Fear of Flying

I just came home on a flight out of Detroit, and I sat next to this Hispanic looking girl. Now, we were on a small plane, so I expected it to be a little rougher than a normal flight, but she seemed scared from the moment she sat down. As soon as I sat down next to her she asked me if that's as far as the plane went back, referring to the tenth row. I said yes, and she quickly rebutted that this was the smallest plane she had ever been on. I said there was nothing to worry about, and that I've safely flown on much smaller planes than this. That seemed to calm her down a bit, but as soon as the engines really started blasting, she reached down into her carry-on bag and pulled out a set of rosary beads. From there on out, every couple minutes she would cross herself and mutter some prayer, maybe a Hail Mary or whatever. I'm not Catholic, obviously.

It turned out to be a great flight, much smoother than I had anticipated. When we landed she let out a big sigh of relief and immediately called her parents. She must have been around 21, as she said she was going to be a senior at Pitt. I have no idea why she was so scared, and I found it pretty funny. I see absolutely no reason for anyone to be scared. I mean, if you're going to be safe, that's fine, but if you're going to crash there's nothing you can do about it, so you may as well make it a pleasant a flight as possible.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I've only flown twice, back when airtravel was viable & you didn't even need to remove your shoes for the security checkpoints, and I had a decent experience.

For all of the times you see disaster movies about Planes, be the threat a terrorist, pilot dozing off/heart attack, or snakes, the actual chances are slim to none. If you're traveling more then 500 miles I think its safer then a car, and a car being safer less then 500 miles, don't quote me on that or nothin but that's what I heard.

The popping ears thing annoyed me though

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Chyna~Girl

I know the stats on airplanes being safer than cars... but look at it this way... I could be in a car accident tomorrow and live... I could get in a plane in December and if it crashes I'm as good as dead. Point being you can live in a car accident... NOT an airplane.

Can someone explain the lift off and the landing? Also I heard you chew gum for the ear popping thing... I don't chew gum, so what do I do?

The actual statistic isn't that you are more likely to be in a car crash, it's that you're more likely to DIE in a car crash than in a plane crash.

So yeah, not only are you more likely to be in a fender-bender, you're also more likely to be in a fatal crash than a plane crash.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Fear of flying seems based largely on the fear of death. Lose that, and you'll be golden.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Dayvon

Fear of flying seems based largely on the fear of death. Lose that, and you'll be golden.

Damn straight!

How ya doing, buddy?

Well if I knew that when the plane crashed that I wouldn't die necessarily, then I wouldn't mind crashing I drive cause I know I'm not a bad driver and if I am hit I'll be hurt to severly hurt but I may not be killed (considering I've been in a lot of accidents but not with me driving)

FELIPE NO

If you're gonna die then why should you care? It's not like you're going to know or anything.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Try taking some sleeping drugs, you will pass out as soon and you sit down on the plane and wake up when you land!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I tend to have a constant uneasy feeling when in flights and I've been through some really bad ones. I've gone through a few 24hr flights and that's simply just too much time to kill by yourself. My advise...

-Bring gum. Even if you don't chew gum just bring it anyways. Many people go through the whole ear pain crap but can tolerate it. Unlike most people though I can't simply just pop my ears and I'm ok to go. For me the pain is enough to almost bring me to tears. Chewing gum and popping my ears like others have explained, help enough to get through the landing. Is not likely you might get it as bad as me but there's always a chance.
-Bring books magazines or anything else to keep you occupied just as everyone mentioned.
-Entirely up to you but I tend to take sleeping pills for flights.
-If at all possible get sitting for the front of the plane where you feel less turbulence if any.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I've flown a number of times, mainly inter pacific flights, but a few domestic ones too. A few things can help out, most have been mentioned so far, but I'll run through them anyway;

* Bring things to do. A gameboy, books, magazines, iPod etc will do wonders to kill time, especially on the long 14 hour flights. Magazines however aren't going to last you more than an hour or so, so if you're unable to sleep you'll need more than just those to keep you busy.

* If you're unless you really want to sit against the window, as for a aisle seat or one of the ones at the front of the rows so you have an easy time getting out of your seat.

* Generally most of the larger non-domestics will have a fairly large area towards the rear of the plane near the toilets, which you're able to stand around and chat to other passengers if you get tired of sitting down. Also, you'll be where the stewards serve drinks, so help yourself to one if you're thirsty. Which leads to the next one...

* The air is much drier in the cabin area because of the height you're flying at. Be sure to drink often to prevent yourself from getting dehydrated, especially before you go to sleep. Raiding the alchohol card when it comes around is also highly recommended. Those long flights are much more bearable after a few drinks. Alternately, you're going to get hammered by jet lag after disembarking, so don't worry about hang overs too much.

* If you're planning to have sex in one of the bathrooms, a warning in advance. They're small enough with just one person, it gets a lot smaller with two and the stewards have eyes like a hawk when it comes to passengers attemping to join the mile high club.

