Current Events > Why are some full grown adults scared of flying on airplanes

(+) Yeah! (+)

Don't they know how planes work?
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it's called subconscious reaction

REMercsChamp posted...

Don't they know how planes work?

Thrust and angle.
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Why do people have a fear of a half inch 8 legged insect? It's called a phobia and it's mostly something entirely beyond the control of the individual.
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A brown person may hijack the plan

Dear moderation staff

I am in no way stating that I dislike people of color, I am merely answering the question brought to us by gamefaqs.gamespot.com user REMercsChamp
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Im not the pilot, and I dont trust other people driving my car.

Turbam posted...

Dear moderation staff

I am in no way stating that I dislike people of color, I am merely answering the question brought to us by gamefaqs.gamespot.com user REMercsChamp

Now that is just sad.
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The thing that never ceases to amaze me is how many people freak rhe fuck out on planes when they hear the fly by wire system automatically adjusting.

I have yet to take a flight in the last ten years where I haven't had to explain fly by wire to people.
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BlueJester007 posted...

Im not the pilot, and I dont trust other people driving my car.

It's not your car though. It's their plane.
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pres_madagascar posted...

The thing that never ceases to amaze me is how many people freak rhe fuck out on planes when they hear the fly by wire system automatically adjusting.

I have yet to take a flight in the last ten years where I haven't had to explain fly by wire to people.

What is that
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Fear is not always a rational emotion
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If anything goes wrong, there's upwards of seven miles of "down".

EpicMickeyDrew posted...

BlueJester007 posted...

Im not the pilot, and I dont trust other people driving my car.

It's not your car though. It's their plane.

And I dont trust them.
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Questionmarktarius posted...

If anything goes wrong, there's upwards of seven miles of "down".

You can parachute down to safety
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Because unlike car crashes, if the plane crashes you have a very small chance of survival, and you have no control over it either. You're just sitting in a sardine can hoping they get you there safely.

BlueJester007 posted...

EpicMickeyDrew posted...

BlueJester007 posted...

Im not the pilot, and I dont trust other people driving my car.

It's not your car though. It's their plane.

And I dont trust them.

Well regardless, your analogy makes no sense. Do you trust other people driving their cars? Do you ever take a taxi, or a bus, or a train.
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REMercsChamp posted...

Questionmarktarius posted...

If anything goes wrong, there's upwards of seven miles of "down".

You can parachute down to safety

well, yeah, but Spirit charges extra for it.

EpicMickeyDrew posted...

Do you trust other people driving their cars?

Hell no.
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Because I work on planes. "eh, it might work. Just put some safety wire on it."
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REMercsChamp posted...

Questionmarktarius posted...

If anything goes wrong, there's upwards of seven miles of "down".

You can parachute down to safety

Still scary. I never want to use parachute and if I am ever forced to I know I will be screaming with my eyes closed the entire time

Sitting next to the wing has to be the scariest experience for me. Everytime it shifts I start freaking out a bit
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yoshirulezz1 posted...

Sitting next to the wing has to be the scariest experience for me. Everytime it shifts I start freaking out a bit

It's supposed to bend and flex.

Anyway, you can think about it this way: how many flights are going on right now? And at the end of the day you'll not hear of one crash. It's very rare. There are a lot of safety measures taken to ensure a safe flight. If for whatever reason an engine fails, there's one or more back ups, and even then, the plane can glide to safety. It's designed for that.

I'm not saying it's not scary. I'm scared of flying to a degree because being 35,000 ft in the air is in and of itself horrifying, but there is rational thinking you can try to apply to it to help ease your worries.
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The older you get, and the more you know, the more you start to think about things. When I was a kid, no fear whatsoever. Now, I admit I am a little nervous when flying

97% of people are incompetent at their job, including many airline mechanics and pilots

Fear of heights is pretty common.

Also 9/11 spooked everyone on planes.
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Well there's the statistical approach but really the physics behind flight are anything but intuitive, the engineering of a jet is uncanny and once you have a few automotive breakdowns, that's always gonna be in the back of your mind.

It only makes sense that some people would be nervous.

I flew cross-country last week and though it didn't make me nervous because of the statistics, all these things crossed my mind.

I have something of a grasp of the physics of flight, how it's related to Bernoulli's equation and the shape of the wing to manipulate the volume of the above relative airflow, but a few points still elude me.

Then there's the considerarion of the width of the wingspan compared with the width between the landing gear(s?) appearing to be an impressive feat of balance, while also traveling at such high speeds even while on the ground.

And I used to drive a Chevy Cobalt, so the possibility of having 2-4 engine breakdowns in 3000 miles is pretty realistic in the back of my mind.
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Muffinz0rz posted...

pres_madagascar posted...

The thing that never ceases to amaze me is how many people freak rhe fuck out on planes when they hear the fly by wire system automatically adjusting.

I have yet to take a flight in the last ten years where I haven't had to explain fly by wire to people.

What is that

Basically the plane drives itself with computers more or less. The sound of what sounds like gears, is the cables adjusting.
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