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*FLYING*

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  • You are at your most vulnerable point as a passenger when on the ground. It's the most loss effective phase of travelling in an aircraft.
    That's why I drive myself everywhere
  • edited September 2020
    I also had late onset fear of flying. Was generally fine when at 30,000 ft but really didn't enjoy takeoff, climb, descent or landing. Looking up the statistics and reading articles genuinely made me feel better, but there is still a slight sense of nervousness there. 

    I did have a bad experience on a plane, got caught in a typhoon 8 coming back to Hong Kong. Plane felt like it was dropping 20 feet, then recovering ,then repeating. Pilot talking on the intercom with dread in his voice about attempting to land with zero visibility, high winds. People screaming, vomiting. It was a reet good laugh.  
  • I don't know where my fear comes from. Used to fly all the time, then had a period of about 3 or 4 years when I didn't and have got gradually worse over the last 10 years or so.

    I did watch a air crash investigation documntary about a passenger plane that lost the use of it's tail rudder(?) and was in a mountainous area, in Asia somewhere, so they basically had to wait to run out of fuel before going down in the mountains. I think this was after I stopped flying though.

    Coincidentally watch these 2 documentaries over the last few weeks. The first is definitely worth a watch, the blokes a legend -

    https://youtu.be/aqPvVxxIDr0

    https://youtu.be/SX1SLJmeGEY
  • Never been in a plane crash - but did have a very late aborted landing and fly around at Gatwick a few years ago (coming back from 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough incidentally). 

    It was pretty scary. Pilot just calmly announced that it was due to another plane being on the runway.....so god knows how that happened?!?

    Also has a very hard landing in high winds in NY. Was with a mate.....and although he denies it, we were definitely holding hands at some stage 😄
    Had a couple of aborted landings. 1 just a month ago in high winds. Doesn't help when the woman behind screams oh my god just to get everyone in a cheery mood. Then the sound of everyone chucking their guts up was lovely.
  • The professional pilot profession is one I really admire. The rest of us could learn a lot from them, except that most of us probably don't have the personal make- up  to do the job anyway. When something does happen, I go to  their forum and read what they are saying. I find it very reassuring, although it often gets techie. There are several book out there by pilots worth reading, of which the standout for me is Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoenacker an unexpected thing of beauty that doesn't just tell you what's going on, but why people can grow to love flying. And I regard it at best as a necessary pain in the arse, experience wise.

    Of course we could start a thread entitled "people you know whose lives have been destroyed or messed up by car accidents" and I could write half a page on that, but somehow we never see them because we are all great drivers, aren't we?
  • I was watching a series on YouTube that follows the Easy Jet pilots. That reassured me a lottle but tbh
  • edited September 2020
    Statistically, if you took a flight everyday it would be 250,000 years before you were involved in an incident and then there's only a 1 in 8 chance of dying. Compared to every other form of transport that is truly sensational.

    You're 3.5x as likely to die in a train as in a plane, over 100x more likely to die in your car, and that's assuming you travel the same distance. I usually get away once or twice a year, so probably average around between 2k and 10k miles a year by plane. I do 20k+ miles in my car, so I'm 200 to 1000 times more likely to die in a car compared to a plane.
    Nevertheless they still crash. 1 in 8 is pretty short odds on living or not when in shunt. 
    I lost 2 family members a few years back, everyone on board also dead.
     
    On the upside I guess statistically it would be astronomical odds of anyone else I know to meet the same end. Anyone want to travel with me :smiley:  
  • I think the fear is of being so high up and not necessarily of crashing, which would maybe explain why the same people don't fear getting into and travelling in a car


  • I hear positive stories about this course. Fear of flying is irrational, but its also very understandable. 

    https://fearlessflyer.easyjet.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6YOoyujv6wIVEuntCh1B3wdGEAAYASAAEgLUR_D_BwE
  • I think the fear is of being so high up and not necessarily of crashing, which would maybe explain why the same people don't fear getting into and travelling in a car


    It's also said that a lot of people with fear of flying are unsettled by the loss of 'control". When driving you are in complete control. Does not quite explain why less people worry about surrendering control in a train or bus. That could be because of your suggestion, you surrender control and in a very "odd " environment.
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  • Do have to wonder what would possess people with a fear of flying to watch documentaries about plane crashes? 
  • I've never experienced a crash but had two aborted take-offs in quite close succession about 10 years ago. The one at Manila Airport was quite scary as we seemed to be a long way up the runway on take-off when the pilot hit the brakes and slewed around. The one at Kuala Lumpur was similar but I had no idea how far we had gone up the runway before he shoved on the brakes.

    I actually found a pilot's three attempts to land at Gatwick more frightening. Partly, because there were three or four off-duty BA cabin staff on the flight that were screaming. On the third attempt, we landed and the pilot, in that typical pilot voice, said "Well, I think we will be the last flight coming into Gatwick for a while. I can tell you that the Air France flight that was also trying to land has turned round and gone back to France". It really did feel like a chant of "England 1 France 0" was needed.
  • edited September 2020
    The professional pilot profession is one I really admire. The rest of us could learn a lot from them, except that most of us probably don't have the personal make- up  to do the job anyway.
    Or probably the financial backing...It can be VERY expensive to become a pilot, especially when training with the big airlines. They do subsidise (or can if needed) training that then gets clawed back through salary but not all. Was something I started doing, but was too expensive to go down the "fast track" route. Moved into air traffic control instead, breezed through the tests to then start training but was offered a job in I.T elsewhere which I took up instead.

