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Anyone here afraid of Flying?

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Synbios459

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I get to go to next years E3 which I'm really excited about, however I live in Oklahoma so I can choose between either a 3 hour flight, or a 2 day drive. I am really considering flying, but after hearing all the plane crashes lately I'm not to sure. Anyone else afraid?
 
Synbios459 said:
I get to go to next years E3 which I'm really excited about, however I live in Oklahoma so I can choose between either a 3 hour flight, or a 2 day drive. I am really considering flying, but after hearing all the plane crashes lately I'm not to sure. Anyone else afraid?
Click to expand...

No.

You're a billion times more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash. It's an exaggeration, but you get the point.
 
i know all the stats and figures but im just scared of flying. i dont know..the slightest turbulence and im screaming like a lil school girl.
 
I know how you feel, I'm afraid of flying too - namely the take-offs freak me out. Despite this, I fly some hundred take-offs a year. Still, I never seem to get used to it.
 
I can't wait until we have commercial space flight so Neo GAF 2K15 will have topics such as:

Anyone here afraid of spaceflight to Moon Earth Dock?

and...

Northwest Aerospace: Worst Spacefleet Ever!
 
Synbios459 said:
I get to go to next years E3 which I'm really excited about, however I live in Oklahoma so I can choose between either a 3 hour flight, or a 2 day drive. I am really considering flying, but after hearing all the plane crashes lately I'm not to sure. Anyone else afraid?
Click to expand...

What are you afraid of? Have you ever taken a plane?
 
Willco said:
No.

You're a billion times more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash. It's an exaggeration, but you get the point.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but the chances of surviving a car crash are far greater than living through a plane crash. So, it's a stupid cliche that's tired and irrelevant.
 
XS+ said:
Perhaps, but the chances of surviving a car crash are far greater than living through a plane crash. So, it's a stupid cliche that's tired and irrelevant.
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So you'd take a 1/1,000 chance of getting into, and (maybe) surviving a car crash rather than having a 1/1,000,000 chance of dying in a plane crash?
 
Myllz said:
So you'd take a 1/1,000 chance of getting into, and (maybe) surviving a car crash rather than having a 1/1,000,000 chance of dying in a plane crash?
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Yup. Airplanes are deathtraps.
 
Actually I'd imagine the chances of DYING in a car trip are still higher than the chances of dying by getting in a plane. A lot of car crashes are fatal after all.
 
I'm afraid of heights, but strangely, not afraid to fly at all. Matter of fact, I feel much more safe traveling in the plane than on the boat/bus/etc.
 
but by comparison how many more cars are on the road? i mean yeah car accidents are more fatal but there are prolly a billion more cars on the road then planes.
 
the big difference between car accidents and plane accidents is that car accidents are almost always driver error, plane crashes are usually due to a malfunction. It comes down to 1 thing: Due you trust the engineering, manufacturing, and maintenece of the aircraft enough to save yourself 2 days of driving, keeping in mind that if you drive you will be traveling on the highway so any accident is likely to be fatal?
 
Myllz said:
So you'd take a 1/1,000 chance of getting into, and (maybe) surviving a car crash rather than having a 1/1,000,000 chance of dying in a plane crash?
Click to expand...

XS+ said:
Yup. Airplanes are deathtraps.
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That's a pretty irrational stance.

The statistics are clearly made up, but let's say for the sake of argument that the numbers are correct. Let's also say that every airline crash is 100% fatal (all passengers die). The proper way to compare them would be with expectation value:

Expectation value = SUM_over_occurrences[(probability of occurence) x (consequence of occurrence)]

In this case, all we care about is the case where you die. For plane crashes:

EV_plane = 10^(-6) x 1 = 10^(-6)

For cars:

EV_cars = 10^(-3) x (fatality rate) = ???

Unless the fatality rate for car accidents is less than 1 in 1000, airplane travel would be safer.

(The real statistics for the two situations, I suspect, are not even close to the hypothetical examples, and would be even more strongly indicative that plane travel is safer. It's New Year's, and I'm not going to waste my time Googling for statistics. You can investigate it if you want.)

The other thing to consider is that the reason so many car crashes are non-fatal is that they take place at slower speeds. Crashes at highway speeds are fatal far more often, and if you're trading off driving great distances versus flying, you'd be spending a lot more time at high speed, pushing yourself to make progress on your route...I fail to see how that would be all that much safer if you did it a lot.

For what it's worth, the actual metric used is number of fatalities per passenger mile traveled, and airline travel always ends up being far safer than automobile travel.
 
