irrational fear of flying

[ZenNMotion]

I spend way too much time in uncomfortable seats breathing unhealthy air and too close to people. I hate people sometimes. But, I always try to get a window seat on the daylight flights. Next week on my return home, I look forward to seeing the African rift valley, the sahara, the alps, Ireland, Newfoundland and my home town (sits on the end of one of the finger lakes so I can often spot it from 30K ft) before finding the Potomac and touching down at IAD all within a couple of flights over 23hrs. Blows my mind every time, what a show, how lucky I am to just sit and watch it all go by while a crew makes it all happen safely 99.99999% of the time. Thanks, Saabs of the world!

[Saab2000]

I spend way too much time in uncomfortable seats breathing unhealthy air and too close to people. I hate people sometimes. But, I always try to get a window seat on the daylight flights. Next week on my return home, I look forward to seeing the African rift valley, the sahara, the alps, Ireland, Newfoundland and my home town (sits on the end of one of the finger lakes so I can often spot it from 30K ft) before finding the Potomac and touching down at IAD all within a couple of flights over 23hrs. Blows my mind every time, what a show, how lucky I am to just sit and watch it all go by while a crew makes it all happen safely 99.99999% of the time. Thanks, Saabs of the world!

That does sound like quite an adventure. Are you flying via ZRH? Sounds like you're going on United or Lufthansa. I'm usually a window seat guy too when I sit in back but aisle seats can be good too, especially on really long flights if you need to go to the lav or stretch your legs. I have never flown on Lufthansa and wish to do so on their 747-8 someday. That's the newest version of the 747, which as an airframe is likely going to be discontinued by Boeing.

I end up in Albuquerque late tonight and finish my current 4-day trip tomorrow in Chicago about 23:15 after a roughly 3-hour flight from Phoenix. I'm not bidding these afternoon trips anymore. Too much wasted time in the morning. The good thing is that getting in late at night the restaurants and bars are often closed, saving my wallet and my liver. But I'm definitely a morning person.

Currently typing this after a short stroll through downtown Indianapolis. It appears to be a pleasant city. But too much downtime with these afternoon report times. Going IND-DAL-OKC-DEN-ABQ today. Weather looks decent, so we've got that going for us!

[ZenNMotion]

Kampala- Kigali on United/Brussels Air via Brussels this time. Sometimes the euro- Africa leg goes via Istanbul, or Paris and if I'm lucky at work, can arrange a 24h stopover in one of those cities. Brussels isn't worth it, but maybe some day during spring classics or CX season I'll escape the airport. The planes flying in to Africa from europe in general are noticeably older than the transatlantic legs, outside a few major African hubs they don't stay on the ground for more than an hour or two. 748s are definitely impressive even in the cheap seats- I'm always on a US gov ticket so no frills allowed unless I use my miles.

[rwsaunders]

No sleep last night on the redeye from SEA-DTW as we encountered 40 minutes of what Saab and his brethren refer to as "unstable air"...I never tire of the view though.

[bigbill]

Kampala- Kigali on United/Brussels Air via Brussels this time. Sometimes the euro- Africa leg goes via Istanbul, or Paris and if I'm lucky at work, can arrange a 24h stopover in one of those cities. Brussels isn't worth it, but maybe some day during spring classics or CX season I'll escape the airport. The planes flying in to Africa from europe in general are noticeably older than the transatlantic legs, outside a few major African hubs they don't stay on the ground for more than an hour or two. 748s are definitely impressive even in the cheap seats- I'm always on a US gov ticket so no frills allowed unless I use my miles.

The company I work for has factories all over the world. The company invested in new machines for all their facilities and the first one was installed in Cape Town, RSA. We sent many operators and engineers to that facility to learn the new processes. They had to fly from the US to Europe, usually Amsterdam on KLM and then connect to Africa from there. They all commented about how old and worn the aircraft used for that route were. The guys that know aviation would note that they were first generation 757, 767, and Airbus that likely sat in the desert for a while. The only consolation is company policy that flights over 5 hours qualify for business class.

My job involves a lot of robotics so most of my trips involve flying into Detroit and driving a rental down to the Toledo area. Pretty non-eventful.

[Matthew Strongin]

The only consolation is company policy that flights over 5 hours qualify for business class.

That's great! I have to more than double that duration to get an upgrade, and even that is subject to budget.

[SteveP]

just flew swiss and the airbus was quite new.
nice ride... not as nice as the 747 on lufthansa though... that thing is smoooth.
in coach but quite a few seats were open so theres that.
hard to lay down though cause the armrest wont come all the way up..
they only go up maybe 40%.

somebody tell me why that is?
so adjoining people wont fight over putting them down or what?

[bigbill]

That's great! I have to more than double that duration to get an upgrade, and even that is subject to budget.

Also have the option to get $500 to elect coach. I'm bigbill, so............. nope.

[MarkC]

16 Across - Zappa

[rwsaunders]

16 Across - Zappa

That's pretty good...it was four letters though...NASA.

[rwsaunders]

Somewhere below in all of that cold and snowy terrain are a few of our favorite custom framebuilders.

[rwsaunders]

I am sure like many who live in the Midwest and Northeast, that you are as sick of the trainer and treadmill as I am. With this extreme weather, I have been relegated to train in the basement and Pilot's Eye TV helps to keep me sane. Their motto..."One Cockpit...Two Pilots...Six Cameras". The third link has the crew landing in Seattle with a visit to the Boeing factory...after flying an Airbus A330...gotta love it.

