Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Buttercupsandaisies · 24/03/2015 22:26

I'm terrified of flying and regardless of the plane skidding, dodgy landings and over shooting runways etc, my fear is that you can survive a car crash. If a plane comes down suddenly from 30,000ft, you're going to die, youll likely be aware of it and that's my fear.

Buttercupsandaisies · 24/03/2015 22:27

Car crashes are pretty sudden too so no watching the ground approach at speed etc!

BarbarianMum · 24/03/2015 22:56

Because cunningcat safe is not the same thing as infallible.

By your lack of reasoning, beds should be considered extremely dangerous - people die in them all the time.

CunningCat · 24/03/2015 23:03

Good point (eyes up bed with suspicion)

FourEyesGood · 24/03/2015 23:17

My family and I are flying to Germany (with Germanwings) on Sunday, and I've found some of the statistics on this thread very reassuring.

Those poor passengers and their families.

Jackieharris · 25/03/2015 06:22

There have been lots of plane crashes into mountains that people have survived.

This one wasn't survivable but others are.

There are things you can do to increase your chances of surviving a crash (esp fire/smoke) eg knowing where your exit is as mentioned above.

Psipsina · 25/03/2015 12:34

'Germanwings will have to cancel more flights on Wednesday as some crew members refuse to fly, a day after an Airbus A320 operated by the budget arm of Lufthansa crashed in the French Alps.

"There will be irregularities... There are crew members who do not want to fly in the current situation, which we understand," a spokeswoman for Germanwings said. '

Just thought this might be worth a heads up.

DowntownFunk · 25/03/2015 12:43

I think that crew members not wanting to go on certain planes is a good indicator that no one should.

Rosa · 25/03/2015 12:47

Aviation safety
Last year was the safest aviation year on record.
According to safety analysts Ascend, there was one fatal accident per 2.38 million flights in 2014, compared with every 1.91 million flights the year before.
Although these figures did not include the loss of the Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, where 298 people died, which was counted as a war loss, rather than an accident.

Taken from the BBC site....

Psipsina · 25/03/2015 13:00

DTF - without further detail I don't think it is necessarily a reason not to travel, though I would be incredibly reluctant to just knowing the crew were refusing to.

We don't yet know what caused this and though it may be a maintenance issue, it may well not.

I was posting the info for someone who said she was due to fly with them, in case she wanted to make contingency plans should her flight be cancelled.

Psipsina · 25/03/2015 13:00

Just FTR Smile

Only1scoop · 25/03/2015 13:03

I am no great authority.... but I believe the crew will have been given the option to be stood down in the aftermath of this tragic accident. I think perhaps it's possibly that rather than 'refusing' to fly.

lavendersun · 25/03/2015 13:09

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

NancyRaygun · 25/03/2015 13:09

*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.*

Really? Really??? In an emergency they would
a) remember who was pissing around and then
b) leave them to die.

REALLY.

Only1scoop · 25/03/2015 13:13

Nancy I have been flying for almost 20 years and I've never heard such crap.

And in the aftermath of such an emotive accident just awful Hmm

BertieBotts · 25/03/2015 13:17

Nancy was quoting somebody else earlier in the thread.

Only1scoop · 25/03/2015 13:19

I know I was agreeing with her at how ridiculous it sounds.

I'm just scrolling through to try and find it.

NancyRaygun · 25/03/2015 13:21

Yes, sorry my bolding failed!

I thought it was a really stupid thing to post, v disrespectful to flight attendants and, just really SILLY.

BertieBotts · 25/03/2015 13:25

Ah right, sorry :)

UsedtobeFeckless · 25/03/2015 13:38

I'm due to fly on Saturday and this thread has really calmed me down! I work on an airfield in a non-plane-related capacity and I've been joy riding in lots of little private planes and micolights but for some reason the big ones scare me more.

So sorry for all the families involved.

limitedperiodonly · 25/03/2015 13:38

No need to scroll, it was me.

The people I spoke to, who were senior staff in BA and Virgin Atlantic flight crew training, said they preferred people to pay attention during the routine security announcements and read the leaflets no matter how often they fly because things change.

They were asking for two minutes' courtesy out of your time, which isn't much, and if you are flight crew, I'd have thought you'd have appreciated that plea from a traveller for courtesy to staff.

But they also added that it did help them spot the people who were paying attention and those who weren't. They also mentioned the kinds of people they find most and least helpful in an emergency.

We went through a mock emergency procedure and I was shocked but pleased at their transition from waiter to barking authority figure who told you what to do in order to save your life.

Neither they nor I said they'd leave someone to die.

I was very impressed by the level of training in something going beyond first aid and crowd control by those two airlines.

That's what I was trying to say.

Of course, it might have all been an elaborate ruse for the media by those companies and the reality is that flight crew don't undergo any kind of training apart from upselling perfume.

It didn't seem that way to me but I'm not flight crew. What training do you receive? If you don't receive that level of training please name your carrier and I will avoid it.

As I said, I was impressed. But if you are flight crew and prefer not to accept the compliment then there's nothing I can do.

NancyRaygun · 25/03/2015 13:49

Limited what you have typed there makes perfect sense, I see what you are saying. It must be so frustrating for crew when frequent flyers check email/kindle whatever during safety announcements.

I remember one flight I took where the crew said on loudspeaker "Hey, everyone! You! Especially you frequent flyers "heard it all before yadda yadda yadda" in seat 22. Listen up because I am going to quiz you later on the exits!"

You wrote earlier "In an emergency they would try to save anyone but" and the BUT got me thinking you were reporting that they singled people out who didn't deserve saving... which would certainly be counter to the training they receive Grin

Only1scoop · 25/03/2015 13:55

Limited ....I can see it's also an attempt at humour between the crew in a 'save the tall dark handsome' type of quip. I can see in exactly what context it was written.

Thank you for clarifying.

I do regard what I do as a profession.... and as many pilots will say it's the cabin crew who are the 'safety professionals in board'

Only1scoop · 25/03/2015 13:59

Also limited it does make perfect sense ....your crew were referring to locating abp's able bodied pax....customers we like to sit at exits and would help in an emergency.

LikeABadSethRogenMovie · 25/03/2015 14:08

I never listen to the safety talk but I always always check where my nearest exits are before I've buckled my seat up. Is there anything else I would be missing?