Also, if you're looking to try and get rid of your fear of flying/heights, try going sky diving once. Jumping out of a plane at 14,000 feet should deal with it rather quickly. The view is incredible and much better than you'd get out of the window of a plane.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Well I'm getting over my fear of crashing slowly, thanks to this thread. Now I have the fear of ear pain. TY Weapon!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Chyna~Girl

Well I'm getting over my fear of crashing slowly, thanks to this thread. Now I have the fear of ear pain. TY Weapon!

The pain in your ears from the pressure doesn't happen to everyone. Some peoples ears naturally just adjust to it, so it may be you won't even notice it. At any rate, don't let it stop you from going. International travel is something everyone should do and you'd be missing out if you avoided going because of your ears. Just breathe deeply during take off and touch down and you should be fine, if that doesn't work, you simply clamp down on your nose with your thumb and index finger, and try to blow through it.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Chyna~Girl

Well I'm getting over my fear of crashing slowly, thanks to this thread. Now I have the fear of ear pain. TY Weapon!

Then my job is done here....

I doubt you'll have to worry about that though. I think this only implies to very few people. How long is your flight anyways and where are you going?

If I may ask....

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Quote:

What do you mean by 'explain'?

Take-off is pretty strait-forward. Full trust until the pilot has enough airspeed, and then he pulls back gently on the stick. After gaining a bit of altitude and speed, the gears come up. After that its just a matter of climbing to cruising altitude, setting the autopilot, and then sitting back making sure nothing out of the ordinary is happening.

Landing is more involved. I pilot needs to get an approach vector, get clearance to land, and then starts the descent. You'll feel the plane slowing down and descending. As the aircraft gets slower, the pilot gives 1/4 flaps (flaps increase the lift that the wings generate). Slower still, the landing gear come down and the pilot gives 1/2 flaps. Before landing, the pilot will give full flaps and bring the nose up so that the plane can touch down on the rear wheels first. This whole time the pilot will also be making minor course corrections to line up with the runway. I imagine that while it might seem spectacular to a passenger, its not that hard with modern ILS system. A laser beam is projected out of the runway along a vector representing the perfect approach. All a pilot has to do is line up a horizontal and vertical bar on his instrument panel, keep the correct speed, and touchdown should be perfect. This isn't always the case, since headwinds, tailwinds, and crosswinds can affect the plane's approach. Once down, airbrakes and reverse thrust are used to slown the craft down quickly.

The worst thing you are likely to experience on a flight is wind sheer on landing. Wind sheer is a sudden burst of crosswind that stall a plane (disrupition of lift generated by the wings). For the unwary pilot, this can be a shock and he might end up dropping the craft on the runway like a giant sack of bricks. Wind sheer like that is reported by the tower upon approach, so pilots know what they are flying into.

Close... but a few clarifications should be made in the name of accuracy:

In a commercial airliner you'll (most of the time) line up on the runway, and apply power against brakes to make sure the engines are spooling up right - after those quick (really quick) checks are done, the brakes get released and the throttles advance to Takeoff/Go-Aroud thrust (not full thrust as that will cause the engines to burn out and need replacing ($$$$$$$$$$$)). At speed called V1 the pilot will make the final go/nogo descision - as above this speed there is no guarantee that the plane will stop on the runway/be able to make it airborne in the case of a critical engine failure. At a slightly faster speed, known as V2 plane will 'rotate' and pitch up, transferring the weight of the aircraft from the wheels onto the wings. As soon as the aircraft lifts off the runway - and there is insufficiant runway available to land - the gear will come up (definatly not before, and most definatly not after this point), and the flap retraction wil occur as per the local noise abatement procedures - usually retracting flaps and setting climb power (again, not full thrust) through 2-3000' above ground.

The landing description above is pretty good - but there arn't just 1/4 or 1/2 flap settings on large aircraft - most airlines have 6-8 different settings for flaps (marked in degrees, not 1/2 or 1/4, the fractions are only really used in small, general aviation aircraft). The landing gear will come down when landing is assured (the gear is an important thing to note - if the gear is down on an airplane and it has an engine failure - it won't climb - it may not even be able to hold altitude. That's why it's selected up immediatly after insufficient runway is availbe to land on takeoff, and not selected down until a landing is assured - the same applies for full flaps).

And the ILS isn't quite laser beams :P It's actually an interference pattern created by two different radio signals. The instrument on board determines where you are in location to the 'centre' of the localizer and glideslope (horizonal and vertical position respectivly).



And you don't need your airbrake license to operate airliners - 99% of them are hydraulic :P The aircraft may also use other lift-destroying devices such as spoilers (Spoilers are the panels that lift up on the top of the wing after landing to 'spoil' the lift and transfer the weight of the aircraft onto the wheels). Thrust reverse is usually only used in the case of slippery runway conditions - and does not decrease landing distance on dry pavement.

And just to clarify - wind shear is when the wind is producing turbulence by two layers shearing (example: layer at 1000' above ground is blowing from the north at 30 knots, while layer at 500' is blowing south, there will be heavy turbulence due to windshear between those two layers). The most dangerous part of windshear isn't the crosswind - but rather the sudden changes in head and tailwinds.

Hope this helps, I'm going to bed. PM me if you have any other questions.

FELIPE NO