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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think dying in a plane crash is far preferable to on a sinking ship?

79 replies

NewMatress · 14/05/2021 16:00

Obviously I'd prefer neither, but I have friend who's wife refuses to fly so they go on a cruise every year.

I try not to think of it too much, but the thought of being on a ship as it goes down is far more distressing than a plane crash. All that time to contemplate your fate and wonder where DC are.

OP posts:
FrankButchersDickieBow · 14/05/2021 16:18

HAPPY FRIIIIIDAAAAY OP Grin

Moondust001 · 14/05/2021 16:18

I don't dwell on either - both are very rare. But given the choice I'll go for the ship as I swim really well and it doesn't take long to scramble rescue anywhere in the world these days. This is the era of the Titanic.

That said, I have never been through the Channel Tunnel, and have no intention of doing so. When they built it I read several reports from experienced seismologists who advised that as it lay on faults lines, there needed to be serious seismological monitoring because it would only take the wrong shift for the tunnel to collapse and fill with water. That equipment was never included in the specifications. So much as it will probably never, ever happen, I am staying on the ferry or the plane! I fancy my chances on either of those far more than underground, surrounded by concrete debris and filling with water....

GrumpyHoonMain · 14/05/2021 16:19

A lot of aircraft that crash in the sea don’t break up in ways you think they do. A friend of mine works in forensics and said outside explosions most air crash victims don’t die instantly or even quickly.

Moondust001 · 14/05/2021 16:19

That should have said it isn't the era of the Titanic

RickiTarr · 14/05/2021 16:20

@NannyR

I suppose if a ship is sinking, you have a very good chance of getting into a lifeboat and being rescued, if a plane crashes your chances are not so good.
This.

Morbid line of thought, though.

Let people take the holidays they choose and get on with your own life.

CookieMumsters · 14/05/2021 16:20

If I'm definitely going to die, I'd rather do it in a plane. If I'm definitely involved in an accident and I MIGHT die, if rather take my chance on a boat.

LindaEllen · 14/05/2021 16:21

The question isn't what are you most likely to survive, people, it's which is preferable if you die.

Plane crash is much quicker, probably. I wouldn't like to drown.

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 14/05/2021 16:23

Cheery Grin

I’d go for the boat. I’d be doing everything I could to survive.

Throwing my jewellery off to sink to the depths the lot.

HandforthParishCouncilClerk · 14/05/2021 16:24

Cruise ships being lost with all hands/the majority is vanishingly unlikely. The odds of surviving a plane crash on the other hand.....

Biancadelrioisback · 14/05/2021 16:24

I used to work on cruise ships so I'm pretty confident that I'd survive. I know where they keep the life rafts and I can operate a life boat

InTheNightWeWillWish · 14/05/2021 16:24

A cruise ship has life boats, life jackets. It’s going to put a distress call out quite soon into the disaster. In most cases it takes a while for a boat to sink. There’s likely to be rescue ships and helicopters there, as it sinks. I think it’ll be incredibly traumatic but I think I probably stand a better chance of surviving that than an air disaster.

If a disaster happens with a plane, it tends to be much quicker than a sinking ship. It would seem from the news that planes can be quite hard to find in the ocean. They’re still trying to find MH370. There’s the risk of fire ripping through the plane before you’ve even hit the ground. Then the impact with the ocean or ground itself.

If I’m going to die regardless, a plane crash is probably the quicker way to go. If there’s going to be a disaster but it’s not certain that I’ll die, I think have better odds on the boat.

Biancadelrioisback · 14/05/2021 16:25

I am terrified of flying though...

Sirzy · 14/05/2021 16:26

Really the risk is probably much higher driving to the port or airport!

I hate flying so given the choice I would pick ship any day.

Sparklingbrook · 14/05/2021 16:27

All this talk of cruises reminds me of early 2020 when Covid was rife and people would have to come off the boat and quarantine for 2 weeks in Liverpool i think. That was when I became aware of the pandemic. People stuck in their tiny windowless cabins, not allowed out and having food left outside the door.

But even prior to that there were regular stories of Norovirus and such like spreading like wild fire on cruise ships.

I think i'll stay at home. Grin

Soubriquet · 14/05/2021 16:27

I’ve nearly drowned before

It was awful... So I really wouldn’t want to drown

But I also don’t fancy being smashed against the earth. Though I would say that would be a more or less instant death

AlwaysLatte · 14/05/2021 16:27

Most downed planes land in the sea. So both. This is a cheerful thread!

thelegohooverer · 14/05/2021 16:27

You could just stay home and wait for the plane to fall on you.

babbaloushka · 14/05/2021 16:28

Plane for me, only if I was with my family. Morbid as it sounds, I hate travelling with DH alone, purely because if anything happened and we both died, the kids would be orphans. I feel more reassured travelling with all of together, because terrible it might sound, at least no one would be left behind. After losing my mum quite young, I wouldn't inflict that on anyone.

Soubriquet · 14/05/2021 16:29

@AlwaysLatte

Most downed planes land in the sea. So both. This is a cheerful thread!
I often have these sort of cheery thoughts. Would like to start a thread on it but worry people with suicidal tendencies would take it too seriously.
Dozer · 14/05/2021 16:32

Wonder what the relative risks are.

Would guess that road transport is far higher risk than boats and planes, after adjusting for numbers of journeys etc. And rail too.

I sadly have anxiety on all forms of transport, the joys of MH challenges, no doubt travelling much less won’t’ve helped with that!

Biancadelrioisback · 14/05/2021 16:33

@Sparklingbrook

All this talk of cruises reminds me of early 2020 when Covid was rife and people would have to come off the boat and quarantine for 2 weeks in Liverpool i think. That was when I became aware of the pandemic. People stuck in their tiny windowless cabins, not allowed out and having food left outside the door.

But even prior to that there were regular stories of Norovirus and such like spreading like wild fire on cruise ships.

I think i'll stay at home. Grin

In my experience, it's rare for there to be a cruise without a case of norovirus. I was on ships for 3 years. Its quite nice for crew though, I mean yes you're shitting your brains out, but you get a few days off work!

The majority of guest cabins do have windows, only the internal ones don't (even plenty of those have internal windows facing onto the ship). It's the crew who have 2-4 peopled crammed in a cabin with no windows.
From what I've heard, when the guests were freed from the ships, loads of the crew got moved to guest cabins for isolation and they weren't too upset about it.

Melitza · 14/05/2021 16:33

I read a book about the Zeebrugge ferry disaster.
I still use ferries but it sounds terrifying and they were only just out of port.

RickiTarr · 14/05/2021 16:33

@AlwaysLatte

Most downed planes land in the sea. So both. This is a cheerful thread!
AFAIUI, when planes land in the sea, it’s often at fatal velocity.
Cantrecall · 14/05/2021 16:33

God no, imagine plummeting to the Earth how horrific. Ship sinking 1000 times over for me!

Regularsizedrudy · 14/05/2021 16:34

You’re trying to apply logic to a fear that is not logical