Во время взлёта началась лёгкая турбулентность, но моя ручная кладь осталась на месте.

Во is just a phonetic variant of в. Russian often uses во instead of в when it sounds smoother before certain consonant combinations.

So:

• во время = during
• not normally в время

This is a fixed, very common expression: во время чего? = during what?

Because the expression во время requires the genitive.

• взлёт = takeoff
• во время взлёта = during takeoff

So:

• nominative: взлёт
• genitive: взлёта

This is the same pattern as:

• во время полёта = during the flight
• во время урока = during the lesson

Началась is the past-tense form of начаться, which means to begin, to start.

The verb pair is:

• начать = to begin something
• начаться = to begin, to start happening

So:

• Пилот начал снижение. = The pilot began the descent.
• Турбулентность началась. = The turbulence started.

The -сь is the reflexive ending, but here it does not mean a person is doing something to themselves. It is just part of the verb начаться, which is the normal way to say that an event began.

The verb agrees with the subject, which is турбулентность.

• турбулентность is a feminine singular noun
• therefore the past tense must also be feminine singular: началась

Compare:

• начался дождь = the rain started
• началось движение = the movement started
• началась турбулентность = the turbulence started

Because it is the subject of the sentence.

In English, we often say something like there was light turbulence, but Russian more literally says:

• light turbulence began

So лёгкая турбулентность is what began, which makes it the subject, and subjects are normally in the nominative.

That is why it is:

• лёгкая турбулентность
• not лёгкую турбулентность

Лёгкая literally means light or mild.

In this sentence, лёгкая турбулентность means:

• light turbulence
• mild turbulence

It agrees with турбулентность, which is feminine singular, so the adjective also takes the feminine singular form:

• лёгкий — masculine
• лёгкая — feminine
• лёгкое — neuter

Осталась is the past tense of остаться, meaning to remain or to stay.

It agrees with кладь, the main noun in ручная кладь.

• кладь is feminine singular
• so the verb is also feminine singular: осталась

So:

• ручная кладь осталась на месте = the hand luggage stayed in place

This is a fixed expression.

• ручной relates to hand
• кладь is an old noun related to things that are placed/stored/carried

Together, ручная кладь means:

• hand luggage
• carry-on baggage

You do not need to analyze it too literally every time; it functions as a standard travel term.

A few related words:

• багаж = luggage, baggage
• ручная кладь = carry-on
• сдаваемый багаж = checked baggage

Because кладь is a feminine noun.

So the possessive pronoun must also be feminine:

• мой = masculine
• моя = feminine
• моё = neuter
• мои = plural

Since the head noun is кладь, we say:

• моя ручная кладь

На месте is a very common expression meaning:

• in place
• where it was
• in its proper spot

So:

• остаться на месте = to stay in place

This is just the normal idiomatic choice in Russian. В месте would usually mean something more like in a place and does not fit this meaning well.

Also, месте is in the prepositional case after на when location is meant:

• место → на месте

Compare:

• Книги лежат на месте. = The books are in their place.
• Останься на месте! = Stay where you are!

Because но means but, and it connects two clauses:

1. Во время взлёта началась лёгкая турбулентность
2. моя ручная кладь осталась на месте

In Russian, a comma is normally placed before но when it joins two clauses.

So the punctuation here is standard.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, although the original sentence sounds natural and neutral.

For example, you could also say:

• Лёгкая турбулентность началась во время взлёта, но моя ручная кладь осталась на месте.

This has almost the same meaning, but the original version starts with the time expression во время взлёта, which gives the sentence a nice narrative flow.

Russian often moves elements for emphasis, topic, or style, but this version is very natural for written or spoken description.

Yes, sometimes.

You could say:

• ...но ручная кладь осталась на месте.

This still means ...but the carry-on stayed in place.

Including моя makes it more personal and specific: my carry-on. Omitting it can sound slightly more neutral or general, depending on context.

Russian often omits possessive words when ownership is obvious, but keeping моя is perfectly normal here.

Багаж is the general word for luggage/baggage.
Кладь by itself is not as common in everyday conversation, but it survives in the fixed expression ручная кладь.

So learners should remember:

• багаж = general luggage
• ручная кладь = carry-on luggage

You will hear ручная кладь very often in airports, on airline websites, and in travel instructions.

Yes, it is a normal and common word, especially in travel and aviation contexts. It means turbulence.

Its gender is feminine, which is why we get:

• лёгкая турбулентность
• турбулентность началась

Many Russian nouns ending in -ость are feminine, for example:

• скорость = speed
• возможность = possibility
• безопасность = safety
• турбулентность = turbulence

So the ending can help you predict the gender.