You now afraid to FLY? - Mayday (2003) Discussion

[–] sara-ringham 15 years ago

...kind of. It's made me a bit happy that they've figured out how to make the planes safer... but because there ARE so many little things that can go wrong it's caused a bit of anxiety - but I think that's another reason in itself because once I get to the terminal I'm just fine...

Except when the person sits next to me saying 'do you smell jet fuel?'... I'm not joking...

But I've flown quite a few times overseas (from Australia to back home in Washington state)... and I've been fine... and two of the times were the smoothest rides I've ever been on when crossing ocean...

I took a LOT of interest in the recent Air France accident...

"I drank milk that tasted funny"

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[–] Jigsaw737 13 years ago

Well, one thing to take away from the show is that any severe incident is the result of a whole chain of unlikely events while only one event usually is enough to cause a fatal car crash. Watching the show and seeing how very unlikely most aircraft accident causes are can actually alleviate the anxiousness about flying. As they say: you should be much more worried about the drives to and from the airports than about the actual flight.

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~No matter where you go, there you are~

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[–] kewikle 13 years ago

It's true that your chances of being involved in a plane crash are extremely small. ...Several orders of magnitude less likely to occur than a car accident. You're probably more likely to get struck by lightning, actually.Regardless of the appeasing stats, I have never flown to date and hope that I never have to.Seriously though, at least we have a very good chance of survival in an auto wreck.....vesus going down in an aluminum coffin...the whole time contemplating your fate...in terror......only to crash and burn.Hey, console yourself just before smacking earth, that maybe, _just maybe_ they'll be able to recover a few ounces of your charred flesh for burial.

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[–] shadesofgray 13 years ago

I've watched episodes of this show a few hours before flights and its never bothered me in the slightest. In fact, it almost makes me feel better, knowing how many of these problems have been fixed.

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[–] filipmaj 12 years ago

I always had a fear of flying, but strangely always wanted to fly a plane. Maybe it's a control thing? I grew up playing Flight Simulator 5.0 to the last one X, thanks to my dad's love of the game. Maybe one day I'll get my pilot's licence. However, I don't fly commercial that often because I fear it.

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[–] El_Jeffro 12 years ago

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. It's not the flying part that scares me. It's the crashing part. And like the cliché, I'm only talking about "unscheduled landings" that I can't walk away from. Or, maybe, "unscheduled ditchings" that I can't swim away from, like Tom Hanks in Castaway.

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[–] yellowdischarge 12 years ago

I flew for the first time in July this year on a 737. I think they've been shown in about 50% of all Mayday episodes smashing into something. :P

Didn't worry me at all. In fact, watched an episode the night before.

In fact, while waiting for the flight I discussed the various shows with the friend I was flying with.

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[–] El_Jeffro 12 years ago

So how did you like the experience as a whole: check-in, security, boarding, etc.?

I wouldn't call it luxurious, but back in the days before deregulation, the experience felt a lot more fun and exciting. At least there was a greater mystique. Man, back then, flying on a big jet airline was a still big deal. As a kid we wore our Sunday best whenever we flew (which wasn't often). Maybe it felt a lot better then than it does now because I was so young then.

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[–] yellowdischarge 12 years ago

This was a domestic flight in Australia.

Check in took like 5 minutse. Security took about 30 seconds. Boarding took a few minutes. The only problem was the flight was delayed for about 20 minutes because some idiot forgot to get on the plane and they're not allowed to take off if someone's luggage in onboard and they're not. After 20 minutes the person remembered to get on the plane.

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[–] InglouriousSister 12 years ago

I once changed flights in the last minute, and they forgot to take off my stuff from the first plane. When my flight took off, the other plane was still standing there with all the luggage being removed from the plane, even though it should have left an hour before my new flight. It was slightly embarrassing, but I got my consequences by the luggage getting lost somewhere there on the airport after they took everything off the plane. (I got it back a few weeks later, thankfully.)

#3seasonsandathankyou

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[–] El_Jeffro 12 years ago

Ah! You should be thankful that it wasn't a domestic flight in The US. The only part that would have gone smoothly would be that the airline would have taken off without that idiot even if his luggage was already on board.