I'm not afraid of flying, but I absolutely despise doing so. It's become one of the most stressful experiences possible for me. The hassle of getting there with enough time, the security crap, the cramped seats, annoying other passengers, delays, etc. I just hate it. I used to be perfectly fine with it, but I've had too much shit with planes in the last two years. Between my 5 hour flight to E3 where I had to listen to a loud obnoxious drunk Atari employee make an ass of himself, to having someone walk off with my all of my luggage at the baggage claim area on my first trip to London, to my Thanksgiving debacle where I got bumped off a flight that I had booked for months and then ended up suffering 23 hours in delays. I hate it. It's an awful system that somehow manages to throw me into the midst of assholes and horribly disorganized systems that put my luggage at the whim of others' desires.
 
I'm not afraid of flying, but am deathly afraid of crashing :)

I fly a lot, however, because I don't really have much choice. Most of the technical conventions are on the west coast and I'm here in Atlanta. Even to get to the ones on this coast would require going to New York or Boston. As such I have a choice of being paralyzed with fear and not getting anything done or going on with life and realizing that for the plane that crashes every once in a while - millions go on without incident.

Those odds comfort me :)
 
I'm not afraid of dying so flying is no big deal to me.
I think the whole experience is exciting, i love airports and the feeling of the speed during take off.....
 
I love take-offs too.. the feeling of power in those jet engines is a rush. Landing into the fog in heavy winds (ie. just coming out of nowhere..) is not my cup of tea. All those specials you see on Discovery about how planes circle in bad weather and such.. they pretty much always land at my home airport in St. John's, Newfoundland despite those conditions. 50-50 it will be bad.. and that would put travelling off island to a halt if they made those decisions. :/
 
I' m terrified of flying, may be because I have a fear of heights. At least in a car accident its sudden while an airplane crash has to fall like 3000ft(or whatever the height is).
 
Agent5 said:
I' m terrified of flying, may be because I have a fear of heights. At least in a car accident its sudden while an airplane crash has to fall like 3000ft(or whatever the height is).
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More like "30,000" feet......
But if the plane were to suddenly drop your skull would bropably succumb to the pressure before you even hit the ground.
 
-jinx- said:
For what it's worth, the actual metric used is number of fatalities per passenger mile traveled, and airline travel always ends up being far safer than automobile travel.
Click to expand...

I knew it wouldn't take long for the oldie (but goodie) of "Statistically, it's safer" to pop up. But that only goes so far, as there's a huge psychological element that can't simply be swayed with raw numbers. It's inherent trust issues; it's putting the life of yourself - and possibly of your family - in the hands of someone who you can only assume is properly trained to pilot a metal tube through the air at hundrds of miles per hour.

I've never been a fan of air travel. Everytime I set foot on a plane, it's out of pure necessity - born of the single fact that in those cases, I just don't have time to drive or take a train. Most of my actual problems stem from having zero faith in airport security, having a penchant for thinking about how the whole process works, and that God forbid the engines fail, the physics of the situation dissolves faster than you can say "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

And then 9/11 just galvanized everything, it taught me that even the rarest combinations of my fears can gel into one event (i.e., hijacking, crashing, fiery death.) It's just not for me. It's obviously not paralyzing, but I do, when given the chance, tend to have a quick drink before a flight. Just to calm me down a bit, otherwise about the only thing I can do is listen to my iPod and pretend to sleep while I grip the armrest hard enough to turn it into a diamond.
 
Agent5 said:
I' m terrified of flying, may be because I have a fear of heights. At least in a car accident its sudden while an airplane crash has to fall like 3000ft(or whatever the height is).
Click to expand...


If it makes you feel better planes generally don't "drop out of the sky" if anything is going to kill you it's the take off or landing. Once you hit crusing altitude you are a ok.
 
i was previously terrified of flying, but this year i enjoyed all the flights i took.

Most of my flights (about 40 of them) have been long haul - London-Tokyo, London-HK, etc...

it's weird - now i've been through rough turbulence and bad weather landings a few times, i suddenly lost the fear.

I still need a swift whiskey or two before getting on, but now i want the window seat so i can peer out. The "detachment from the world" feeling becomes quite relaxing.

I think the thing with fear of flying is you'll sit there and look up and down the aircraft and start imagine what would happen if it all went wrong... or at least i did. And what i was basically doing was scaring myself sh1tless.

No doubt about it, no one wants to die in a plane crash - but then again, no one wants to die full stop. I don't sit in a car and imagine what would happen if we got into a crash, yet statistically that is much more likely to happen.
 
I've got one word for ya: Alcohol.

I am a nervous flyer, but I always get tanked before I fly. I usually bring a screwdriver from home and start drinking on the runway before takeoff. Before even stepping on the plane I also hit up one of the airports many bars. I usually end up passing out on the flight, which is awesome because before you know it you are at your destination.
 
"I am a nervous flyer, but I always get tanked before I fly. I usually bring a screwdriver from home and start drinking on the runway before takeoff. Before even stepping on the plane I also hit up one of the airports many bars. I usually end up passing out on the flight, which is awesome because before you know it you are at your destination."

