Go-Fly
Where Are My Shoes?
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2010
- Messages
- 5,610
- Reaction score
- 8,793
Grow a pair or ask for yours back.
Your friend, Go-Fly:thumbup:
Your friend, Go-Fly:thumbup:
Grow a pair or ask for yours back.
Your friend, Go-Fly:thumbup:
Besides,the pilots aren't really flying anyway...
A plane ride??
I'm afraid of having burying one of my kids before I die. I'm afraid of one day having to jump from a high rise fire because it's the better of the two options. I'm afraid of the day that men of this country aren't men anymore...
Excuse me for saying, but for an Internet tough guy, your kind of a pussy...
Perhaps putting things in perspective will lessen your fear.
Respectfully,
Rob
Everyone's got their problems....this is one of many for me.
Somewhere around the age of 20 I started to develop this phobia and now for some reason I am deathly afraid to fly. Before that I would fly all the time and actually enjoyed it. No bad experiences just woke up one day and didn't want to get near an airplane. I have flown twice in the last 20 years....once for my wife's 21st birthday....and once ten years ago when my Daytona popped out of the mold.
I realize it's an irrational fear....my brother even tells me all the time "you'll drive a boat over 100 mph but you won't get on an airplane???"
Well it looks l like I might have to get on a plane next month for a very good friends wedding:grumble: and I'm seriously shitting my pants. I'm even thinking of bailing on it.
Anyone have any ideas on how to conquer this fear?
So I'm supposed to fly tomorrow AM. I put the chances at 20/80 20 Ill go 80 I won't. It has been eating at me for two weeks. To the point you don't even know. I've been a miserable, negative SOB the last couple weeks. And I apologize.
Thanks dribble, I read the book you suggested and it helped but I'm still freaking out.
I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow morning. If I don't get on the plane I will feel like a failure and be extremely disappointed in myself.:cry:
Lol...In theory, the Titanic was a great idea too.
In general I love flying, I'm like a kid in a candy store with my face smashed to the windows to see whats below. However, I have come to not enjoy the commercial take offs/landings as I once did......I have let that thought of mechanical failure in those instances into my head.
Well, I did it. I'm in Seattle right now...actually by Lake Chelan. It wasn't easy and I wasn't sure I was even going until they closed the door on the plane. I'm not gonna lie, the takeoff got the best of me and I think I even shed a few tears. But I did it. This was my worst fear in life and at least for today I beat it.
GRADS is FAR beyond help. Lol!Great that you pulled through for your friend. If that's you in the black hoodie, you're on my airline. We have never had a fatal crash in 45 years. While I can't pretend that I have any expertise in dealing with phobias, I can answer a lot about airline flying from the perspective of the the guy in front. Let me know if I can help. PM if you like.
-Peter
I have some awareness of the redundancies in airliners, that's not what really crosses my mind........it's mechanical issues due to incorrect service/repairs.......or a simple mistake, human error, etc.My dad was a fighter pilot. I'm an airline pilot. My brother is scared every time he flies*. Go figure... Phobias are a definitely an interesting thing. I don't belittle your situation, and I hope it works out. Let us know.
*He's not deathly afraid, but definitely a white-knuckler. And he's a road warrior too, so he flies a lot. Bastard even white-knuckles when I'm the one flying
There is much much much mechanical redundcancy in a jet liner. Three separate hydraulic systems, any one of which can operate all the critical flight controls. Twin engine jet liners can not only fly on one engine, they can TAKE OFF on one engine, if the other fails at the worst possible time, which is when you are are still on the ground, but going too fast to stop in the remaining runway. AND on top of that, we train for that scenario all the time, in hyper-realistic simulators. Other redundancies you have to be a genius to think of... yet they have.
But this is a phobia we are talking about and almost by definition, phobias are not rational, (even if the people that suffer them are perfectly rational).
-Peter
I had to fly to China once.. There was this kid that was about 12 and he kept grabbing the red handle and trying to open the door to the plane. That escalated quickly.. Lol.
My friends and I were drinking beer sitting on a buddies driveway below the flight path of Van Nuys airport when a 4 seat Cessna hit nose first on the lawn across the street. Lawn dart, drilled it.
4 bodies blew out and were smashed all over the lawn and the home.
I'll never forget that.
