The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday in the noon hour.
QUESTION: Do you ever get nervous while flying on an airplane, or do you just trust the process and hope for the best?
Talk about it….
Don’t get nervous, the idea of being inside an aluminum tube at 200 mph plus. First time
was work bending a few of us to Huntington Beach classes on obscure computer programing language, second time 25 years ago to Kansas to pick up a limited production vehicle. Only times flying.
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Look at it this way, if God had meant for man to fly he’d be buying the tickets.
Not nervous till we run into bad turbulence, we’re in a storm & you see the wings shake up & down 3-4 ft …. then the pucker factor comes in 🙂
Years ago you could actually listen to the pilot and control tower communicating. I remember ones at SFO I don’t remember if we were landing or taking off, but the control tower asked the pilot “do you see that TWA flight in front of you, the pilot answers “No’, the control tower again “do you see him now”, the pilot very calmly “No”, now I was getting a little nervous and looked out the window, the control tower “you still don’t see him, again the pilot “No”, I was almost ready to storm up to the cockpit, when finally the pilot answers, “Yes, now I see him”. I breathed a big sigh of relief.
I was on a 16-seater prop from Chicago to Cleveland in a storm. Separating us from the plot/copilot was a curtain. He would open it up to tell us he requested to go to 30,000 ft (whatever), but they wouldn’t let him, and the plane would drop (felt like hundreds of feet) then get pushed up just as quickly. I must admit, I was a bit nervous on that flight.
One time when I was flying into Kennedy Airport in NYC, there were a thunderstorm. Again this was back when they would you listen to the communications with the control tower. We were bouncing up and down, the pilot asked the tower how long they had to stay there, and the control said a bit, I have a nice sequence stacked up, the pilot answered, “we can’t stay here much longer”. Listening to the communications can be reassuring, because the pilots always sound so calm. However, they are training to remind calm under all circumstances. My cousin told me part of his training included that no matter how rude an instructor was, he was only allowed to answer “Yes sir or No Sir’. One time when he made a mistake the instructor asked him “Is there any idiots in your family”, my cousin answered “no sir, the instructor Yes there are, do you know who it is, “No sir’ The instructor “It is you Mr. Hutters’ all my cousin was allowed to say was “Yes Sir”. Part of his training took part in the US I think in Texas and maybe also Arizona, and the other in Denmark and probably other European countries, not sure where this incident took place.
Never. But I hate getting the airplane ear during takeoff and landing.
i was told by a physician if you chew gum that might help.
It actually does help, same if you are driving in high altitudes.
No, I don’t get nervous. I’ve been flying since I was a toddler, and flying is much safer than driving. I drive daily.
Yes, always. I didn’t always feel that way. My first trip on a plane was from Copenhagen to Reykjavik Iceland. The second from Copenhagen to NYC, when I came here as an au pair. Having lived here for many years and having family in Denmark it is trip I took many times. Have flown all over the US as well.
One trip from Copenhagen to NYC, on Icelandic air, the last hour or more the turbulence was so severe that even some of the flight attendants got air sick, even so I wasn’t nervous. My mother was a fairly nervous person when it came to driving fast etc. so I figured being scared of flying (she never did fly) was for slightly neurotic people. Then in the early seventies I was dating a German guy, and he was so terrified of flying he sail back to Germany rather than getting on a plane. That made me think and I guess as you get older you begin to realize how hazardous life can be. However, I still fly, if you don’t you are very limited where you can travel to. I have not had any really bad experiences while flying other than some turbulence.
My Danish cousin was a pilot for SAS, flew all over the world, all different planes, he did at age 38 by falling down a flight of stairs.
No, I don’t get nervous on a plane. But when I was a helicopter door gunner, and we
were being shot at, I felt a little anxiety come over me. I was a gung ho kid in the Marines,
and when we actually got shot down and were lucky enough to survive, that’s when it really
hit me. I was hurt pretty bad, but I was more afraid that the NVA would find us, and the
thought of spending the duration of a war in a prison camp where I don’t understand the language and being fed lousy food is what frightened me the most.
Not while flying. I get nervous when I am waiting to get to my seat, nervous on whether I will fit in it or not, and it is worse after holidays when uncontrolled eating has happened. I do trust the process. My heart and prayers go out to the poor passengers/crew on both flights, and their families.
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I trust flying military aircraft way more than commercial passenger airlines.
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And I wont fly “budget” carriers or regional airlines. They’re typically flown by less qualified pilots who either are fresh out of school or couldn’t cut it on big jets.
Lastly, I avoid aircraft made by Bombardier and ATR. Their maintenance programs suck.
I remember one of those regionals. I forget the real name, but we called them Tennessee Treetops airlines. They had the WFR navigation system (We Fly Railroads). As long as they could see the train tracks, they were fine. Every seat was a window seat and an aisle seat, and the pilot loaded baggage.
In general, I just trust the process and hope for the best. But the first time I landed at Andersen AFB on Guam, I was very nervous. We had flaps down and wheels down, and the Pacific was getting closer and closer. I heard the wheels hit at the same time I finally saw runway.
No. I enjoy flying. Been a long while. I always went Coach, unless the Bank was paying for a Business Trip back in the day. Now I still would fly Coach on two to three hour flights and would want an isle seat.
Never
Yes I do.
ever since 9/11 I am not a good air passenger
I have no fear of flying, though there are some airlines I would not fly on. I spent about 2/3 of my career as an aerospace engineer doing and managing in-service engineering of Navy aircraft and am also an FAA licensed Airframe and Powerplant mechanic. I have never worked as a mechanic (my whole career was as an engineer), but have a deep understanding of airplanes. I have flown hundreds of times and had a few flights with significant turbulence. Every airplane is certificated to high standards and are destructively tested to 1.5 times of the maximum load they are designed for. On a typical airliner, the wingtips will be above the top of the fuselage before they fail. Maintenance programs are well defined and thorough and require approval by the FAA. Pilots are certified to very high standards and have frequent recurrent training, check rides and physical exams. The fact that the most recent airline crash in the U.S. was in 2009 (the Colgan Air regional turboprop) speaks volumes for how safe it is to fly. The 2009 crash resulted in significantly increased requirements for airline pilots. Every mishap results in lessons learned that are used to make air travel even safer. Airplanes can take you to places that expand your horizons. Sit back and relax and enjoy the flight and where it takes you.
I get nervous in any vehicle unless I’m the driver & hearing about the FAA forced to make DEI hires didn’t help ( I keep thinking of “Johnny ” in the movie Airplane!).
I do pretty well flying but there was one takeoff from Memphis in a bad thunderstorm that I have to admit got my adrenaline going and by the look of the other passengers I wasn’t the only one.
There was another takeoff from Dallas where I had to sit next to a really fat lady who was crying and clutching Rosary beads.
She spent the entire ascent praying aloud and gave a repeat performance when we landed.
I was in the window seat and she was wedged in next to me (she really should have been required to buy two seats).
I got nervous one time flying a red eye from Honolulu to San Francisco. We began boarding around 11pm and as I entered the aircraft I heard the Captain and First Officer arguing. The Captain was yelling at the First Officer saying: ” Less Filling” while The First Officer was yelling back at the Captain,”Taste Great.” I believe they were at Hapoy Hours about 6 hours prior. Luckily, it was a 777 which pretty much flies itself.
I don’t like flying overseas on airlines
I never heard of and can’t pronounce the name.
And the pilot is wearing jeans and bright white running shoes.
But has the hat and shirt right.