[Hogmann]

You usually try to avoid it as best you can but sometimes you just can't and other times you don't see it coming. But the plane can take quite a lot of abuse and keep flying even if it gets bent and is not flyable again. It is very intense on the flight deck when it happens and flying the plane can be a real challenge when you can barely see the instruments from all the bouncing around, but that's what autopilots are for. But if the turbulence is severe enough the autopilot will give out and you'll have to hand fly it.
The pilot seats have four point harnesses and when you know you're getting into turbulence you strap yourself in pretty tight

[r.p.mcmurphy]

Wasn't this clear air turbulence, where the crew had no inkling? I would imagine pilots are pretty fearless about it. There are tens of thousands of flights every day in modern jetliners for the past 50 or more years. I think there has been one case of winds breaking a plane mid-air, from some crazy vortex over Mt. Fuji.