A numb, sick feeling.
Next year my dad and his partners bought the new Cessna P210 and I got over it.
Went in the Marines and we flew everywhere.
A safe way to travel IMHO.
I have some awareness of the redundancies in airliners, that's not what really crosses my mind........it's mechanical issues due to incorrect service/repairs.......or a simple mistake, human error, etc.
The fears I experience are more about my overactive imagination, not real possibilities. Silly "what ifs"......probably learned from my wife. Lol.
I'd love to reserve the seats they have talked about that have a bubble windscreen protruding above the fuselage. [emoji106] [emoji106]
Turn 6 at Riverside was a fun one[emoji106]
I resemble that remark. Still love that show
I resemble that remark. Still love that show
Absolutely terrified of flying.. I hate it, but just suck it up every time when I do it and say "I had a good life.. Better then most." I'm embarrassed to say it but I usually hide some chicken scratch will in my tool box before I fly. .
That said I grew up flying in small planes.. They don't bother me near as much as an airliner. Strangely since I was a kid I have had this reoccurring thought that I was going to die in an airliner that was high jacked by terrorists.. This is essay before 9/11. After 9/11 I pretty much get shithoused to even get on a plane.
I had to fly to China once.. There was this kid that was about 12 and he kept grabbing the red handle and trying to open the door to the plane. That escalated quickly.. Lol.
Mostly true but not 100% accurate..........the case in point is the DC10 crash at N. Sioux City SD in the mid 90's as flown by Capt. Al Baines.......a true hero in my mind. Basically the engine in the tail of the DC10 he was flying failed resulting in it coming apart and taking out all 3 completely independent and redundant hydraulic systems which unfortunately all happened to be routed through the same part of the empanage (tail section) of the plane and were all destroyed when the engine came apart. Captain Al and his crew did a masterful job of controlling the airplane with only differential thrust on the 2 remaining engines and were able to get the plane (almost miraculously) to the airport and on the ground in what resulted in a controlled crash but............saving many lives even though the death toll was in excess of 100 there were a similar number of folks were able to go home to their families........miraculous :thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsupEven then... There are very few mistakes a mechanic can make that can cause a crash. The redundant systems AND the way we operate, checking critical systems before flight,... There are layer upon layer of safety nets. Almost nothing gets through to where it hurts somebody. Commercial air crashes in the modern era are so rare, that each one is a singular event, caused by a chain of unlikely events that all happen to break a certain way. No one screwup ever causes a crash in the modern era, it takes a stackup of them, each one increasingly unlikely. Commercial jet travel is extraordinarily complex, no doubt: while you're cozy in the cabin, you're really in an environment so hellish and hostile, it might as well be space. Sometimes, you're in the stratosphere. The air is so thin at 41,000 feet you would have less than 10 seconds before you black out, even if you can hold your breath for minutes. And you would still die, because there isn't enough air to stay alive even if you're sleeping. At 550mph, the air blast would tear the flesh right off your bones. It's 60 below zero, even in the middle of summer over the Mojave Desert where it's 115degF. Engines making the equivalent of tens of thousands of hosepower, the strain that alone puts on an airframe. If you've ever done construction, imagine those kind of temperature variations happening multiple times a day to a wood framed or wood floored house? And stuff does go wrong. Of course it does. More than you know. BUT... Once again, a combination of the redundancy of mechanical systems, and the checking and monitoring of the serious stuff works. It stops any single failure from progressing and getting worse. In metal and plastics, it's stop-drilling a crack so it doesn't grow any more.
It all adds up to making commercial air travel hugely safe, even with all the power, speed, heat, cold, thin air, all of it. But the rational you, already knows this. Remember, we are talking about phobias here.
BTW, I've got six and a two year old little girls. Being their daddy got me to quit racing my car, so I fully understand. I don't know if I can still take turn 9 at Willow springs as fast as I used to, because of it... That and one day a guy I was racing with took that turn too fast because he knew I was going to pass him on the straightaway, and crashed. He was life flighted out. He didn't survive the night. Thankfully, I barely knew him. But I've never forgotten.
-Peter
Mostly true but not 100% accurate..........the case in point is the DC10 crash at N. Sioux City SD in the mid 90's as flown by Capt. Al Baines.......a true hero in my mind.