarantee given the time or cost constraints. And when you couple this with the fact that there are planes flying that are very near their end of life expectancy how could you not help but worry when turbulence hits.
FAR 25.303 requires a substantial safety margin for structural loads.
§ 25.303 Factor of safety.
Unless otherwise specified, a factor of safety of 1.5 must be applied to the prescribed limit load which are considered external loads on the structure. When a loading condition is prescribed in terms of ultimate loads, a factor of safety need not be applied unless otherwise specified.
Airplanes in the United States are extraordinarily well maintained. Certified airplanes (which include all airliners) must be inspected annually to maintain airworthiness. Yes, you do hear stories of inspections sometimes being pencil-whipped, but these are by far the exceptional cases. The inspection has to be at least supervised (if not performed) and signed off by a certified Airframe & Powerplant (A&P) mechanic with an Inspection Authorization (IA). The A&P certificate requires training, passing a written knowledge test, passing an oral grilling, and passing a practical test. The IA requires additional training and testing. Someone with that much invested is not going to screw around.
The annual inspection itself is detailed and thorough, not a quick eyeball. Any discrepancies or issues (squawks) the A&P discovers are potential followon work. Serious squawks must be addressed before the airplane is airworthy, i.e., legal to fly.
Further, any airplane flown commercially (be it for flight instruction, aerial survey, or transportation) must be inspected to the standard above after every hundred flight hours. Commercial operators have special certificates to allow them to conduct business that they likewise will not jeopardize by foolishly cutting corners. Commercial pilots have hundreds or thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars invested, so they also have a huge personal stake in playing by the rules.
Turbulence is no fun. Catastrophic failure would be even less fun. Safety rules, procedures, systems, and backups are in place that keep safety at the forefront. The airplane can take it. People with significant stake personally and financially have checked, rechecked, and signed off saying that it is safe.
Well, just remember that flying in no turbulence is like 95% of the stress, turbulence only adds a little bit. (I made that number up, but I imagine it's really close to accurate.) Planes are designed for this, they expect flex in the structure and plan for it to happen. Commercial airlines track metal fatigue, and they have allowed safety margins for stress that allows for "normal" to be pretty far past what most of us have ever seen, before they're even concerned. Cars and boats and buses and trains all flex a lot while traveling too. Planes feel worse, but really they're not.
So I can totally understand at the conscious level why some people enjoy turbulence. I just wish I could enjoy it too, instead of having a level of fear that is clearly disproportionate to the relative risk.
Relative risk wise, my choice to skydive is extremely more dangerous and risky than flying in turbulent aircraft, so I'm pretty far past any reasonable safety analysis.
