Reply to: Fear of flying (and heights in general)

[Diver]

Yeh!
They are running out of planes

[Gonzo]

Anyone has it? I do

I less than 2 weeks I will take 2 British Airways flights and 2 local Russian flights

I'd rather race in F1 without helmet and seat belt in my PUG 307

There is a great website where you can get a good idea of how much at risk you really are.

http://www.airdisaster.com

It is not as sensational as it sounds. Check on the accident database and you will get an explanation for all the crashes if they have one along with the number of passengers and number of fatalities, age of aircraft etc.

You can also search by airline and aircraft model, you will see that British Airways have only ever had one crash, in 1976 in Zagreb (and that was an Air Traffic Control error).

I wouldn't recommend searching Aeroflot's record though. Not much recently though so maybe things are changing in Russia.

[Spacecadet]

worst landing i've ever had was in a 15 seater, it felt like the plane was going to go through the landing strip (wasn't exactly a runway) rather than roll along it.

Pilot then had to jump out to unload the 1 departing passengers luggage, didn't even bother switching off the engine

[DimPrawn]

Good idea. Last thing the rest of the passengers will want to contend with is you nervously sitting there all spruced up like a pox-doctor's clerk, ogling the stewardesses with your tongue slobbering all about like a Poacher's Dog whilst making the whole cabin reek of cabbage. Stick to what you know and hire a donkey to get you home to Moscow, or if you are in less of a rush, take the PUG.

[shaunbhoy]

F***!

I am off to cancel the tickets...

Good idea. Last thing the rest of the passengers will want to contend with is you nervously sitting there all spruced up like a pox-doctor's clerk, ogling the stewardesses with your tongue slobbering all about like a Poacher's Dog whilst making the whole cabin reek of cabbage. Stick to what you know and hire a donkey to get you home to Moscow, or if you are in less of a rush, take the PUG.

[Charles Foster Kane]

Ok! KFC

Come again?

[Pinto]

It's only the first 30 seconds you need to worry about - the most dangerous part of the flight.

Oh - and landing.

And turbulence, and low pressure areas, electrical storms, mechanical failure, decompression, fire, fuel leakage, shear, bird strikes, terrorists, bombs, missiles, other planes, dozy traffic controllers, hijackers...

I was on a plane that was hit by lightning once. It made an incredibly loud noise, but thankfully kept flying. Apparently, they can handle that, which is nice.

[hyperD]

So, in a nutshell, pilots do this manuveur to save their own life by avoiding a collision with incoming aircraft? How comforting

Kind of... get yourself down to West Drayton, Middx or Swanwick, Hampshire now and checkout the ATC screens at the heavy traffic on a friday evening for instance - it make you piss your pants at the density of traffic in the SE.

Most planes are keen to climb as high as poss as quick as poss for fuel management efficiency reasons. Departure are keen to get you out their area of control for the same reasons.

Near misses are still a rarity despite the density.

Still, flying an ILS to Luton is fun - I remember doing my Instrument Rating with an examiner wearing the old "foggles" (you can't see out the window, only the instrument panel - like bad frosted bi-focals) and after the Middle Marker, popping my head up at 200ft and seeing the runway 26 of whatever lined perfectly up in front of me....!

Pretty cool...

[Diver]

Ok! KFC

[Charles Foster Kane]

A lot of people fear being a few thousand feet in the air aboard plane.

Myself, I fear being a few thousand feet up without a plane

I fear poorly executed jokes.

[Diver]

A lot of people fear being a few thousand feet in the air aboard a plane.

Myself, I fear being a few thousand feet up without a plane

[Charles Foster Kane]

So your flying as well? What's your first plane gonna be.... A Tornado?

No, I'm not flying.

[AtW]

That's to avoid the incoming heavy traffic on the STAR - at this stage your comfort is the least of the airline pilots (and Air Traffic Controller's) worry.

So, in a nutshell, pilots do this manuveur to save their own life by avoiding a collision with incoming aircraft? How comforting

[hyperD]

What really annoys me in airplanes is that as soon as they take off they take rather serious angle left or right to turn plane, ffs, can't they want to gain a little bit more height before doing this?

That's to avoid the incoming heavy traffic on the STAR - at this stage your comfort is the least of the airline pilots (and Air Traffic Controller's) worry.

[pflangan]

Sounds illogical, but I got over my apprehensions of flying by taking a flying lesson. Got a half hour in blackpool in a little piper for £30. It was brilliant, and reinstated my confidence no end.

I think it's because it helped me realise a little bit about what goes on in the cockpit.

I used to hate that few seconds after take off when the engines would suddenly reduce in power, and I thought we were gonners, then i found out it was due to noise pollution.

Now I'm not saying I'm foolhardy and have 100% confidence in flying, it's the same as roller coasters, I've lost all perceived control on the situation. I still get a bit nervous when approaching touchdown, but nothing like before. Saved me a fortune in drink bills.