Nervous Fly'ers

Originally posted by juulz2001
I think when there is no turbulance you can forget that you are flying miles above the earth, when turbulance hits you start to remember that! I try concentrating on drinking my red wine rather that the bumps!

I think this is very true, the routes I normally fly across russia are very smooth, and with the quietness of the A340 cabin you do forget that you are 35000ft up. In fact I think it is this that causes me not to be able to sleep on a plane. Smooth and quiet = no sleep but as soon as I get in a car, movement and white noise = out cold!

So what I need is a bumpy flight in a noisy cabin... Perfect [y]

I love flying though you will NEVER meet anyone who can get as travel sick as me which is a nightmare I can even get a dodgy tummy after a 20 car ride (dont know how I'm going to manage 22hrs to sydney! ). Plus i hate it when my ears pop [n]

I've not flown many times compared to a lot of people here and I'm beginning to realise that my first ever flight must have been a bad one:

FA's strapped in for most of the flight (transatlantic to Toronto):
A regular feeling of rising out of my seat and then bumping back down:
Coffee going over people behind:
The plane just dropping frequently on approach, like I was going down a lift - I've not had a feeling like that on a flight before. Plus there was the incident with a guy collapsing in the aisle with a possible heart attack.. and the round of applause from the passengers when we landed...

I guess ignorance was bliss - I was really scared about the return trip but it was fine, despite me playing Tetris for 8 hours straight!

Paul

Yeah, I think that is a pretty bad flight, karnsculpture!;)

Cheers,
VS045

I have been lucky enough to have sat in the jump seat for 3 take offs and about half a dozen landings when I use to fly business class around Europe (obv pre9/11). I just used to get on and ask the FA if I could sit in and I guess as I was in business it was the done thing for PR etc.

On one trip I spent the whole flight in the cockpit chatting to the crew and they were very sanguine about flying and accidents and it was very intersting - although I have seen videos of planes being built and al the wing testing and stuff they assured me that "breaking" a plane - even in severe turbulence is nigh on impossible - the wings can flex to 90 degrees if need be.

They said that most accidents are a down to poor communication - usually from the ground and mis-interpretation - and maybe thats why I try to fly with "good" carriers - the incident with the Iranian airbus here in Brum last week shows that!!

So I dont worry about stuff - I assume the pilot loves his life as much as I do mine so I know hes not gonna be trying to splat the plane - in fact the pilots told me that the planes pretty much fly them selves from Take off to landing these days and that his son was as good as he was in a 767 simulator after having learnt how to fly it on his pc at home - apparantly he said - aged 14 "Dad - I dint realise yoru job was so easy!!!" The pilot said if you ever got into a cockpit and there was no one there then the plane woudl land itslef at its destnation - but he did say that it doesnt drop its own undercarriage - so he pointed out how to do that and now - if Im ever in that position ( God forbid) then I can land the plane!! hehehehehe