irrational fear of flying

[rwsaunders]

One of my flying rituals is to complete a few crossword/roundup puzzles to try and limit the chances of my brain being pressurized to the size of a small grape. I'm both proud and somewhat concerned that I knew this answer.

[Scott G.]

One of my flying rituals is to complete a few crossword/roundup puzzles to try and limit the chances of my brain being pressurized to the size of a small grape. I'm both proud and somewhat concerned that I knew this answer.

My ritual, pickup a copy Flying, read the "Aftermath" section aka the accident reports during take off.

[Saab2000]

My ritual, pickup a copy Flying, read the "Aftermath" section aka the accident reports during take off.

That AA captain who writes his column makes my eyes roll. He writes them as if his every flight was the most amazing achievement of all time and his false modesty is too much.

But yeah, the "Aftermath" section and the "I Learned About Flying From....." columns are good. The accident reports should be required reading for everyone who flies anything.

[rwsaunders]

I've been hooked on this series for a long time...pilotsEYE tv on YouTube. One of my favorites is the Swiss flight that needs to dump fuel in order to make an unscheduled landing as they lost an engine on the way from Zurich to Bejing. The crew eats dinner through the whole event as if nothing was wrong.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PilotsEYE.tv

[Saab2000]

I've been hooked on this series for a long time...pilotsEYE tv on YouTube. One of my favorites is the Swiss flight that needs to dump fuel in order to make an unscheduled landing as they lost an engine on the way from Zurich to Bejing. The crew eats dinner through the whole event as if nothing was wrong.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PilotsEYE.tv

That's my old airline..... It has 4-engines. They would not likely have eaten their dinner in such a casual manner in a 2-engine machine.

[Mabouya]

That's my old airline..... It has 4-engines. They would not likely have eaten their dinner in such a casual manner in a 2-engine machine.

Are you saying that you don't trust the FAA? ;)

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...cumentID/73587

[Saab2000]

Are you saying that you don't trust the FAA? ;)

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...cumentID/73587

I'm good with the FAA actually. But I'm more good with more engines! As they say, the only appropriate to 4 engines would be 6 engines, not 3 or God forbid, 2 engines.

Maybe Busdriver will pipe in here on the ol' dreaded 7-engine approaches he has experienced.

[Mabouya]

My favorite part is "in response to improvements in engine design and reliability and responding to the needs of industry."

To me that implies that even if engines hadn't gotten better over the years, if airlines had asked long and hard enough the FAA might still have allowed twin-engine ETOPS.

[Saab2000]

My favorite part is "in response to improvements in engine design and reliability and responding to the needs of industry."

To me that implies that even if engines hadn't gotten better over the years, if airlines had asked long and hard enough the FAA might still have allowed twin-engine ETOPS.

They really are better than ever. And since the sponsors (passengers and cargo shippers) apparently like to pay as little as possible the twin is inevitable. They are statistically as safe as tri- and quad-jets and are far less expensive to operate.

[busdriver1959]

I'm good with the FAA actually. But I'm more good with more engines! As they say, the only appropriate to 4 engines would be 6 engines, not 3 or God forbid, 2 engines.

Maybe Busdriver will pipe in here on the ol' dreaded 7-engine approaches he has experienced.

On two occasions, we lost an engine in the Buff. In both cases, we continued the flight to include air refueling, a few hours of low level and some high bomb runs on the way home. The biggest challenge was remembering to declare an emergency when we got back home. They'd yell at us if we didn't.

[SteveP]

flight yesterday from florence to frankfurt..
we get to florence airport... small airport, apparently a short runway.

was a pretty nice day... some clouds, moderate wind... occasional showers...
go to check in.
" your plane may not be able to land therefore you may not have a flight out"

huh?
it may be too windy and there are thunderstorms around.

er, ok.

meanwhile a minute later i get a text from lufthansa..
yr connecting flight from frankfurt to boston has been cancelled.
"wtf?"

i am wallking by the lufthansa support guy as i get this text...
i go to him w a what?
he says, no probably not cancelled, just delayed...
i show him the text.... i guess it is cancelled,, hmmm.

he rebooks us on swiss ( whose plane was already in florence ) and we got off on a very bumpy ride over the alps to zurich and a nice smooth ride from zurich to boston.
got in earlier than the lufthansa flight would have...
rather be lucky than anything.

