irrational fear of flying

[Scott G.]

I couldn’t find the first installment in the series…

When you see the flight attendant carrying that book down the aisle.......

[j44ke]

When you see the flight attendant carrying that book down the aisle...

...while running.

[gregl]

When you see the flight attendant carrying that book down the aisle.......

...while running.

My favorite flight attendant experience: as a young co-pilot, I had to perform an alternate gear extension for an arrival into Houston Hobby airport. A micro-switch had failed, disabling the normal gear extension system. The alternate system required the co-pilot to manually release landing gear uplocks by first removing a floor panel behind the flight deck and two panels underneath the galley in the back of the plane. Needless to say, some of the passengers were quite concerned. Melissa, our flight attendant on the trip, took it all in stride and entertained the pax while I did my thing. She laughed out loud and told the passengers that we (the pilots) loved these events as it gave us something to do outside our normal activities. She said "Look how much fun he's having!" with a laugh. The gear came down and we landed without further issues. A flight attendant with a sense of humor is priceless!

Greg

[Mabouya]

My favorite flight attendant experience: as a young co-pilot, I had to perform an alternate gear extension for an arrival into Houston Hobby airport. A micro-switch had failed, disabling the normal gear extension system. The alternate system required the co-pilot to manually release landing gear uplocks by first removing a floor panel behind the flight deck and two panels underneath the galley in the back of the plane. Needless to say, some of the passengers were quite concerned. Melissa, our flight attendant on the trip, took it all in stride and entertained the pax while I did my thing. She laughed out loud and told the passengers that we (the pilots) loved these events as it gave us something to do outside our normal activities. She said "Look how much fun he's having!" with a laugh. The gear came down and we landed without further issues. A flight attendant with a sense of humor is priceless!

Greg

^^^^^^ Kids these days, have it so easy.

I remember back in the ol' days... (Note - NO safety harness.)

https://travelupdate.com/gladys-ingl...g-plane-video/

[j44ke]

I flew Iceland Air to Paris and back with a 5 day layover in Reykjavik on the return. That got me on at least 3 different 737 Max 9's. Kind of a plastic sardine tube. And very noisy. The bathrooms had obvious misalignment of panels to the point where access doors wouldn't close properly and instead had been wedged shut instead of latching. And economy, which made up maybe 80% of the plane had only two bathrooms. Seats were lightly padded to the point where I could probably sketch out the metal frame from memory. It was a cheap flight but this seemed semi-insulting. Made Air France's aging fleet feel super deluxe, but Air France doesn't go to Iceland.

What is it about airplane bathrooms? Within 5 minutes after the seatbelt sign goes off, they are completely destroyed and unsanitary. What are people doing in there? Just whipping it out and blasting away hands free? And I'm not convinced it is just men either. What a bunch of pigs. I feel sorry for the flight attendants.

[bigbill]

I flew Iceland Air to Paris and back with a 5 day layover in Reykjavik on the return. That got me on at least 3 different 737 Max 9's. Kind of a plastic sardine tube. And very noisy. The bathrooms had obvious misalignment of panels to the point where access doors wouldn't close properly and instead had been wedged shut instead of latching. And economy, which made up maybe 80% of the plane had only two bathrooms. Seats were lightly padded to the point where I could probably sketch out the metal frame from memory. It was a cheap flight but this seemed semi-insulting. Made Air France's aging fleet feel super deluxe, but Air France doesn't go to Iceland.

What is it about airplane bathrooms? Within 5 minutes after the seatbelt sign goes off, they are completely destroyed and unsanitary. What are people doing in there? Just whipping it out and blasting away hands free? And I'm not convinced it is just men either. What a bunch of pigs. I feel sorry for the flight attendants.

We will take Allegiant Air from Vegas to Billings, MT because it's super cheap and we can get exit rows for a small charge. My wife has round trip tickets next month so she can judge an equestrian event and they were $125 round trip with exit row seats. She's 6'3". The seat have almost no padding, more like padded vinyl glued to a plastic shell. The price is right and the flight is about 2 hours. For the bathroom thing, I see people walk to the bathroom in their socks. The bathroom floor is wet and it isn't water. I'm sure the socks absorb enough urine to evenly spread it through the cabin when they return to their seats.

