irrational fear of flying

[claritycycler]

More of last one to leave....

[rwsaunders]

Don’t know what to tell you. Do you fly a lot of red eye flights? I hate them unle'ss they’re going to a different continent. Our circadian rhythm is off on those flights and we cool off. I’d definitely mention it to a flight attendant next time you fly and the temp isn’t right.

Yes, I’ve been a 2 times/month redeye flier for the past 18 years and I’ve never noted an incident like that. I just wrote it off to an old plane flying my older bones, but figured I’d reach out to the pros. I’ve been tempted once or twice to try an Ambien and vodka on a flight, but I always wimp out.

[Saab2000]

Yes, I’ve been a 2 times/month redeye flier for the past 18 years and I’ve never noted an incident like that. I just wrote it off to an old plane flying my older bones, but figured I’d reach out to the pros. I’ve been tempted once or twice to try an Ambien and vodka on a flight, but I always wimp out.

Based on anecdotal evidence, I’d avoid that combo like I’d avoid cyanide. Don’t go there.

[gregl]

Question for Saab and gregl…I took the redeye the other night from SEA-DET on a Delta 737-800. The plane looked to be patched and caulked together on the interior and the seat screens were maybe 4”x6” with a credit card slot…pretty old I assume. I was on the starboard side of the plane in a window seat and 1/2 way through the flight, I thought that I had frostbite, as my right foot was so freakin’ cold. The guy in front of me was wearing a football parka and muttered something about freezing his arse off. Any idea what was going on, as I’d like to respond to Delta when I get the “how was your flight” questionnaire, and ask for compensation for heated socks for the next flight?

I’ll defer to Saab for all things 737. The only times I’ve had cabin heat issues in turbine aircraft were due to a failed mixing valve and a duct that came detached. In both cases, the cold temps were noticeable to the pax who let the flight attendant know. Now earlier in my career when flying piston aircraft, I had heater failures that nearly gave me hypothermia in the cockpit. I never liked the idea of an unreliable mini-furnace, burning high octane avgas, as my sole heat source. The joke was that we were issued company credit cards because we could use them to scrape the frost off the inside of the windshield so we could see out to land…

Greg

[rwsaunders]

Based on anecdotal evidence, I’d avoid that combo like I’d avoid cyanide. Don’t go there.

No worries about me, as I’ve seen plenty of impaired a-holes in the sky and I’m just happy to be along for the ride.

[Saab2000]

Now earlier in my career when flying piston aircraft, I had heater failures that nearly gave me hypothermia in the cockpit. I never liked the idea of an unreliable mini-furnace, burning high octane avgas, as my sole heat source.

That’s the truth. I ran them when learning to fly as little as possible. In other words, enough to demonstrate that I knew how they worked. Gasoline-fired “janitrol burners” scared me to death and they burned fuel that required balancing and recalculated range. No. Thanks. More often than than not they overheated and shut down automatically. My respect for early aviators is high. They needed this to survive, often on military raids, etc. Yikes is an understatement.

No worries about me, as I’ve seen plenty of impaired a-holes in the sky and I’m just happy to be along for the ride.

Merino layers are your friend on the bike and in the sky. Get a sweater and a cap and gloves and sleep as well as possible in that ancient 737-800.

[AngryScientist]

skip the ambien, but the airport martini is an essential piece of flying kit IMO.

[rwsaunders]

Similar images of the fit and finish that I was describing…note the massive display screens and the state of the art Ethernet ports ;) Not what I’m used to seeing in my travels over the past few years. I couldn’t connect my modem, but we did land safely and that’s the name of the game!

[Saab2000]

but we did land safely and that’s the name of the game!

That’s the prime directive of every flight. Literally nothing else matters.

Carry charging cords and warm clothes and perhaps a battery (check the regs) and a water bottle you can fill after security. Staying hydrated matters a lot. And reading material. Something to forget about everything else. Charging standards change by the minute. It is extremely expensive for airlines to change to today’s standard. Everyone needs to adapt, including customers.

[gregl]

That’s the truth. I ran them when learning to fly as little as possible. In other words, enough to demonstrate that I knew how they worked. Gasoline-fired “janitrol burners” scared me to death and they burned fuel that required balancing and recalculated range. No. Thanks. More often than than not they overheated and shut down automatically. My respect for early aviators is high. They needed this to survive, often on military raids, etc. Yikes is an understatement.

I logged a few thousand hours in Beech Barons, Piper Navajos, and Beech 99s with Janitrol combustion heaters. You learned all the tricks of the trade to keep them running. Still, if they decided to quit, it was usually on a winter night. I always kept my coat, hat, and gloves within arms reach. I landed one January night just after midnight with both the outside and inside temps below zero (Fahrenheit). A year later, I was happily flying JetStars with four turbine heat sources!

Greg

[Mabouya]

I was on the starboard side of the plane in a window seat and 1/2 way through the flight, I thought that I had frostbite, as my right foot was so freakin’ cold. The guy in front of me was wearing a football parka and muttered something about freezing his arse off.

Kids these days.

Back in my day we warmed ourselves using the heat from the engine cylinder heads and we loved it...

[vertical_doug]

Yes, I’ve been a 2 times/month redeye flier for the past 18 years and I’ve never noted an incident like that. I just wrote it off to an old plane flying my older bones, but figured I’d reach out to the pros. I’ve been tempted once or twice to try an Ambien and vodka on a flight, but I always wimp out.

Uniqlo ultra light puffy packs down to about the size of a pair of socks, heattech extra warm is about $20 and the heat tech heavy warm socks are nice too.
My wife hates the cold, but her issue is the summer when too heavy Americans need the air conditioning at 68

Instead of Ambien and Vodka, I think Mr. Cranky needs to go for a ride.

