na§tee
12-20-2006, 06:21 AM
ooohhh, when you were young! life was so simple. when you were sick you got covered in vick's vaporub and stayed off school. you watched teenage mutant hero turtles all day and it was acceptable to go into crying fits of rage and wack your brother round the head with a spade (sort of).
flying was a breeze! i mean, what's not to love? massive speeds down runways, that "ooooh!" feeling in your tummy when it takes off, awesome colouring books from the stewardesses and yummy airline food. (actually, i suffered from extremely severe earpain during descent because it takes much longer and spent most of these journeys crying and crying and crying in pain but still). children are FEARLESS.
but maaaan, now? now i am scared as hell of flying. not so much that i would never considering going on a plane, but enough to make me massively uncomfortable and full of fear that IF THIS PLANE GETS IN TROUBLE, I AM DYING FO SHO YO!
i think it may stem from my flatmate's addiction to air crash investigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Crash_Investigation) (mayday in canada). i've seriously seen every single episode. like someone who is scared of sharks and spiders i am fascinated by watching programmes where your fears are MANIFEST and things go horribly, horribly wrong.
also, i live just a few miles from where this man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdelbaset_ali_Mohmed_al-Megrahi) is serving a life sentence for the lockerbie disaster. go team!
when we went to paris i had two pints of cider at 6am before i got on the plane. airport alcohol FTW! ranald is admittedly equally as scared as i am but when the plane is taking off i normally just press the magazine into my face and repeat something along the lines of "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG" manically into the fold.
when we're cruising, it's fine. it's taking off that is the bad part. according to my research, 80% of plane crashes occur shortly before, after or during takeoff or landing. it's not that i think the pilots aren't skilled people or the people who check-the-runway-for-teeny-pieces-of-debris-that-might-hinder-the-plane aren't doing their jobs properly, it's those little things we can't predict like weather or, uh, other things. other planes, too. have you seen all the planes queuing up to land when they're in the sky? crazy, man, crazy. also, i seen that aircrash investigation of the Überlingen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashkirian_Airlines_Flight_2937) mid-air collision and all the cherub-cheeked russian schoolchildren! seriously, what are the chances?! the amount of fucking sky ABOVE, BELOW, LEFT and RIGHT and you find another plane? jesus h christ.
if i can choose the seat to sit in i will always pick one which is at the intersection of the wings because i believe that is the strongest area and most people have a record of living if they are positioned thus.
if this fails, i choose to sit as close to a child as possible. fo' realz. because, like we were when we were younger, they are so chilled and relaxed and giggly (or crying if they're babies). also, i think god would never be so cruel to kill an innocent child so, hell, i'm saved! (of course, we all know god has killed numerous innocent babies and more russian schoolchildren but i'm not countin'..)
i don't like people who don't listen to the stewardesses during their safety demonstrations. i've heard it 100 times but i'm seriously like the geek student in class just nodding encouragement and counting the number of rows to the nearest emergency exit.
i totally LOL at the "landing on water" thing though. haha! landing on water! i don't know if that has ever in the history of aviation succeeded. according to my research, this is true! (i have a lot of spare time at work today, kids) in the economist they say that "in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero" and "so the life jackets.. have little purpose other than to make passengers feel better". also, i have seen the images of ethiopian airlines flight 961 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961) crashing into the water many, many times. i few survived there, though, because it was a narrow-bodied jet. but many inflated their life vests before exiting and drowned. god. how shitty is that? shitty.
yes, we are a household of voyeurs. we're sick. SICK.
anyway, i made this thread because i had some time to kill and i am flying to bristol to see my mommy tomorrow. i was just wondering if i'm alone here.
does anyone else have any flying fear? do you, too, cling to the integrity of innocent children? tell me. share. bobby, tell me everything will be alright. i am unaware of exactly what you do at the airport but i'm sure you know your stuff. i know it sounds silly but i'm in a metal can thousands of feet above the ground. it goes against all natural laws! ARGGHHH!
flying was a breeze! i mean, what's not to love? massive speeds down runways, that "ooooh!" feeling in your tummy when it takes off, awesome colouring books from the stewardesses and yummy airline food. (actually, i suffered from extremely severe earpain during descent because it takes much longer and spent most of these journeys crying and crying and crying in pain but still). children are FEARLESS.
but maaaan, now? now i am scared as hell of flying. not so much that i would never considering going on a plane, but enough to make me massively uncomfortable and full of fear that IF THIS PLANE GETS IN TROUBLE, I AM DYING FO SHO YO!
i think it may stem from my flatmate's addiction to air crash investigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Crash_Investigation) (mayday in canada). i've seriously seen every single episode. like someone who is scared of sharks and spiders i am fascinated by watching programmes where your fears are MANIFEST and things go horribly, horribly wrong.
also, i live just a few miles from where this man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdelbaset_ali_Mohmed_al-Megrahi) is serving a life sentence for the lockerbie disaster. go team!
when we went to paris i had two pints of cider at 6am before i got on the plane. airport alcohol FTW! ranald is admittedly equally as scared as i am but when the plane is taking off i normally just press the magazine into my face and repeat something along the lines of "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG" manically into the fold.
when we're cruising, it's fine. it's taking off that is the bad part. according to my research, 80% of plane crashes occur shortly before, after or during takeoff or landing. it's not that i think the pilots aren't skilled people or the people who check-the-runway-for-teeny-pieces-of-debris-that-might-hinder-the-plane aren't doing their jobs properly, it's those little things we can't predict like weather or, uh, other things. other planes, too. have you seen all the planes queuing up to land when they're in the sky? crazy, man, crazy. also, i seen that aircrash investigation of the Überlingen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashkirian_Airlines_Flight_2937) mid-air collision and all the cherub-cheeked russian schoolchildren! seriously, what are the chances?! the amount of fucking sky ABOVE, BELOW, LEFT and RIGHT and you find another plane? jesus h christ.
if i can choose the seat to sit in i will always pick one which is at the intersection of the wings because i believe that is the strongest area and most people have a record of living if they are positioned thus.
if this fails, i choose to sit as close to a child as possible. fo' realz. because, like we were when we were younger, they are so chilled and relaxed and giggly (or crying if they're babies). also, i think god would never be so cruel to kill an innocent child so, hell, i'm saved! (of course, we all know god has killed numerous innocent babies and more russian schoolchildren but i'm not countin'..)
i don't like people who don't listen to the stewardesses during their safety demonstrations. i've heard it 100 times but i'm seriously like the geek student in class just nodding encouragement and counting the number of rows to the nearest emergency exit.
i totally LOL at the "landing on water" thing though. haha! landing on water! i don't know if that has ever in the history of aviation succeeded. according to my research, this is true! (i have a lot of spare time at work today, kids) in the economist they say that "in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero" and "so the life jackets.. have little purpose other than to make passengers feel better". also, i have seen the images of ethiopian airlines flight 961 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961) crashing into the water many, many times. i few survived there, though, because it was a narrow-bodied jet. but many inflated their life vests before exiting and drowned. god. how shitty is that? shitty.
yes, we are a household of voyeurs. we're sick. SICK.
anyway, i made this thread because i had some time to kill and i am flying to bristol to see my mommy tomorrow. i was just wondering if i'm alone here.
does anyone else have any flying fear? do you, too, cling to the integrity of innocent children? tell me. share. bobby, tell me everything will be alright. i am unaware of exactly what you do at the airport but i'm sure you know your stuff. i know it sounds silly but i'm in a metal can thousands of feet above the ground. it goes against all natural laws! ARGGHHH!