[Saab2000]

I used to fly to Florence from Zurich all the time when I worked at Swiss. Yeah, Florence is a bit of a special airport.

[SteveP]

comical additional thought...
my wife starts with " its only a slight drizzle some of the time... how could they not fly in this?"

saab,
I am surprised that they do not accept customer input on whether the weather is actually safe to fly.
don't they understand that people want to fly out when they get to the airport?
..
note to Lufthansa...
" mrs p feels that it should be no problem to fly in today... therefore we are going for it"

[Scott G.]

I used to fly to Florence from Zurich all the time when I worked at Swiss. Yeah, Florence is a bit of a special airport.

Yes, always try to catch the 2nd wire, sort of like the late lamented Meigs Field.

[dogrange]

Yes, always try to catch the 2nd wire, sort of like the late lamented Meigs Field.

Meigs was a hoot, so much fun to watch the planes come and go from downtown. Some hedge funder must have really pissed Mayor Daley the Junior off to cause it to be destroyed the way it was (bulldozed in the dark of night).

[rwsaunders]

I can't make this up...the series of texts that I received yesterday keeping me "in the loop" while I waited for my connection, which was originally scheduled to depart at 9:55 PM. This is about as real time as one can get. I eventually made it home at 3:30 AM so all is good. In retrospect, the cab ride home (cabbie informed me that he was nearing the end of a 24 hour shift...TMI for me) placed me in more danger that the flight.

Flight AA*4308, ORD-PIT on May19, departure time has changed.
New time of departure is 10:40 PM.
Check airport monitors for updates.

Flight AA*4308, ORD-PIT on May19, departure time has changed.
New time of departure is 11:10 PM.
Check airport monitors for updates.

Reminder: Flight AA*4308 ORD-PIT on May19, 11:10 PM out of Gate L10B.
Check airport monitors for updates.

Flight AA*4308, ORD-PIT on May19, departure time has changed.
New time of departure is 11:25 PM.
Check airport monitors for updates.

Flight AA*4308, ORD-PIT on May19, departure time has changed.
New time of departure is 11:50 PM.
Check airport monitors for updates.

Flight AA*4308, ORD-PIT on May19, departure time has changed.
New time of departure is 11:30 PM.
Check airport monitors for updates.

Flight AA*4308, ORD-PIT on May19, departure time has changed.
New time of departure is 11:45 PM.
Check airport monitors for updates.

[rwsaunders]

My Dad always told me to tip the flight crew after they maneuvered around this crap and made a nice flight of it.

[rwsaunders]

Nothing like a few isolated Midwest thunderstorms to screw up the flights heading in and out of MSP yesterday. Saab, were you the substitute pilot on my connection to PIT? If so, you done good as they say.

Anyway, the gate agent at D3 did a wonderful job of keeping people posted on the delay (I made sure to tell her and Delta) and just when I thought that the day would turn out ok, Michael J. Foxx made his way to the gate...Anthrocon (Furry) convention in Pittsburgh this weekend. The funny part was, he actually had his fox head on when he walked up to the gate and the agent made him remove it because his face "didn't match his ID". Priceless.

[Saab2000]

I didn't get to take you to PIT. But I did get to go to SEA yesterday and hang out with a great friend who flies for a larger airline in the PNW. I still feel like my new airplane is easy to fly and hard to understand. Teaching an old dog a new trick isn't easy, but it's coming. Slowly! Flying is easy. Figuring out the black magic that is VNAV is another story, especially in the terminal airport environment.

Enjoying every minute!

PS - Those pics are WTF pics and I'm glad there's a back story.

[jjmstang]

If it wasn't for my back injuries, I would still skydive.........yes jumping out of planes is fun. The most fun I've ever had with my clothes on. It sucks being an adrenaline junky and get a fix for the rest of your life.

Airplanes are cool