    Or have I just repeated your point and "personal make- up" means £££? Ha
  • edited September 2020

    I think the fear is of being so high up and not necessarily of crashing, which would maybe explain why the same people don't fear getting into and travelling in a car


    It's also said that a lot of people with fear of flying are unsettled by the loss of 'control". When driving you are in complete control. Does not quite explain why less people worry about surrendering control in a train or bus. That could be because of your suggestion, you surrender control and in a very "odd " environment.
    That is definitely me
  • Chunes said:
    Do have to wonder what would possess people with a fear of flying to watch documentaries about plane crashes? 
    Same reason people watch documentaries about serial killers and A&E I suppose
  • I don't know where my fear comes from. Used to fly all the time, then had a period of about 3 or 4 years when I didn't and have got gradually worse over the last 10 years or so.

    I did watch a air crash investigation documntary about a passenger plane that lost the use of it's tail rudder(?) and was in a mountainous area, in Asia somewhere, so they basically had to wait to run out of fuel before going down in the mountains. I think this was after I stopped flying though.

    Coincidentally watch these 2 documentaries over the last few weeks. The first is definitely worth a watch, the blokes a legend -

    https://youtu.be/aqPvVxxIDr0

    https://youtu.be/SX1SLJmeGEY
    Sure I seen that one. Wasn't it because they had fitted the wrong bolt in the tail which moves the tail rudder which became jammed?
  • Like others, I am a bad flyer. I feel vulnerable that high up in a small tin can. I know it's completely irrational but it is that feeling of being out of control that I think causes it.

    It's a shame as I actually love planes as engineering marvels.
  • cafcpolo said:
    The professional pilot profession is one I really admire. The rest of us could learn a lot from them, except that most of us probably don't have the personal make- up  to do the job anyway.
    Or probably the financial backing...It can be VERY expensive to become a pilot, especially when training with the big airlines. They do subsidise (or can if needed) training that then gets clawed back through salary but not all. Was something I started doing, but was too expensive to go down the "fast track" route. Moved into air traffic control instead, breezed through the tests to then start training but was offered a job in I.T elsewhere which I took up instead.

    Or have I just repeated your point and "personal make- up" means £££? Ha
    Not all the pilots on that forum are with big airlines. That became very clear when they were discussing the Sala tragedy. They were incandescent about many aspects of that affair, including regulatory control and the greed of those who provide such flights. Beside the point but many of them wanted Willie McKay strung up, which made me like them even more.
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  • It's not flying I'm scared of its crashing
  • I cannot think of anything more unnatural than humans flying and that includes eating your own shit, I think that primal fear is very apparent for some.
    For many years I was like BA Baracus and would only fly when a sedative had been applied to my milk.

    About ten years ago i was undone by wanderlust. Whilst there is plenty of beautiful things to see by train, foot, car and boat. The fear of not flying was more detrimental to me.

  • I don't know where my fear comes from. Used to fly all the time, then had a period of about 3 or 4 years when I didn't and have got gradually worse over the last 10 years or so.

    I did watch a air crash investigation documntary about a passenger plane that lost the use of it's tail rudder(?) and was in a mountainous area, in Asia somewhere, so they basically had to wait to run out of fuel before going down in the mountains. I think this was after I stopped flying though.

    Coincidentally watch these 2 documentaries over the last few weeks. The first is definitely worth a watch, the blokes a legend -

    https://youtu.be/aqPvVxxIDr0

    https://youtu.be/SX1SLJmeGEY
    Sure I seen that one. Wasn't it because they had fitted the wrong bolt in the tail which moves the tail rudder which became jammed?
    Can't remember exacty tbh mate, but sounds like it
  • BA Baracus is getting a lot of airtime on this forum recently
  • I'm a confessed AVgeek, love planes, Military stuff not the shed with wings stuff you find in West London - I'm not a spotter (before anyone says it) as I don't collect registrations - but will stand for hours at the end of a runway in the hope of photographing something different but, I still get anxious when flying. It's natural I guess
  • I have flown a lot over many years, both short and long-haul. For a large part of that I never gave the potential risks a moments thought. I have never experienced any really major turbulence and apart from a few aborted landings have never had any incidents of any kind.

    Then about 15 years ago I went through a period of a couple of years where I became extremely nervous at take-off time - grabbing on to the seat armrests for dear life, sweating etc. Nothing different had occurred, I just became very aware of the fact that I was hurtling down a runway in a large heavy piece of metal that somehow had to lift off of the ground. After a couple of minutes of being in the air I was absolutely fine and didn't give it a second thought, nor when it came to land. That nervousness stopped as suddenly as it started. I got over it by trying to concentrate on reading during take off or watching something on the iPad and don't know why it started.

    I was lucky in that with our company for any flight >4 hours you flew business class and being able to use the lounges before the flight and the calmest of the cabin on the flight made it a much more pleasant experience for me.

    So now I am retired the plan was to do more travelling for pleasure. However, in the last 3 years I have only flown 3 times within Europe. The bugger is that my wife (who also used to travel a lot for work) and I have 2 million air miles in our family BA account and have zero desire to get on a plane any time soon!
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