Long distance travellers be warned! this can back fire.

I got tanked up on the way to London from Tokyo one time, started drinking on the way to the airport. Knocking back straight brandy.

I was well gone by the time i was on the runway, woke up about half way through the flight with the worlds worst hangover. 6 hours of flight time left , and feeling like crap is not good.
 
I'm not afraid of flying (in fact, I flew a few months after 9/11), but it really irks me when statistics are thrown in the faces of those who are. It's as if statistics are supposed to assuage the "irrational fears." They don't help anything.

The fear obviously stems from being higher, going much faster, and having no control whatsoever of the plane (and the fear of having to deal with terrorism has also contributed to the simple phobia).

Statistics don't eliminate psychological problems.
 
DCharlie said:
No doubt about it, no one wants to die in a plane crash - but then again, no one wants to die full stop. I don't sit in a car and imagine what would happen if we got into a crash, yet statistically that is much more likely to happen.
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm so on my guard whenever I'm driving that it isn't even funny. I always have to worry about hitting deer, hitting pedestrians, getting run over by speeders on the narrow substandard roads leading into town, and if it's not that, then it's the usual dismal commuters, not to mention cops. This is a big part of why I'm using public transportation more and more.

I actually watched someone read the comics section of a newspaper out the window of the light-rail - on the freeway, where it will suddenly go from 65 to 15 or less without much advance warning - for upwards of 5 minutes. That is frightening.
 
t004.jpg


"YOU AIN'T GETTIN' ME ON NO PLANE, FOOL"
 
i hate taking off - i dont know why, it just makes me very tense :p i just recently left JFK (which by the way is the worst airport i've EVER been to - the security was a joke and the whole place was just all-round shitty) after some mild snowfall and cos the plane was half frozen, when we were on the runway they crank up the engines really high with the brakes on, the whole plane is shaking with the power in the engines... awesome :P but then it starts moving forward and thats when my 'fear of take off' kicks in :D
 
I get through it fine, though I'm not a fan.

Next time I'm flying though, I'll just think: "Maybe it'll be like Lost. This is gonna be so fucking cool".
 
julls said:
i hate taking off - i dont know why, it just makes me very tense :p i just recently left JFK (which by the way is the worst airport i've EVER been to - the security was a joke and the whole place was just all-round shitty) after some mild snowfall and cos the plane was half frozen, when we were on the runway they crank up the engines really high with the brakes on, the whole plane is shaking with the power in the engines... awesome :P but then it starts moving forward and thats when my 'fear of take off' kicks in :D
Click to expand...

The take-off is the best part to me. It's makes me all tingly inside when all of a sudden, the engines rev-up, then out of no where, you start moving really, really, really fast....then FASTER :D Then, you feel the plane leave the ground and you feel the "upward pull" of the ascent.

I love it. :)
 
My dislike of flying will stop as soon as I can afford a nice first class seat every flight. I'm not afraid of crashing or anything, I just don't like getting my 6'3, 230 pound body into those seats most of the time...
 
love flying.

it's usually fairly smooth.

but i have being inverted over the old Kai Tak in a 757 whilst trying to land in a typhoon. We aborted. Never felt so much power, the plane didn't climb out but sort of went up like an elevator. Landing the next day was funny, we were in queue for a parking place for 2 hrs on the ground, it was choas. I miss Kai Tak.
 
Well, from what you guys have said it doesn't seem all that bad, but assuming a plane does crash is there ANY chance you could survive?
 
Synbios459 said:
Well, from what you guys have said it doesn't seem all that bad, but assuming a plane does crash is there ANY chance you could survive?
Click to expand...

depends when it crashes if it's during take-orf or right before landing you'd have a great chance of surviving, otherwise...
 
The most dangerous part of flying is hitting a microburst during take-off or landing, and they're easily detected by the tower crew.
 
Myllz said:
So you'd take a 1/1,000 chance of getting into, and (maybe) surviving a car crash rather than having a 1/1,000,000 chance of dying in a plane crash?
Click to expand...

Taking that outlook, we're more likely to die in a major transport related disaster then ever be a victim of a terrorist attack, either on ourselves or against our immediate friends and family members.

But obviously cold hard logic isn't as important in this world as you'd like to hope.
 
Not that anything I say will particularly change anyone's view on flying but regardless, I've flown all my life all over the place and honestly, particularly with domestic flights in a post 9/11 world, you have nothing to worry about as far as safety goes. Planes are far, far quieter than before and far, far more comfortable and safe. I remember when smoking was still allowed and along with the noise and queasiness I used to have on flights, it made flying Hell, particularly on trans-Atlantic ones. Barring the extra security hassles now which make getting to the airport ahead of time more important than ever, there's nothing really frightening or inconvenient about flying, certainly not compared to driving. People driving, or their inability to do so well, is what scares me more than anything when I travel.
 
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