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AIBU?

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Original poster

To never want to get on a plane again?

310 replies

TwatMcTwonk · 24/03/2015 12:17

Just watching coverage of the French air crash Sad
I've always been a nervous flyer, took medication etc and would still be anxious all the way through the flight.

Used to go on holiday as a family, maybe two or three times a year, but I'm seriously thinking I don't think I could physically get on a plane again after all these news reports.

I know, statistically, it's rare to be involved in a plane crash, but I can't shake this awful feeling that it is just happening too often for my liking.

Anyone else feel like this?

OP posts:
Flossiechops · 24/03/2015 17:29

Stinkle I know a day will come when dh patience run out and he will want to go away. 2 yrs ago we drove to France, last year went on a cruise from Southampton (I wasn't much better on that) and this year we are driving to Provence - I told Dh it will be fab as he can take his beloved bike! He is going to visit his brother in China in May so at least he will be getting away and I don't have to go Wink

limitedperiodonly · 24/03/2015 19:37

Northernlurker for the same piece I spoke to flight crew.

They said they always clocked the people who paid attention during the boring security announcement.

In an emergency they would try to save anyone but people who looked like they were compliant and with it would get more attention than people who said:'Oh fuck. Where are my sunglasses? Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.'

limitedperiodonly · 24/03/2015 19:41

Punctuation fail

In an emergency they would try to save anyone. But people who looked like they were compliant and with it would get more attention than people who said:'Oh fuck. Where are my sunglasses? Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.'

Psipsina · 24/03/2015 19:42

It occurs to me that you never get a safety brief on trains or other public transport (well on a ship you do but it is impossible to understand anyway)

so if planes are so much safer than these, why don't we have the briefings on trains etc? When was the last big train crash that killed loads of people anyway?

thelittlebooktroll · 24/03/2015 19:44

Oh don't be ridiculous Limited. We are professionals. Personally I will only save tall dark and handsome men if I ever get in that positionHmm

Psipsina · 24/03/2015 19:50

TLBT - sorry if my question sounds irreverent. I have great respect for the job you do. I am just scared of flying.

treaclesoda · 24/03/2015 19:54

I'm pretty sure there have been multiple casualty rail crashes in the UK more recently than any airline crashes. Maybe ten or fifteen years ago for rail crashes? But 25 years ago since an airline crash.

Thats just off the top of my head though, I may be totally wrong.

Psipsina · 24/03/2015 19:56

I will look it up.

limitedperiodonly · 24/03/2015 20:08

Oh don't be ridiculous Limited. We are professionals. Personally I will only save tall dark and handsome men if I ever get in that position Hmm

I don't think I'm ridiculous thelittlebooktroll and I certainly don't think being a flight attendant is a profession.

That's okay, neither is my job.

It doesn't mean to say that we both don't know what we're doing.

If you are a flight attendant, I'm worried to hear you are singling out above people who were paying attention and could be helpful in an emergency.

That's what I was told by some very senior people at BA and Virgin.

GreatAuntDinah · 24/03/2015 20:13

Whoever it was upthread quoting wiki for train safety, bear in mind that wiki is heavily, heavily slanted towards the West in coverage and most train accidents will be in places like India -indeed I seem to remember reading about a big train crash in India just this week. But very little news coverage.

GreatAuntDinah · 24/03/2015 20:16

Here you go - major train crash in Uttar Pradesh four days ago: www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/20/dozens-die-indian-train-crash-uttar-pradesh

sleeponeday · 24/03/2015 20:17

I used to fly a lot - a LOT - and I was once next to a pilot, who attentively listened to the safety warnings. I was surprised and asked why, as I never bothered any more under the general assumption that crashes weren't survivable... and he told me more people walk away from crashes than don't, and knowing the info on how to get out fast was usually what separated them from the dead. It's a myth that a crash won't be survivable. The ones with multiple or all dead are the ones that make headlines, because they're the most dramatic. The ones with numerous survivors are less memorable.

After that I always paid attention, too!

DowntownFunk · 24/03/2015 20:24

In 1999 I was on a plane that developed a technical fault (faulty electrics causing pressurisation and altitude issues...the plane couldn't climb more than a few hundred feet) in the air and had to make an emergency landing after two hours spent burning fuel. The first airport asked denied us permission to land. Awaiting us alongside the runway at the second airport were about 20 fire engines and several ambulances.

As luck would have it we were sitting right next to the emergency exit and my companion had Valium in her bag. I was convinced we would be fine. And we were, happily. I had another holiday booked for a few weeks time and had written a list, before take off, of what to pack based on the outfits I'd worn on that trip. I was more pissed off that I was going to die before getting the chance to be super-organised, than anything else

A few people onboard literally shat themselves.

There was another different issue (crew hours) with the next flight that meant we had to land again about an hour into the flight.

We got a letter of explanation and apology from the airline as we disembarked the last flight 12 hours later than planned. There was no news coverage. I came across the letter the other day while going through some old folders.