When I lived in Sardinia, I flew KLM domestically a few times, and the planes they used (757s) were old and beat up.

[Saab2000]

I flew Iceland Air to Paris and back with a 5 day layover in Reykjavik on the return. That got me on at least 3 different 737 Max 9's. Kind of a plastic sardine tube. And very noisy. The bathrooms had obvious misalignment of panels to the point where access doors wouldn't close properly and instead had been wedged shut instead of latching. And economy, which made up maybe 80% of the plane had only two bathrooms. Seats were lightly padded to the point where I could probably sketch out the metal frame from memory. It was a cheap flight but this seemed semi-insulting. Made Air France's aging fleet feel super deluxe, but Air France doesn't go to Iceland.

What is it about airplane bathrooms? Within 5 minutes after the seatbelt sign goes off, they are completely destroyed and unsanitary. What are people doing in there? Just whipping it out and blasting away hands free? And I'm not convinced it is just men either. What a bunch of pigs. I feel sorry for the flight attendants.

Not really a Boeing defender, but much of what you’re describing is more of an Icelandair issue than a Boeing issue. The customer airline defines the configuration WRT lavatory number and placement. The plastic panel alignment is a maintenance issue. Airplanes designed to fly at high speed are built to extremely close tolerances. The panels should be able to be aligned by maintenance techs who do that sort of thing. Again, after what we saw with the Alaska Airlines airplane, it’s clear Boeing has had some major QC issues. So their reputation is on them.

I fly MAXes from Boeing for a living and find the comment about the noise interesting. I don’t have much to compare it with but compared to the -700 and -800 NG aircraft we use at my carrier, the MAX8s are quieter. Can’t compare them with their Airbus competition WRT cabin noise levels.

As to the condition of the lavs? That’s our fellow human beings being pigs.

[j44ke]

Not really a Boeing defender, but much of what you’re describing is more of an Icelandair issue than a Boeing issue. The customer airline defines the configuration WRT lavatory number and placement. The plastic panel alignment is a maintenance issue. Airplanes designed to fly at high speed are built to extremely close tolerances. The panels should be able to be aligned by maintenance techs who do that sort of thing. Again, after what we saw with the Alaska Airlines airplane, it’s clear Boeing has had some major QC issues. So their reputation is on them.

I fly MAXes from Boeing for a living and find the comment about the noise interesting. I don’t have much to compare it with but compared to the -700 and -800 NG aircraft we use at my carrier, the MAX8s are quieter. Can’t compare them with their Airbus competition WRT cabin noise levels.

As to the condition of the lavs? That’s our fellow human beings being pigs.

I don’t want to throw Iceland Air under the bus, because I’ve flown them a number of times (not always to go to Iceland) and they’ve always gotten me there and back with all my luggage. But I’d guess that there are cosmetic things that get deferred until the tail end of tourist season. They sure move a lot of people through that airport on a daily basis. And I mean miles and miles of people in lines snaking through the airport at various pinch points. They make up for the chaos with lots of happy young people who appear suddenly and whisk away people who are in danger of missing their flights.

I would like to have a cushier seat though.

The noise was from the engines. Quite loud on take off and then less so after wheels up but still louder than expected. But that could just be me. Everyone else seemed to be asleep.

[donevwil]

My nephew just graduated from Gonzaga with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, he accepted an offer from Boeing to be a Manufacturing Engineer. I wished him luck.

[vertical_doug]

We will take Allegiant Air from Vegas to Billings, MT because it's super cheap and we can get exit rows for a small charge. My wife has round trip tickets next month so she can judge an equestrian event and they were $125 round trip with exit row seats. She's 6'3". The seat have almost no padding, more like padded vinyl glued to a plastic shell. The price is right and the flight is about 2 hours. For the bathroom thing, I see people walk to the bathroom in their socks. The bathroom floor is wet and it isn't water. I'm sure the socks absorb enough urine to evenly spread it through the cabin when they return to their seats.

When I lived in Sardinia, I flew KLM domestically a few times, and the planes they used (757s) were old and beat up.

