MarkNovack

My Feedback: (3)

My human curiosities and fascination of airplanes come together and I read airdisaster.com crash reports. I listen to the CVRs and I tell you what...it terrifies me too. Because I know that those folks up front are human. Maybe the PIC had a bad night or the FO is pissed at the world. Maybe I just got the flight crew of clowns that has a poor grip on discipline. Perhaps the lead mechanic is suicidal. Maybe the rear cargo door was forced shut bending off the locking pins. Maybe a wind shear will slap the airplane onto the runway like the hand of god. An you know how people say "it was his time to go"? Well, what if its everyone's time on the airplane exept for mine? Do I get the parachute?

bdavison

My Feedback: (1)

You folks that wont fly crack me up.

You'll happily climb into a car or truck. Most likely that doesnt have any maintanance at all unless something breaks. The stability is directly dependant on four AIR FILLED RUBBER tires which can pop at anytime, and are far more likely to pop because you didnt check anything before you drove off (like air pressure). Crank it up without ever doing a walk around inspection. Then go barrelling along down a 40ft wide stretch of asphalt, with hundreds of other people doing the same thing. Some are drunk, some are pre-occupied with cell phones, elderly folks that cant see, and definaltly should not be driving. There are obstacles everywhere. Then you decide that the person in front of you is going too slow, so hit the accelerator, and pass him in the ONCOMING lane of traffic of a two lane road.


Yet you wont get on a airplane that recieves regular maintenance whether it needs it or not, whose stability is provided by metal reinforced wings. Its inspected from tip to tail before taking off EVERY TIME. Depending on size of the aircraft you have at least a 1/4 mile seperation between you and ANY other object. Not to mention will get you there in probably half the time it takes to drive.



Thanks, but no thanks....Ill take flying anyday.

experimental_pilot

What are you so afraid of flying for?
As one fine fighter pilot said "There's no better place to die than in the cockpit doing what you love"

Then again, if your a passenger then it is a different story. I gotta be up there calling the shots.

MarkNovack

My Feedback: (3)

For many, the fear come from ignorance. For others, the fear comes through knowing too much. Then there is simply irrational fear, common to most people in one form or another. Mine is particularly the fear of an Alaskan Airlines type disaster, the fear of having twenty minutes of vertical dives and inverted flight in an Airbus 380 with 750 other people freaking out with every reason to believe that the end is approaching and being stuck between two fat guys instead of being able to share my last minutes in petrified horror with a nice girl in a shiny vinyl catwoman outfit who "digs pressure situations and men who show fear".

Its the TO and landings and bigger bumps that turn my blood cold and palms wet. My heart speeds up and...I'm definately not astronaut material here...LOL! Is smoking allowed on the space shuttle? Its also the freakish ways that fate chooses any ordinary well maintained professionally flown airliner. I mean, nobody is stepping onto an airplane that looks like some hippie teen aged pothead's 1970 primer green missing bumpers tires sticking out from the wheel wells Mach 1 Mustang and who would stay onboard when the pilot comes walzing down the isle wearing the lampshade he stole from the notell motel reaking of grain whiskey and Jack In the Box burgers. Right off the bat the illusion of safety is present, right down to the pressed uniforms adding to the aura of an operation of military precision...and we all know how precise a wing of B-52s dumping a load of 500lbs iron slugs can be. It normally hits the right continent.

So, in that, the fear is the UNKOWN factor. Not to mention, side swiping a grocery cart in a 1969 Impala is not the same as meeting the side of a mountain coming out of the clouds at 300kts because of some minor glitch not reporting an obstacle. Plus, rolling sideways down the highway at least allows me to reckon with my mistakes as I meet my destiny which in my mind beats smelling a seat sat on by thousand before me as I contemplate what is in the carry-on bag the passenger behind me has stowed under his seat that in moments is going to be the projectile that removes my head cleanly and quickly, saving me from the agony of watching the fireball consume me like the poor weiner that fell through the grill. And that's IF I'm lucky. I get the moments to contemplate. Sometimes its too fast. One minute, biting into a 2oz nuclear hot chicken breast, the next moment molecularly bonded through heat and pressure to the economy class divider bulkhead while the souvenier bullhorns that some kid is bringing home from a bullfight in Spain secure anything remaining of me to the cockpit door for forensic inspection by the DOT wondering how to make someone survive a 500 knot impact fireball super freeze decompression after a meeting with the Andes. Or to crash and survive only to realize that the airplane was carrying hanibal lecter's soccer team.

"Hey honey, what was in those cookies we had for desert?"


Yep, its totally irrational. But its there.

DT56

My Feedback: (18)

Anyone who claims to have never experienced fear while flying is being disingenuous at the very least. I've been flying full scale airplanes and helicopters for over thirty years and still have experiences that leave me "concerned" at the outcome. Aviation, like many endeavors, requires an acceptance of a higher than normal risk. The reward for the risk is one of the greatest experiences known,----"Flight".

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Just read an accident report of a Falcon 20 in STL. They were fearless (read dumb).

They were on final and tower said "climb to 3000 and heading ...) They did it and while being vectored for the approach asked how far they would be going out. The controller said 20 miles. They said "we might uh have uh a fuel limitation here".

To make a long story short, they only had another minute of fuel. Both engines flamed out and they crashed in the river. They were calm, cool and collected. I know I wouldn't have been. I actually would not have accepted the go around in the situation. Fuel indicators were reading under 100 lbs when they initiated go around. Thats insane!!!!!!!! They didn't seem scared at all reading the transcript. They in fact never mentioned a fuel problem till about a minute before the engines quit.

Some are just not bright enough to be scared I guess.

DKjens

My Feedback: (50)

From around 1989 to 1996 I would spend every single (flyable) weekend under a hang glider. As you may know, following the paraglider, the hang glider must be the lowest wing loading person carrying air vehicle. Since all our "power" comes from thermals, ridge lift, wind shear, and other phenominas where the air/wind velocity vector has an upwards pointed component, we are known to be bounced around quite a bit. As a hang glider pilot, I really enjoyed the unstable air, and enjoyed thermal conditions much better than the boring ridge lift, etc. Flying in Southern California, we would encounter quite unstable conditions in the spring and fall, and when I graduated to fly the most awesome place on the continent, Owens Valley, I really encountered unstable air. Owens Valley will produce thermals (updrafts) of 1500-2000 fpm, and similar sink. Flying into thermals of that strength will pitch and roll you, and it's hard work getting centered, but once centered and gaining altitude at 1500 fpm, man what a rush. Of course then there are also the times where you fly into bad sink, and you end up smacking against the keel, because the glider desends faster than you free fall. Being suspended under a hag glider with 2 - 3 miles between you and earth is great freedom. I would reach an altitude of 17,300' on my longest (135 miles, 6 hours) XC flight up in Owens Valley. Now, turbulence in any aircraft is not really a problem, makes the journey more entertaining. I have to admit, I have never been on a hair raising flight as described in a couple of posts here.
DKjens

Bruno Stachel

My Feedback: (4)

As told in a previous post in this thread, my mother doesn't like to fly. My parents are in their early 80's now. Last week my brother, who just got back from a trip to Hawaii, suggested that my parents should try to go there. My father, while pointing a finger at mom, said, "We're waiting for the bridge to be built." [sm=biggrin.gif]

WacoOne

My Feedback: (3)

I'm not afraid of flying... it's crashing that scares me!

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

....Amen, Brother....[sm=thumbup.gif]