Are you scared of flying?

[rado84]

In one of the last few years there were cases with at least 5 fallen or disappeared planes, so I wouldn't say plane crashes are rare.

[Homeless Nutter]

In one of the last few years there were cases with at least 5 fallen or disappeared planes[...]

Out of how many planes that flew that year in total? I understand you have an irrational fear - that's fine. But your rationalizations are laughable.

[JuliaL]

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I'm not afraid of flying and 20 years ago I was scratching out a living riding submarines. Besides, it's not gravity that kills you...it's the sudden stop.

Kidding aside, I hope you can find a way to overcome your anxiety. if visiting far off places is your goal, there's no more efficient or cost effective means of getting around. Flying is perfectly safe, the statistics should be easy to find. The basis for the 'not designed for flying' argument suddenly disappears if you consider driving, eyeglasses, heart transplants, indoor plumbing, the internet, distorted guitars, the wheel, etc.

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To be honest, flying is quite boring.

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It's like riding a cramped bus after having the privilege of standing in three different lines in order to get an x-ray and rectal exam.

I still do enjoy take-offs and landings and am fond of surveying the countryside on a clear day trying to determine where the fuck I am. The change of topography on any reasonable flight is interesting. Flying at night is a bit different. You have to contort yourself so that your eyes are adjacent to your nipples to get a view of the stars. It's interesting to note how much darkness there is in certain places between towns. The most interesting thing at night is how many planes you can identify at different altitudes and headings. Transoceanic flights are a bit of a bore as far as sightseeing goes, although I'm still transfixed how the whitecaps of waves appear not to move. 

I love flying with my wife on the rare occasions we get to travel together; most of my flying has been for work after leaving the Navy. She reminds me that the experience and actually looking forward to your destination can be fun. 

When I do travel for work, most of my enjoyment comes from the unmolested reading time I get. Like most, I work my ass off and consider flight time 'my time'. I feel sorry for those that travel for business and are now compelled to pay for WiFi. available on many flights, in order to keep clanking away on their laptops as if they never left the office.  


This is probably way more than you bargained for in a response, but despite the fact that the experience can be exciting, mundane and frustrating all at the same time only demonstrates that there'e way too much shit to think about other than gravity.

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You're doing it wrong.

For a decade, my recreational activity of choice was soaring.
A sailplane is rather large in comparison to a motorcycle, but the view is unsurpassed.
Oddly, I am afraid of heights.  I never seem to be able to trust whatever is supporting me or what connects me to that.  Climbing a 15 meter antenna tower with full safety gear leaves me shaking when I return to the ground.
Somehow, sitting in a glider is a completely different experience, simultaneously both more and less involved.
More involved because you are constantly busy, mentally and physically, finding and working lift, navigating and manipulating the controls.  Less because when you are in the zone, the countryside rolls quietly along below like watching Google earth but you know you're not.  I think it was this disconnect that kept fear of injury from becoming real.  And it is only done on beautiful summer days in the country.
I called it my lawn chair in the sky.

[Cato]

For a decade, my recreational activity of choice was soaring.

Now that sounds like a way to spend an afternoon.

[Pyrrho]

In one of the last few years there were cases with at least 5 fallen or disappeared planes, so I wouldn't say plane crashes are rare.

They are very rare compared with car crashes that result in deaths.  Go ahead and do some searching online for this; I don't want to be accused of providing biassed sites so I won't bother with any links at the moment.

[Excited Penguin]

Not sure if I'm scared or not. I only flew once in my life(or maybe twice, I can't remember). I kind of like the idea of it, but I am also aware of the possibility of something going wrong with a flight.

I am more scared about car driving, in general. Imagine if the skies were as full of planes as the roads are of cars.

But then again, we can't compare the two. When flying, you have to entrust an aviator with your life, whereas you can fairly easy drive your own car and are more likely to be able to do so, than man a flight. There are many other differences, obviously, I am just raising the issue seeing how some might compare the two.