At least you weren't on United 2477 from Houston to Boston last month.

"United Airlines Flight 2477 departed from Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, bound for the Boston Logan International Airport.

However, the Boeing 737 flight had to be diverted to the Washington Dulles International Airport around two hours into the trip, in order to undergo a “deep clean” after a passenger onboard got sick.

Radio traffic from the flight, posted on X, captured a flight crew member describing the situation onboard, which had gotten “quite bad,” with passengers and fellow crew members falling sick as well due to a “biohazard.”
“I’ve talked to the crew, and sounds like it’s quite bad back there. It’s still really bad. The crew is vomiting, and passengers all around are asking for masks,” the audio said.

“With this kind of being a biohazard, I think we need to get this plane on the ground ASAP,” the radio traffic audio added.

“The aircraft is currently undergoing a deep clean and we are working to get customers on their way to Boston soon,” United Airlines said in a statement about the incident.

It is worth noting that a similar incident happened back in September 2023, when a Delta Airlines flight had to turn back due to “passenger diarrhea” all over the aircraft."

I love people.

[rwsaunders]

Airplane bathrooms are part of the reason that I prefer sunrise flights and red-eyes…pretty dark in there and I prefer to not see what’s on the floor. I also can’t imagine being a woman having to hit the head, 3 hours into an overnight flight to Europe. Off to Chicago for a few days of planning and site meetings…the team rolls their collective eyes when I show up to the job trailer with a fresh set of redlined plans.

[vertical_doug]

Pan Am is still a thing?

[Scott G.]

Pan Am is still a thing?

The future ain't what it used to be.

2024-08-20_8-26-24.jpg

[rwsaunders]

Pan Am is still a thing?

That tag generates a lot of comments…I might pick a TWA tag too.

[Mabouya]

That tag generates a lot of comments…I might pick a TWA tag too.

You'll get some happy, some bittersweet, reminiscences if you can find an Ozark Air tag.

People around here (St Louis area) loved that company, but it came to a bad end after it was bought by TWA, which was then looted by Carl Icahn.

[bigbill]

My late stepfather started with Braniff in the late 40s as an aeronautical engineer, mostly dealing with the development and installation of radar. He was true to Braniff until their demise. My mom still has swag from the airlines. He also bought two Chrysler New Yorkers in 1980 to help save the company. Before he died of cancer in 1996, he had a 440 wedge motor installed in his New Yorker. If the cancer hadn't killed him, that car surely would have.

[j44ke]

A woman who worked here at a local grocery/sandwich shop used to be a stewardess for TWA. By the end of her employment she was one of the most senior air staff including pilots (her description.) She did international flights working almost exclusively in first class. When TWA shut down, she made a few calls and somehow ended up with a full set of TWA china and silver. The stuff used by the executives in the corporate headquarters. She was working in the local shop for pocket money and to keep from being bored at home, but she didn’t seem like she was lacking for anything. She said she knew lots of stories from back she wasn’t going to tell anyone about but they made Mad Men seem like a children’s book.

[vertical_doug]

I finally got around to watching the BBC documentary on the Columbia disaster in 2003- 'The Shuttle that Fell to Earth'. I don't know if it has been shown in the US, but it is 3 part series which is incredibly good.

It makes you think about is really going on with the Starliner up there.

[rwsaunders]

So I’m JFA (just flying along) the other evening from PIT to SEA and I clicked on Flight Radar to check our flight status and I saw two orbs on the screen and thought WTH? Quick search and they were Stratospheric Airships cruising at 64,000’ and 68,000’ respectively going about 10nmh. Note the pattern of aircraft giving the airships some space; no pun intended.

https://aerostar.com/products/balloo...heric-airships

[Mabouya]

So I’m JFA (just flying along) the other evening from PIT to SEA and I clicked on Flight Radar to check our flight status and I saw two orbs on the screen and thought WTH? Quick search and they were Stratospheric Airships cruising at 64,000’ and 68,000’ respectively going about 10nmh. Note the pattern of aircraft giving the airships some space; no pun intended.

In a related matter, I recently purchased and read the book below. Very interesting.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/boo.../9781982168308