How Do You Feel About Flying?

[AFTER HOURS]

Yea its definitely scary if you think about the movies you watched with airplane crash scene. .

[anonymous2.0]

I like traveling but I hate flying. Never liked the sense of helplessness and when I was a child my ears used to pop something painful and I feel a little of that trauma every takeoff and landing. Now I just take night flights so I can sleep my way though it.

And flying just beats taking a bus, driving, or a train.

[Double_L]

Here this should help you out:

[Drunken Cat]

Statistically there are more deaths per journey in cars than planes.

Statistics > Gut feeling.

Go for it, you're on an American plane. How many times does a plane going from one state to another go down? There are plenty of airports the plane can use en route if it enters difficulty and you're not in the middle of nowhere.

Not to be nasty but I'm only worried about flying in foreign, less developed and less safety conscious countries/airlines.

That's actually not true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_safety
Deaths per billion journeys:
Car: 40
Plane: 117

But,

Deaths per Billion hours:
Air: 30.8
Car: 130

And,

Deaths per Billion Kilometers:
Air: 0.05
Car: 3.1

It is necessary to mention that first two statistics are computed for typical travels for respective forms of transport, so they cannot be used directly to compare risks related to different forms of transport in a particular travel "from A to B". For example: according to statistics, a typical flight from Los Angeles to New York will carry a larger risk factor than a typical car travel from home to office. But a car travel from Los Angeles to New York would not be typical. It would be as large as several dozens of typical car travels, and associated risk will be larger as well. Because the journey would take a much longer time, the overall risk associated by making this journey by car will be higher than making the same journey by air, even if each individual hour of car travel can be less risky than an hour of flight. In the same vein, when considering the "deaths per billion journeys" statistic, it is important to consider that airliners, buses and trains will carry far more passengers than a car, or bicycle for example.

It is therefore important to use each statistic in a proper context. When it comes to a question about risks associated with a particular long-range travel from one city to another, the most suitable statistic is the third one, thus giving a reason to name air travel as the safest form of long-range transportation.

It is worth noting that the air industry's insurers base their calculations on the deaths per journey statistic while the industry itself generally uses the deaths per kilometre statistic in press releases.

[jaded]

I was on a flight to Europe some years ago when all of the sudden my ears felt like they were going to burst and the oxygen mask dropped in front of my face and the plane started to drop altitude at super incredible speed. The pilot didn't say a word and the flight attendants started screaming at people to put on the masks and fasten their seat-belts. Finally the air pressure in my ears equalized and the plane maintained altitude and the pilot came on to say that the cabin's air pressure system had malfunctioned and we would be landing at Toronto to change planes. I guess the system could equalize pressure at the lower altitude but not at the higher.

Quite the experience when a 747 drops like that and makes a roaring noise and you think your ear drums are about to burst. We had to wait 6 hours at the Toronto airport for them to get another plane...if I remember it took about another couple of hours to refuel in London...a couple of hours to get out of the airport in Athens...and then a 3 hour bus ride to northern Greece. The whole trip took something like 30 hours...which really was the worst part of it.

I have never thought about that aircraft malfunction ever since while flying...I'm pretty sure it's a very rare occurrence. I do remember sitting in the seat while we dropped thinking there is nothing I can do about it...it's all up to faith now and just stayed calm. 9 days later my best friend died in boating accident...and I decided to do all the things I wanted to do before I died. I ended up moving to the Carribean not that long after...a fantasy I had...after a couple of years I came here to Vancouver for some reality.

The next trip I took after that was to Florida and the aircraft's engine kept cutting out while on the runway...and once again we had to change planes. It was a lucky break when we did because I had an aisle seat and this couple came to sit next to me. He was about 350 lbs and she was bigger than he was. I stood up to let them sit down and after they both squeezed into their seats mine literally disappeared into nowhere. I had a different seat on the new plane so it was worth the wait.

I don't think flying is really dangerous...a few weeks ago I came within inches of being hit by a car backing out of a driveway by a driver who must have thought he was in a race...right around the corner from where I live. Trying to cross the street at night in a city full of East Indian cab drivers is probably more dangerous...I've had so many close calls lately.

[SlySlickSmooth]

When I was like 12-14yrs old, couple years after 9/11, it was my first time getting on a plane in maybe 4 years, but this time I was flying alone.

The guy next to me was a middle-eastern man, full on beard, and was reading a book that had what I described at the time as "terrorist writing."

I was scared shxtless.

[New England]

Safer than being in a car.

that really depends on where you are going.

taking off and landing in a plane is more dangerous than driving low speeds on certain rural roads if they are empty

[La Jefa]

Thanks for the responses. I was looking for comfort but I think I'm worst off now!

[BoZz]

I don't like flying but I have to..it takes me 7 hours from my town to Singapore than I have to take a plane from Singapore to Germany which is another 13 hours of flying..so all up about 20 hours of flying.

[Drunken Cat]

Thanks for the responses. I was looking for comfort but I think I'm worst off now!

To answer the question, I love flying.

Not for the cramped conditions, crappy food, check in lines and procedures, inconvenience of having to show up early, trouble getting to and from the airports, layovers, etc.

But, because I love traveling and I love adventure, and flying is a part of this. Though, I do prefer land and see travel. But, flying is often either the only way or the much more convenient/efficient way.

As it happens, I'm flying from Tokyo to Oregon the day after tomorrow. It includes a 7 hour layover in San Francisco, which I don't look forward to.