afraid to fly?

[davestlouis]

I haven't been on a plane in 10 or more years. I used to fly just fine, until I got cable TV and caught a show about the little things that can bring a plane down, and I became almost phobic about it. I have also seen the victims of a plane crash at work(mortuary) which didn't help anything.

Anyone else here afraid to fly? Anyone overcome that fear? How? And please don't tell me that flying is safer than ground transport...if my engine breaks down I coast off the side of the road, at 35K feet it's a larger crisis.

 

[Geesie]

Flying is my least preferred means of transportation. I'd rather take a week to cross the ocean than 18 hours to fly it. Safety is only a part of that, though - "there are more planes in the sea than ships in the sky". It's really too bad (and I'm sure lots of people here would agree with me) that passenger ships are pretty much gone.

Statistically, flying is a lot safer than driving. However, they're not substitutes. When I travel long distances by car, most of that distance is largely empty. I am in control of the vehicle and I know my car's status and my own abilities. The really dangerous places to drive are around lots of other drivers, who may be drunk, distracted, or just lethally incompetent. But you can't fly those trips instead, the danger is going to be there whether you're afraid to fly or not.

And traveling by helicopter REALLY scares me. I swear those things just stay up on hopes and prayers.

Anyway, I'm not really scared of flying per se, but those are my thoughts about it. I only fly when I don't have time to travel any other way. To conclude, I'm glad that rail travel is experiencing a minor rebirth! Let's hope for more absurd TSA regulations to push people to the trains!

 

[davestlouis]

Lord have mercy...the only way I'm getting in a helicopter is if I'm being airlifted in a medical emergency, and I had best be unconscious...yikes.

 

[anon`]

Absolutely not! I love flying! Well, I love the taking off and landing and looking out the window from 35,000 feet and all that... can do without the other people though, and am not particularly fond of it as a means for travel where time and money at not constrained. Helicopters don't bother me, either, and I'd love to be a pilot.

Flying is no total substitute for cars or trains or even ocean liners, but I neither dislike it out of principle, nor do I fear it.

Thank you, Norns!

 

[Viola]

Well I was terrified to fly. Absolutely hated it.

And I fell in love with a guy from 9,000 miles away. Basically somebody's family is always going to be on the other side of the planet. I'll be flying the rest of my life.

I told my mom I just got over being scared. Its not strictly true; I mostly decided they work 99.9% of the time and the rest of the time, you won't feel a thing. It isn't like car crashes that can be all ugly and then you gotta deal with whiplash and scars forever.

Then I get on the plane and go determinedly to sleep. I do not like being awake the whole time thinking about it.

I still don't care for take offs and landings, or feeling the movement. But it is in someways less scary than some sketchier bus rides.

 

[JimWagner]

After being on a navy flight crew for a couple of years in the 60's I chose to never fly again. Afraid? Yeah, in the same way I'm afraid to drive my car off a cliff.

 

[Harp]

And traveling by helicopter REALLY scares me. I swear those things just stay up on hopes and prayers.

Choppers---have I most dearly hoped and prayed for. :eusa_clap lol

 

[Geesie]

Someone once told me that the 53s fly by scaring the deck.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Lord have mercy...the only way I'm getting in a helicopter is if I'm being airlifted in a medical emergency, and I had best be unconscious...yikes.

Been there, done that, probably good I was unconscious but some day I hope to go up in one while in good health and awake. My supervisor told me that taking off and going straight up was like being on an elevator... then it tilted forward and got bumpy!lol

It was a US Army Blackhawk, part of what they called "Dustoff Europe" and it was transferring me from a civilian hospital in Belgium to Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany. I think that would have been a great trip in other circumstances!

To get slightly back on topic, flying has never really bothered me itself. What I dislike is that the romance is definitely gone from air travel. Too-small seats, crowded airplanes, TSA restrictions that seem to be more to give an appearance of doing something than actually being useful, having to take your shoes off to walk so they can be X-rayed while you walk through the metal detector, the new and imaginative fees they keep coming up with, and on and on and on. Unless you have the means to fly business or first class it's become something to be endured, not enjoyed.

I will note that the morning I was to fly out of Guam back to the states on leave a KAL 747 landed a bit short of the runway. I heard it on the news while I was packing. I looked at the book I'd planned to read on the flight, Michael Chichton's Airframe, and tossed it into my suitcase instead. As I was being driven to the airport we could see the smoke tower from the crash site, and USN helicopters were flying back and forth carrying and dropping water to put out the fires it caused and airlifting survivors out of the rough terrain. When the time came I got on my plane and flew to California. I figured that statistically, my odds had gotten a lot better! lol

At least, that's my take on it.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[sixties.nut]

afraid of flying?

I have no problems with the flying part. It's the landings that shakes me!

 

[sixties.nut]

I haven't been on a plane in 10 or more years. I used to fly just fine, until I got cable TV and caught a show about the little things that can bring a plane down

Just were where you planning on flying to anyway?

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Isn't that amazing!... I spend every day hoping/wishing/praying to fly again soon! While out and about, I find myself staring at the sky and assessing the flying conditions - every time I hear a propeller slicing the sky, I glance up to try to identify the aircraft type! I am obsessed with flying!

-dixon cannon

 

[Yeps]

I love flying, but detest commercial jets. Maybe its because I am 6'6" and I don't fit in them. Then again, I don't fit in any public transportation, or most cars. Oh well.

 

[shortbow]

When I was younger I had several really close calls in planes both big and small. Now I wouldn't get in one if there were a gun to my head. Like Granpappy used to say, "If men were meant to fly, God would have given...."lol

 

[Yeps]

Like Granpappy used to say, "If men were meant to fly, God would have given...."lol

them the brains and resolve to make airplanes.

 

[davestlouis]

I don't have a particular trip in mind, but the company where I work sends people to TX for training sometimes, ans we can win trips to vacation destinations...I'm trying to get mentally prepared for actually winning a trip.

 

[Geesie]

Not that I recommend this path, but airports have bars for a reason.

 

[Treetopflyer]

Yup!

airports have bars for a reason

for the pilots.

 

[Spitfire]

I love flying - no problem there.
But a friend of mine was absolutely terrified of the thought.
So I persuaded him to take a ride with me in a small 4 seater aeroplane.
He could see the ground all the time, he could feel the plane moving and he could actually feel flying - which you cannot in one of them big 747s.
That cured him - I will not say he's as mad about flying as I am - but he has no problems with it now.

 

[scotrace]

I love to fly! Even if the thing crashes, my gosh, look where you are! In the AIR! Think of all the millions who came before you who only dreamed of such a thing and thought it absolutely impossible. And there you are, above the clouds, playing trivia games with the total strangers onboard, peering out at the wonder of it from a viewpoint that is breathtaking. There are certainly worst places to meet your maker.

(edit to add: That reads like I TOTALLY just jinxed myself. )