In the last year or so there was wall to wall coverage of a similar incident for about two days with dozens of news crews at the airport and live coverage of the plane landing.

That didn't make me a nervous flyer though. Having kids did. My family and I were on MH17 a few months before the MH17. That makes my blood run cold.

EveDallas · 24/03/2015 20:24

I'm a nervous flier. I've been in a couple of flight 'incidents' that made me worse as time went on. I won't let it stop me flying, won't let it stop me going on holiday, but I spend the whole flight in a state of 'coiled spring'.

DD loves flying and I do my best to hide my feelings - I don't want her to be like me. Poor old DH Bears the brunt of it, including my nails digging into the palms of his hands on take off and landing. He's really good at distracting DD if I start to panic as well - his calm voice brings me back to normality.

One of my absolute deal breakers is that we HAVE to be seated together. If we were ever separated I just wouldn't fly. No ifs or buts. It's one of the reasons that I am baffled by people (on here and IRL) who say they won't pay to sit together. I wouldn't dream of leaving it to chance and there is no way in hell I'd move away from DD or DH for another family.

Its not so much the dying, but if it's going to happen then I want us all together, all holding each other and dying in each other's arms.

We are flying to Greece this year. Today's news hasn't made me any more nervous - because I'm nervous anyway. It's made me horribly horribly sad thinking of the children though. I think it's going to be very hard (if not impossible) when DD gets to the age that she could fly on her own on a school trip. The thought of it is making my heart beat faster now - and we are years off.

Mistigri · 24/03/2015 20:24

Yup, most plane crashes are survivable. As a regular flyer with kids I make sure I know where the exits are, and if I get a choice I choose an aisle seat close to an emergency exit. Not a nervous flyer, but a pragmatic one ...

Peepants78 · 24/03/2015 20:32

My dd has only just returned from a school exchange. I felt sick to my stomach when I heard about the school group on board. I mentioned it to her and her response was much the same as mine would have been pre-dd. "Cars are more dangerous"

Apatite1 · 24/03/2015 20:42

I fly only with my husband so we can die together (what a peach i am eh?)

I don't like flying so I cruise more, but I still fly 1-2 times a year long haul.

stubbornstains · 24/03/2015 21:00

I think when people talk about plane crashes being survivable, they mean the skidding-off-the-runway-and-catching-fire kind, not the dropping-out-of-the-air-onto-a-mountain range kind Sad

ManOfSpiel · 24/03/2015 21:04

Planes are amazing things and ultra safe. I've worked on a few in my time as a structural engineer and can assure you they're incredibly safe. Much painstaking work goes into every conceivable scenario, from bird strike, to engine failures and impacts with other debris. Even the seating/cabins are designed to keep you safe on impact.

In fact one of my last jobs was to make sure that a wing could still fly passengers home with large chunks removed, due to catastrophic engine failure.

Planes can land with one engine, no engines, no landing gear, bits of the wings missing........yet despite all I know and see, I still hate flying with a passion.

I realise this doesn't help except that you shouldn't feel bad for having a fear of flying. It's totally irrational and mine is more irrational than most but I still hate the experience.

SwedishEdith · 24/03/2015 21:08

Its not so much the dying, but if it's going to happen then I want us all together, all holding each other and dying in each other's arms. That's a good point. When I was reading about those who survived crashes, the site mentioned that families not seating together caused a real loss of time for everyone trying to get off. You, instinctively, look for you loved ones rather then just getting off the plane.

CunningCat · 24/03/2015 21:19

Planes are safe! Why did one crash today then?

GunShotResidue · 24/03/2015 21:34

I'm flying to Germany in 2 weeks and was a bit worried after hearing about this. But coming in here has reassured me.

The chances of dying in a plan crash are about 1 in 4.7million.

Last year in the US alone 4 x more people choked to death than died worldwide in plan crashes.

In the UK alone almost 2 x the number of global plane crash victims died in car crashes last year.

It's still heartbreaking for the families of loved ones involved today. Thoughts are with them all.

ManOfSpiel · 24/03/2015 21:46

CunningCat

They've only just found the black box so we don't know yet.

meandjulio · 24/03/2015 22:18

Terrified of flying, more terrified of ferries, hate horses, puke on coaches with metronomic regularity and won't go over 12 mph on a bike. I also firmly believe travel is not actually that good for me children, my memory of family holidays is always of at least one of us being quite ill. Walking - that's what humans are meant to do. I'm very lucky to live on a street one road away from a national path.

I do fly occasionally and I do take ferries - well, I have done, not for 11 years though. I don't like my chances, I am booked onto a Ryanair flight this summer to see family, and surely they are due a big smash.

What I will do as and when ds flies without me I don't know. Drink, probably.

Mehitabel6 · 24/03/2015 22:23

I find it very odd that people happily get into cars when statistically you are far more likely to crash.