[echappist]

Could the more experienced members here chime in on just how effed I might be for my upcoming trip?

We live in Milwaukee and are scheduled to fly from ORD to LHR on Saturday the 24th. Forecast calls for ~8-9 inches of snow in MKE from Thursday to Friday, tapering off Friday afternoon. Less snow is predicted for Chicago.

I'd think the drive down should be mostly fine by the 24th, but I do wonder how knock-on effect works when it comes to cancellation. FWIW, we are scheduled to fly on United.

[gregl]

Could the more experienced members here chime in on just how effed I might be for my upcoming trip?

We live in Milwaukee and are scheduled to fly from ORD to LHR on Saturday the 24th. Forecast calls for ~8-9 inches of snow in MKE from Thursday to Friday, tapering off Friday afternoon. Less snow is predicted for Chicago.

I'd think the drive down should be mostly fine by the 24th, but I do wonder how knock-on effect works when it comes to cancellation. FWIW, we are scheduled to fly on United.

You have a few things going in your favor. IF (and it's a big IF five days out...) the snow is through the Chicago area by Friday afternoon, your chances of departing on Saturday are reasonable:

- O'Hare is very good at runway snow removal. Remember the "conga lines" in the original 1970 movie Airport? ORD is one of the few airports in the world that does that well. It's very impressive to see a whole line of snowplows clearing a runway in surprisingly short order.

- Airlines will prioritize crewing/scheduling their flights after a disruptive weather event. An international widebody flight on a popular route will be at or near the top of the priority list.

- Saturday December 24 should be a reasonably light travel day. Less flights means more chances for the airline to catch up after the disruption from the snow storm.

On the negative side, more flight and cabin crew members will call in "sick" on a holiday weekend. This will require crew scheduling to pull in reserve crews, with more potential for delays. Still, I'm hopeful that your trip will go off as planned. I had a family trip to Hawaii a few years back that took place under similar weather conditions. I was shocked when our flights through ORD were on schedule despite a snow storm the previous day and a holiday travel week approaching. Best wishes for a safe, uneventful, and hopefully on time trip!

Greg

[vertical_doug]

Here's my Industrial Action Advent Calendar for the Christmas Holidays.

Heathrow baggage handlers where planning to strike Friday thru Sunday, but last weekend they postponed it for more negotiations with the airport. You will know on Friday if they strike.

If you are taking car into London, fine, if you are taking train, I believe Elizabeth Line which is the newest and most modern will be on strike, so you have Heathrow Express or Piccadilly line.
I usually take Piccadilly since it is cheapest and I am a cheap guy.

I'd think your flight is fine if the weather forecast holds. I assume you are taking the overnight, so you will leave later on Saturday so they will have time to get things cleaned up. My experience is Airlines really don't want to cancel international.

Luckily, the cold spell has broken and it is back to unseasonably warm (50's) so very nice weather forecast for next week.

[vertical_doug]

and it's a bit cheesey, but

https://hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/

My wife and I went last Thursday. It's crowded, but to do the Big Wheel and one or two roller coasters is kind of fun.
It's a German fair troupe, so everything is in German to boot.

You want to do it at night under the lights.

[echappist]

@gregl and @vertical_doug, many thanks for taking the time to write detailed responses.

We are schedule to arrive on the morning of Christmas, which means no public transit and few grocers/ restaurants open. I naively assumed things would be half-normal (on the basis of experience in the Netherlands and Germany), only to learn I was very wrong in my initial assessment. Mark & Spencer at the airport seems to be open that day, so we are hoping to get something there before taking a minicab into town.

We originally wanted to visit Scotland for a few days as well, but LNER took its sweet time to offer tickets, which meant that by the time we could book, hotel fares and return flight to LHR have both gotten significantly more expensive. So the plan is to go to Belgium for a few days instead via train, but apparently there may be industrial action on the continent as well now. Oh well.

Had either Taiwan or Japan announced their reopening earlier, I think we'd have much preferred to have visited those countries instead.

and it's a bit cheesey, but

https://hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/

My wife and I went last Thursday. It's crowded, but to do the Big Wheel and one or two roller coasters is kind of fun.
It's a German fair troupe, so everything is in German to boot.

You want to do it at night under the lights.

All I want to know is, do they have good Glühwein? Jest aside, we are looking to fill an afternoon slot on Boxing Day and all we have so far is afternoon tea. If it's more than a carnival, I think we'd be interested in going.

Even better if there's a fair share of Teutonic Christmas culinary exports available. I've already eaten dozens of lebkuchen and had the lion's share of a stollen; certainly won't say no to more.

Icing on top would be stalls selling Christmas themed wooden craft from Germany. We missed our chance of buying some when we were in Berlin in 2019 (last time we traveled abroad).

[vertical_doug]

They have food, but it is essentially a large county fair without the livestock.

Boxing Day, I'd take DLR to Island Garden on the Isle of Dog. Walk under the Thames on the Thames greenwich footpath tunnel into Greenwich to Cuttysark, then walk up to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich for the view. I'd take the ferry from Greenwich back to Westminster. If you are doing a proper English Tea on Boxing Day, you will need to walk.

[rwsaunders]

Phoenix to Honolulu…a moment of severe turbulence and an 800’ drop in 12 seconds according to Flight Radar 24…pretty lucky that that they were nearing approach and 30 minutes out, as quite a few people were hurt.

https://simpleflying.com/passengers-...es-turbulence/

[Mabouya]

Phoenix to Honolulu…a moment of severe turbulence and an 800’ drop in 12 seconds according to Flight Radar 24…pretty lucky that that they were nearing approach and 30 minutes out, as quite a few people were hurt.

https://simpleflying.com/passengers-...es-turbulence/

Keep your seatbelt on throughout the flight. (I loosen it a bit, so it isn't too constricting.)