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[–] InglouriousSister 12 years ago

I fly all the time, and have done long flights over the Atlantic (which I think is scarier than flying over ground for some reason). This series doesn't make me any more afraid of it than I'd be without it. I'm terrified of cruise ships though, at least in an airplane accident it's normally over pretty quickly, and I think it might even be quite painless to die in a huge crash like this. Whereas if you get stuck in your cabin when a huge cruise boat sinks, you may have hours to wait for the moment you finally drown. It's a horrifying thought.

Also, I live by the "lightning doesn't strike twice" principle. If I've seen something on Air Crash Investigation, I mentally convince myself the same cannot happen to me (since fatal air crashes are relatively rare) and I have one more way to crash to cross off my list. The only time I've been a bit scared was when I was coming home from the States, and we got stuck on JFK and rolled on the taxi ways for like 5 hours, since this series has me convinced that's the riskiest part. Of course, apart from being scary it was annoying as hell to think that we'd already be on the other side of the Atlantic if we had left when the plane was supposed to take off!

#3seasonsandathankyou

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[–] El_Jeffro 12 years ago

To hell with waiting in my cabin if the cruise ship I'm on is slowly sinking. My ass is going to be the first one on the lifeboats as soon as it starts sinking.

And I wouldn't live by the "'lightning doesn't strike twice' principle". If this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Sullivan were still alive, he could tell you that belief is pure cattle-cakes.

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[–] InglouriousSister 12 years ago

You never know how it goes... There was a huge ship than sank near where I live a little less than 20 years ago (with 800+ fatalities.) In 15 minutes the boat fell. It's not possible to get away from ones cabin, or even if you do, to get up the stairs, if the door is where the ceiling should be and the stairs are vertical... Also, if a boat is on its side, 50% of the life boats at least are out of order immediately, seeing as they are submerged. Boats rarely sink in an orderly way where people can calmly walk to lifeboats, they often fall to either side. If Costa Concordia would have sunk instead of falling on a raft and staying above surface, no way would the 4000+ people had time to get out of it.

I'm so scared of boats that if I take one in a storm (and I use them a lot for transportation) I just hang out near the lifeboats instead of sleeping in my cabin.

#3seasonsandathankyou

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[–] El_Jeffro 12 years ago

OK, so now you're saying that you don't want to be on a ship that sinks quickly; I.E., "15 minutes".

In your earlier message, you said you don't want to be on a sinking ship that takes hours to sink: "Whereas if you get stuck in your cabin when a huge cruise boat sinks, you may have hours to wait for the moment you finally drown."

That's quite a difference from a quarter of an hour. And I agree, I wouldn't want to be on a fast sinking huge ship with a lot of people to push through to get to the lifeboats (I go sailing all the time on a day cruiser sloop, and I'm pretty confident I can abandon ship quickly enough). But on a ship that takes hours to sink, there's no reason why all hands can't escape on the lifeboats in that amount of time. There's definitely no reason to sit in your cabin the whole time.

And yes, I understand that on a plane, with few exceptions (United 93? Some had to know there was a slim chance they'd survive...), it's over very quickly. But whether it takes seconds, minutes, or hours, it still doesn't make those last moments comfortable if you're aware you're certainly going to die.

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[–] Blueghost 12 years ago

I was in a plane that suffered the 727 hydraulic freeze. Fortunately we recovered, but my god it was a rough ride, and I'll never fly again after that. I've been flying since I was born, and never thought much of the procedures nor the effort that went into getting a plane aloft.

Seeing the effort and number of components involved, and how a failure of one or two of those can create disaster, has put me off flying for all time.

Maybe I'll recover. Who knows.

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[–] The_Man_in_the_Planet 11 years ago

No more so than I was already LOL, but now I will never again stop at a concourse bar to fortify myself, or take medication that might impair me in any way. I want my wits about me if something happens, so I can get off the plane as fast as possible if need be.

Next time you see me, it won't be me

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