Nervous about flying?

i never minded flying till i got my pilots license, now i get very annoyed sitting in the back, i need to see the instruments, just so i can keep an eye on what there up too.
 
I have no problem dying, its HOW I die that im concerned about.


I DON'T want to be 33,000 in the air and realise in the not to distant future that I will be crashing into the ground at terminal velocity whilst being frozen to death. :/
 
Flying is the most boring, hateful thing ever. It's totally safe which only adds to the dullness.

I'd rather just not ever go on holiday ever again if it meant not having to sit in a plane.
Get a small laptop. That sorted it for me :D
 
I have no problem dying, its HOW I die that im concerned about.


I DON'T want to be 33,000 in the air and realise in the not to distant future that I will be crashing into the ground at terminal velocity whilst being frozen to death. :/

far worse ways to go
 
the fact the airline industry refers to passengers as "self loading freight" tends to sum it up.

Are you a member of pprune or flyertalk? :p


*****

I'm rather surprised at the numbers of people nervous about flying from reading various forums.
Well.. I like being on a commercial flight because:

* viewing the land from above is awesome
* for views like this
DSCF0275e.jpg

* I like airline food :o


Downsides are:

* more easy to catch something off someone
* you get the passengers who ignore the safety instructions
* turbulence when you're eating your meal, don't like being disrupted whilst eating
 
was about to use the exact same words.
Admittedly I'm a little biased at the moment due to being upgraded to Club World on my last flight :)

Even better is the reason why - my bro+sis had to be added to the flight last-minute which meant bumping up people from economy > premium, and people like me from premium > club :D
 
It's a ratio of risk vs severity vs chance of it happening. Chances are low, severity is typically high, and risk is relatively low.

Risk matrix approach to flying. :D

Flying has never bothered me, I figure there isn't a lot I can do about it if there was to be a crash so I might as well enjoy the flight. I also still grin stupidly at the acceleration down the runway every single time, however beyond that point flying has really started to bore me, I know some people think that the travelling is part of the fun but it's not really when all you are doing is sitting in an uncomfortable seat for the next 4/6/12/whatever hours.
 
I've not been on a plane for around 15 years and I flew back from Newquay yesterday. I was nervous as hell.

We got called into the boarding pen when the Air Steward advised that there was a minor fault with the plane and they are flying an engineer in from Plymouth to have a look :eek:

I just think of the worst what can happen. When the plane had gotten signed off and we eventually boarded, I was sitting in my seat looking at the propellar and could just see birds flying into it. I was then looking at all of the panels and how old they look, thinking it might fall to bits.

I became more at ease as the journey went on and was getting used to the engine sounds etc. Amazing views though which was the best thing about it. Hopefully i'll be more confident getting on other planes in the future.

Anyone else think of Final Destination type scenarios? That film does not help one bit.

I empathise 110% with you. Congrats for actually getting on the flight though.

I've had 'issues' with flying for a few years now and haven't flown for over three years. The last time I flew was a flight back from Munich on RyanAir in June 2006. There's no worse feeling than sitting at the gate waiting for the bus to come to take you out to an aircraft you really do not want to get on to, but know you have to to get home. That's the thing that people who have no problem don't realise; merely having one flight somehwere is not necessarily the be-all and end-all of it - you have to get on another one to come home again!

Since then I've not flown at all. Things came to a head last year when I was due to go on a stag do to Tallinn in March 2008 and I signed up, paid my money but then ended up calling my mate (the stag) the night before to tell him I was bottling it (He accepted it with good grace and understanding). In the lead up to that time I'd had all sorts of images in my mind's eye, and was struggling to sleep, or even eat properly (I lost 3/4 of a stone in the 2 weeks prior).

In the months after that, my life has been dominated by thoughts about even contemplating getting on another aircraft. I did not want to be put on prozac or anything so instead sought alternative therapy via hypnotherapy. The place I went to seemed very good, and I had three sessions based around timeline therapy and NLP. This I thought had resolved it as I was able to stop thinking about it all the time, and even book a holiday with the GF.

However, I am due to fly to Greece a week on Monday (24th August) - 3 1/2 hours each way - with the GF for her friend's wedding, and am absolutely dreading it. What's more, I'm worrying about letting the GF down if I do bottle it...

I guess for me it is the lack of control over the situation (save for not actually getting on the aircraft in the first place), the claustrophobia of being on-board (combined with the boredom of sitting in a seat for 3+ hours) and like other people have mentioned, the thought that if something goes wrong, you're left with several minutes contemplating your fate before it happens.

I really wish I wasn't like this. People who just tell you to 'man up' really have no idea about the mental anguish that this can cause.
 
I quite like it, I prefer the window seat for the views. Sometimes i get a bit bored but i just get my ds out for games or videos. Saying that i flew back from zante on sunday and on monday/tuesday/little bit today I've been suffering from an awful cold which i'm putting down to the enclosed space.
 
What a silly post =/

Why post random plane crashes? It happens, and a far lot worse than when travelling in a car / bus / train etc.

Probably to wind up the OP?

You wanna try flying with Generalised Anxiety Disorder, its fun :D


I really wish I wasn't like this. People who just tell you to 'man up' really have no idea about the mental anguish that this can cause.

Exactly, this annoys me.
 
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In my opinion I think a lot of peoples irrational fear of flying comes from a lack of understanding. Planes are very large, very complicated machines and in most peoples eyes they are just a bunch of things waiting to go wrong.

Whilst they are complicated and indeed there are a lot of things that can and DO go wrong, the safety aspects of not only the manufacture of planes, but also how they are operated, is second to none. You only have the look at the number of redundant systems on the A380 to know that every system on the plane could pretty much fail, twice, and the plane would still be in the air.

Cars and car safety standards are much more unsafe!
 
You only have the look at the number of redundant systems on the A380 to know that every system on the plane could pretty much fail, twice, and the plane would still be in the air.

Cars and car safety standards are much more unsafe!

It might be safer (I think its even safer per trip v road) but...

I watched all the series of air crash investigator on discovery.. I aint getting on a plane...

having said that I did play ms flight sim a lot... if the pilots die in a freak accident i recon I could land the sucker... as long as up and down are w and x...
 
In my opinion I think a lot of peoples irrational fear of flying comes from a lack of understanding. Planes are very large, very complicated machines and in most peoples eyes they are just a bunch of things waiting to go wrong.

Whilst they are complicated and indeed there are a lot of things that can and DO go wrong, the safety aspects of not only the manufacture of planes, but also how they are operated, is second to none. You only have the look at the number of redundant systems on the A380 to know that every system on the plane could pretty much fail, twice, and the plane would still be in the air.

Cars and car safety standards are much more unsafe!

Tell that to the airbus.....



Im sorry but you cannot compare it to cars. Sure cars have crashes, but you are often traveling @ 70mph instead of 300mph, you stop in seconds whatever the case, vs being 33,000ft in the air...


If a car fails, you will usually skid around the place and stop. If you are unlucky you will hit something. On a plane if it fails..............you go down.



That saying, I do gulp at fights especially after my last encounter, but I accept it as a small risk of life.
 
the last time i flew i had a long wait in the airport so had a little sleep. i had a nightmare in which the plane crashed. i was terrified when i got on that plane... but fell asleep shortly after take off and never woke up till just before landing :p
 
I'm not actually afraid of flying, flown many many times throughout my life, but the last time I flew (4 months ago) I was absolutely floored with an apparent anxiety attack, about 2 hours before we left the house for the airport. Worse still I was driving.

I'm flying again in three weeks so lightning better not strike twice.
 
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