Your comments on Johnny May's post are very interesting and reminded me of other things to say.
Quite a few of the comments related to fear of flying. I can understand that. However, and I think you've been told this before, safety is taken to a very high level. Airplanes are very carefully built. Much engineering goes into the design. A routine set of inspections are done before every flight. The amount of time an aircraft has flown is strictly monitored and at certain hours much of the aircraft is taken apart and rebuilt. Each year servicing and inspection must take place. It's not like Orville and Wilbur Wright where they flew by the seat of their pants.
Next , pilots are highly trained. It takes 20 hours of flying as well as ground instruction to get a private pilot license. Training goes on from there. A pilot must be checked out on each new aircraft he/she flies. So there is a tremendous amount of skill and knowledge needed to fly. Safety rules are very strict.
Now I'm sure you've all had that boring info before.
So if we compare planes to automobiles we would have far fewer accidents if drivers had to have 20 hours driving time to get a license. If cars were built and inspected like airplanes there would be far fewer accidents.
I have had a few nervous moments when flying. A flight from Phoenix to Minneapolis was the worst. We ran into a winter storm just after leaving Arizona. The storm got much worse. The pilot told us we couldn't land in Minneapolis and that we would "shoot " over to Chicago to land. Then they changed and found that they could land in Minneapolis. The whole flight was rough. We saw the ground just before the wheels touched down. Everybody clapped when we hit the ground. For me , this was a nail biter.
Then our connecting flight could not be made as the airplane used for the connector couldn't get into Minneapolis. We spent a lot of time staring out the windows watching snow swirl around.
Fortunately I have never had a bad flight and I've flown many times over to UK to visit my family in years past. Strong turbulents at times but that was about it. I'm thankful for the skill of the pilots.
ReplyDeleteTurbulence can be stressful.
DeleteThanks for the reminders of all the safety practices that go into flying planes. I've usually done okay when flying in large, commercial planes but I never did like the small planes.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy large and small and everything in between.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI do love flying, I wish I felt safe to travel now. I might have had one bad landing in San Francisco, there was a storm and the landing was bumpy. Take care, have a happy weekend!
Yes, and sometimes the wind makes the aircraft unstable when they are landing.
DeleteI have been up, briefly, twice in small planes. I felt pretty safe.
ReplyDeleteYou are right beside the pilot in a small plane so you see what's going on.
DeleteRough flights from turbulence are scary for sure.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anybody likes turbulence.
DeleteMy son and his family had their flight from Chicago to Boston canceled last Saturday due to weather. They were on their way to Maine and were going to rent a car from Boston. Instead they flew out Sunday night directly to Maine. Unfortunately, their luggage was in Boston!
ReplyDeleteWhenever I fly, I always am amazed that such a large heavy vehicle can soar through the sky! :)
I'm always amazed that they can get that big bus off the ground.
DeleteI usually don't mind flying for just that reason -- there are a lot of precautions and statistically it's quite safe. The scariest commercial flight I ever had was in a small plane that lost an engine with a dramatic BANG and flames shortly after taking off -- we had to circle around and land again.
ReplyDeleteThat would be very unnerving.
DeleteI am not a fan of flying at all. It always made me feel a little bit nauseous and sick. I haven't been on an airplane in 30 years.
ReplyDeleteWell, you're missing things! However, being nauseous is not pleasant.
DeleteThe last flight I was on I heard thunking noises under my feet the whole flight...I was glad when that was over:) Snow swirling in Minneapolis imagine that...now there is a fancy hotel connected by a walkway...I am certain it is a good place for many stranded passengers!
ReplyDeleteIt was one of the worst blizzards I've ever been in.
DeleteI've had several landings where the passengers busted out in spontaneous applause. I'm always very thankful for the highly skilled pilot at the helm that probably wasn't nervous at all during the entire ordeal.
ReplyDeleteThe one big disadvantage I see to planes is that if things get rough, they just can't pull over to the side and wait it out.
In small planes we always had a landing picked out ahead of us.
DeleteI've never had a problem flying.
ReplyDeleteIt's our perception. I'm sure some people would think you've been on rough flights.
DeleteI certainly know all about pilot training after what William was required to do!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately there are times when some things are beyond the pilot's control.
DeleteI had a similar nail biter from Milwaukee to Cleveland. Last deiced plane out, etcetcetc. Got me off winter visits to winter wonderlands.
ReplyDeleteYes, lots of deicing here.
DeleteI am not a fan of flying although I love the takeoffs and landings. Weird, I know. My thinking is similar to Ed's, above - if there's a problem, a plane has nowhere to go but down.
ReplyDeletePlanes go down but they always try to find a good landing spot. Planes can glide a long way.
DeleteYou won’t be surprised … I’d rather take a train or ship than a plane. But, sometimes a plane is the way to go. I’m OK with it if necessary.
ReplyDeleteYes, sometimes the ground transportation is not available.
DeleteBy the way, are you getting a lot of smoke from the wildfires?
ReplyDeleteWe are getting lots of smoke. We had a few days of air quality at ten.
DeleteYou have had amazing flying adventures! JB used to work for the airlines. The trips overseas for meetings were hard on him before he retired!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter just got tired of the constant flying and so she quit her job.
DeleteMy daughter passed her driving test at the seventh attempt so she had far more than twenty hours learning how to drive!
ReplyDeleteSeen times? I'll not be rude with my comment.
DeleteIt's not like Canada you know where new drivers just have to catch a bunch of keys and check there's fuel in the tank.
DeleteFlying seems pretty safe for me but then again I don't fly often these days.
ReplyDeleteI haven't flown for a few years either.
DeleteI have finally gotten used to flying, but I still think of it as being more risky than driving, no matter what the statistics say. It's all that empty air between me and the ground. :-)
ReplyDeleteSurprising to hear this from a "jumper"
DeleteMy grandmother used to tell the story of when she was a young girl and had just met my grandfather. I was in my thirties. She was in her 80s, so we are talking about 35 years ago that I heard the story, which had occurred probably 60 years earlier. Anyway, she was a young woman who had just met my grandfather, and they went to a fair in Elmira New York (she was going to a teacher's college there). Airplane rides were being offered. The plane was an open cockpit biwing. It was an extravagant amount of money, like $2 a person or so. She was studying the plane, and my grandfather bought her a ticket, trying to impress her. She was actually terrified at the thought of flying, but she was trying to impress him. So off she went, and the whole time, all she could think of was 'if this plane crashes, my parents are going to be so angry that I took such a risk.'
ReplyDeleteWhile not "afraid" of flying there have been few flights in the past decade, none now that I think of it. The last one for myself was to CA when the oldest grandchild was born, 14 years ago! When we decided on a cross country trip to Oregon several years ago, we decided to go by car as we would have missed out on seeing so much if flying overhead. Then, we were set to fly to Canada for a train trip and that was cancelled due to the pandemic. We just received our updated passports and hopefully will fly someplace before they expire in 10 years!
ReplyDeleteI am scared of flying but what you say is the truth. And I will fly when necessary.
ReplyDeleteI've dropped out of the sky twice when the plane (one a Twin Otter over the Outer Hebrides and the other a big Jumbo thing over Australia) and survived to tell the tale. As you said they are manufactured to withstand that and the pilots are trained accordingly.
ReplyDeleteyour sharing about the safety of flying is Great help for people like me dear Red
ReplyDeletethank you for this!
the storm you mentioned during flight i saw such scenes only in movies and they scare me far far more than horror movies
my fear for deep water and height is gone since some years so i think if i have to fly i will