One Cockpit - Two Pilots - Six Cameras | Welcome to - PilotsEYE.tvPilotsEYE.tv

PilotsEYE.tv - Wikipedia

PilotsEYE.tv | SEATTLE with Factory Visit and Museum of flightPilotsEYE.tv

[Saab2000]

I am sure like many who live in the Midwest and Northeast, that you are as sick of the trainer and treadmill as I am. With this extreme weather, I have been relegated to train in the basement and Pilot's Eye TV helps to keep me sane. Their motto..."One Cockpit...Two Pilots...Six Cameras". The third link has the crew landing in Seattle with a visit to the Boeing factory...after flying an Airbus A330...gotta love it.

I'm not nearly as much of an aviation geek as one might imagine considering it's how I pay my rent, but the Museum of Flight that Boeing runs is the best aviation museum I've ever seen. I was out there a couple years ago for an Alaska Airlines recruitment event (they didn't want me as much as I wanted them) at the museum and honestly, I could have spent way more time there. It was a fantastic day and if I have the chance, I'll go back. Many of the docents are former Boeing employees, often engineers who worked on Boeing aircraft. So your questions are answered by people with real, deep knowledge of aviation.

Additionally, they exhibit all kinds of airplanes from the earliest days of aviation to now and they're from all manufacturers, not just Boeing.

It is absolutely worthwhile for anyone with even a passing interest in airplanes. I've mentioned this all before and I am again because the place left such a positive impression upon me.

[jclay]

I'm not nearly as much of an aviation geek as one might imagine considering it's how I pay my rent.

That's a common thread in my experience. My father and nearly every adult male friend of the family was a WWII/Korean War era, career Naval Aviator. As a teenager I was always surprised that neither my father nor close friends of the family had any interest in boring holes in the sky, recreationally. When a bit older I realized that while he enjoyed it and while it was part of his identity, it was a job. There were other things to do for recreation. Putting around in civilian aluminium just didn't interest him. The only caveat I recall was that if someone had dropped a G3 in his lap (this was a few decades ago) he would have been interested.

As to aviation museums the one at Pensacola (NAS) is stellar. There's a museum of the 8th Air Force in Savannah, GA and I think a smaller USAF museum near Fort Walton, Florida; I've not been to those two. If like the one at Pensacola, the docents are typically former military aviators so you get pretty good information.

[jclay]

As an aviation related aside, I do wish I could be on the porch once more, this time as an adult, at my maternal grand parent's place in Warrington. Every evening the neighbors congregated there; Capt Gray, Adm Wagner (father of The Blue Angles), Harry “Pop” Carlson (USN Aviator #529), my GF (carrier capt in the war, base commander @ Pensacola), Capt Compo, many others that I forget, and then the younger ones like my father and Harry Carlson Jr. who relieved my grandparents of their daughters. Flying was standard work-a-day for the adults in my universe. My father said not a word when I soloed. I'd ended my flight instruction upon returning to school a couple of years earlier and on this particular day a friend just tossed me the keys and said “take it for a spin”. I did.

I was into flying model airplanes as a kid but maybe 10 years ago I discovered that there has long existed a model of the TBD Devastator attributed to my GF who flew it in the late '30s ( TBD-1 Devastator Lt. Cdr. W. Sinton, VT-2, USS Lexington, San Diego, 1938 (1:72) - SkyMax Diecast TBD-1 Devastator Lt. Cdr. W. Sinton, VT-2, USS Lexington, San Diego, 1938 (1:72) #SM83 at diecastairplane.com ) . Nobody ever told me; I don't know if anyone even new about it! I'm guessing not. Maybe 20 years ago, in a trove of photos I discovered from that side of the family, I found snaps of trans Pacific flyer Richard Grace in Hawaii back when the planes looked like the balsa models I made, and completion of the flights was anything but certain. Lots of aerial photos of a very different Hawaii...and a photo of the crashed Jenny my GF flew into a tree while trying to drop roses in the front yard of his new bride's house. We have the photos but the letter from the Navy has been lost. It didn't seem to hinder his career. In looking through some books from them I discovered a copy of The Flying Dutchman inscribed to my GF by the author, 1939. Who knew what was coming.

IMG_2381.jpg

[bking]

More than a few decades ago while driving back to Portland from the local motocross race in McMinnville Oregon (being from Phoenix mud was a new and hostile substance to me, I did not fair well) I spent a few never forgotten moments at a turkey farm just outside of town. But, that's a different story. Still, that and fruit trees and farms and a small, middle of nowhere town is how I think of McMinnville. Then they built one of the most amazing aviation museums on some that middle of nowhere farm land. Two huge buildings, the Spruce Goose in one of them, a Blackbird and so much more all housed in a modern, spotlessly maintained facility. Every few years we rent a home on the coast in Lincoln City area and it's a must stop. A few summers ago they had a B17 and did a small guided/historical tour inside the plane. Very cool

[rwsaunders]

Well, I found a new flying based series that has helped me through the past few weeks on the trainer...Worst Place to be a Pilot. The videos are based around the stories of young British pilots earning their wings flying for Susi Air in Indonesia.

[rwsaunders]

What appears to be roads, rivers, hills and valleys down below are actually ice formations on Lake Michigan. Glad I was in a plane this morning and not on an ice breaker.

[donevwil]

Maybe this should be a Thursday Grump, but I "have" to fly (from SFO) to Europe (ZRH or FRA) in five weeks to buy off some automation in CH & Germany (I took my current job partly to avoid having to fly for work). Five day turn around with no time to visit family in CH. I'm 6' 5" @ 240# and have to fly coach. Kill me now!

On another note, when in Central OR (Madras) check out the Erickson Aircraft Collection, one of the better under the radar air museums out there. Came across it while on a bike tour no less.

[Mabouya]

What appears to be roads, rivers, hills and valleys down below are actually ice formations on Lake Michigan. Glad I was in a plane this morning and not on an ice breaker.

I bet you were even gladder that your plane wasn't serving as an ice breaker...