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I do love airports though, all because of one instance. I was awaiting to embark on a plane in one[airport], late at night, with my family. I might have been fourteen years old at the time and I remember standing there, in that great place, amidst many people preparing to travel or having arrived and moving in the distance, and feeling quite godlike, in fact. I don't know what came over me but I have never experienced something as great since. The feeling was so powerful that I was able to, I believe, convey it over the phone to a friend of mine, some time later.

[SteelCurtain]

I love to fly. I give myself a neck ache wrenching around to see the different workings of the marvelous machine that allows me to scream across the sky at 500 knots and 38,000 ft.

Also, having an intimate familiarity with the equations and maths surrounding aeronautics, I have no worries about that. The pilot, on the other hand, is the most iffy part about flying. But I tend not to be a worrier about pretty much anything, much to a certain woman's chagrin.

[JuliaL]

For a decade, my recreational activity of choice was soaring.

Now that sounds like a way to spend an afternoon.

It was great fun in sun and fresh air.
Then they moved the gliderport 125km away and it became much more difficult.
My practice time was restricted and flying is something you want to do well or not at all.
So I gave it up.

[Cato]

My parents and some friends keep telling me I'm going to get myself killed and that I have a death wish because I like to do "risky" activities.

Sounds similar, but there's a bit of a backstory. My wife won't even ride a roller coaster. Me? Can't get enough, the more extreme the better, but she'll go as absurdly fast in a circle on anything close to the ground. I tried to explain that the sudden stop at ground level g-forces of those rides are just as mortal as a sudden stop from free fall. She understood, but she's simply terrified of heights (I have a funny story about how I 'tricked' her to get on the sky lift at Disney World).

When I was in the Navy a group of us planned a sky-diving trip. It was one of those deals where you could attend a short class and do a tandem jump with a discount for the full course and solo jump. We planned it two months in advance and my wife didn't like it, but had no problem with it. Two weeks before showtime the escapade is made a topic of conversation with my dipshit brother. In the same breath, his infinite Mormon wisdom allows him say something close to this, "That sounds great! I'd go with him if it weren't for the fact that Grandpa died in a skydiving accident".

He didn't lie, because this was a fact; however, it was my paternal grandfather whom I met once when I was five (he died when I was 11). I have only vague memories of meeting him; my brother was two at the time. I had also been estranged from my father since I was a teen so it's not like this was some deep dark family secret I was keeping from my wife. Before then, this 'Grandpa' was never a thought or a topic of conversation, let alone a barometer for living.

Alas, my first jump will exorcise many demons.

[The Valkyrie]

My parents and some friends keep telling me I'm going to get myself killed and that I have a death wish because I like to do "risky" activities.

Sounds similar, but there's a bit of a backstory. My wife won't even ride a roller coaster. Me? Can't get enough, the more extreme the better, but she'll go as absurdly fast in a circle on anything close to the ground. I tried to explain that the sudden stop at ground level g-forces of those rides are just as mortal as a sudden stop from free fall. She understood, but she's simply terrified of heights (I have a funny story about how I 'tricked' her to get on the sky lift at Disney World).

When I was in the Navy a group of us planned a sky-diving trip. It was one of those deals where you could attend a short class and do a tandem jump with a discount for the full course and solo jump. We planned it two months in advance and my wife didn't like it, but had no problem with it. Two weeks before showtime the escapade is made a topic of conversation with my dipshit brother. In the same breath, his infinite Mormon wisdom allows him say something close to this, "That sounds great! I'd go with him if it weren't for the fact that Grandpa died in a skydiving accident".

He didn't lie, because this was a fact; however, it was my paternal grandfather whom I met once when I was five (he died when I was 11). I have only vague memories of meeting him; my brother was two at the time. I had also been estranged from my father since I was a teen so it's not like this was some deep dark family secret I was keeping from my wife. Before then, this 'Grandpa' was never a thought or a topic of conversation, let alone a barometer for living.

Alas, my first jump will exorcise many demons.

Always someone to try and ruin it for you.

Get yourself a good instructor and you'll enjoy it.  Takes a bit to convince yourself to go, but that's what the first tandem jump is for.

Spectacular!