My wife and I were just joking about our trip to Hollywood. Even know it was the first time she way flying, she sat next to a guy who was paniced about flying.

I pointed out they are on every flight. Some of the people that fly the most, get quite upset about the plane and the noises and all of that.

Maybe you've seen them. Maybe you are them.

I joke, what's to be conserned with?

Really, these people will fly down the highway, one hand on a hot coffee and the other using the cell phone, driving with their knees, cutting off people.

You are far more likely to die in a car every time you get in a car, then you are in a plane flight.

So why do people panic so much?

Chances are so good, that you will arive safely, that there's really no reason to worry about it.

And even if the worst happens, you're going to be dead so quickly, and awesomely, that there is no reason to worry.

PANDURITO said:

that's terrible!

MickG said:

co-sign.
[Edited 9/18/06 5:03am]

PANDURITO said:

PANDURITO said:

"You ever seen a grown man naked?"

I absolutely hate flying but it's more because of my fear of heights and my claustrophobia than it is about the plane going down. I'm getting more used to it since I fly so much but the true test will be flying for nine hours to Europe soon.

MickG said:

I'm not so sure about this. I'm scared of falling 35,000 feet. That wouldn't happen so quickly.

I'm not saying it means planes are statistically more dangerous than cars, but intuitively being so damn high in the air is scary.

NDRU said:

Depends upon what you mean by Quickly. It doesn't take more then 3-5 minutes, that assuming the plane didn't break up and burst into flames. My point is it would be far more quick then dying of cancer, heart desease, organ failure, and most acidents on the ground.

I love flying - The first time I went abroad was to Tenerife, A 4 Hour Flight - I had a window seat and spent 90% of the flight just staring out the window...When I got off the plane I had a very sore neck

There are elements of concern in my mind, but nowhere near the concerns I have when driving on the Roads.

I love flighing...

In the Azores (I'm from there...it's a little archipelago in the Atlantic ocean that belongs to Portugal!), we had to fly from island to island in very almost non-secure planes...so let's say I have seen it all!

MickG said:

I see what you're saying, but 3-5 minutes of utter terror doesn't sound great either.

I still don't get why everyone hates Alanis so much all of a sudden.

NDRU said:

NOW! it's getting intresting...

3-5 miutes of utter terror? What's so frighting about one's own death? My point is that someday you're going to die. There's no way around it. The saying goes better to burn out then it is to fade away.

I wouldn't be in utter terror. I'd use the time to watch the others in their utter terror, if not try to calm them and bring them into death accepting it well.

MickG said:

pretty sure that saying is meant to be "ironic," a sad comment on dying young

Pete Townsend changed his mind though.

and for me, it's not so much the fear of death, it's the fear of dying.

NDRU said:

the dying part is easy. Under every way, it's less painful then most things. It's just another pang of life. Then you're free.

MickG said:

I'm curious how you know that?

MickG said:

I just got visions of Kurgan standing in the middle of that Church yelling that phrase out !!!!!

NDRU said:

I'll tell you the truth, but I'm not saying you'll accept it. I was born dead and cut out of my mothers belly. This left me with a unwashed from the past conscious state of mind.



I recall several deaths before this life.

luv4all7 said:

it's in your mind sweety.

I love Alanis, I think she's awesome!

MickG said:

If you say so. You can comfort those of us who fear dying.
[Edited 9/19/06 13:32pm]

NDRU said:

I've always been one to die well.

People are afraid to fly because all the control is taken from them...in a car, you have a sense of control over your fate. Not so in an airplane.

People are afraid to fly also because flying feels unnatural...feeling your body suddenly lifted from its grounding point is disorienting, and your brain instantly and subconsciously calculates what it would take to return to that grounding point. The higher up you go, the more you realize that the only way of returning to that grounding point quickly is through a plunging death, so you have to quickly assimilate to the feeling of having no grounding point or turning the plane's floor into your new grounding point. That doesn't work too well because unlike a car, a plane is not grounded to anything...so your brain registers it as a false sense of security.

These are both completely natural and human reactions, and no amount of dry statistics or percentage quotations will ever override it.

And yes, 99.99999% of people fear dying in this way...it's a violent, chaotic death that would include that feeling of having your entire "world" suddenly give way under you as you plummet 35,000 feet straight down. Rollercoasters are popular because they allow us to live that experience safely on a smaller scale. We might "only have 3-5 minutes of dying" while being eaten alive by a killer shark in the middle of the ocean, but I doubt too many of us would even pretend to say "Eh, wouldn't scare me" if that were to happen.

Byron said:

Yes I understood this, but I also understand it's an illusion. I don't understand why others don't understand that.

I'm one of the safest drivers on the road. I've always got my eyes on the road and all that stuff, but I realize my control over the vehicle isn't all that's at stake. Many people are careless, and although i've avoided several acidents due to other's carelessness behind the wheel, it isn't the one's that I can avoid that would take my life.

Byron said:

well put!

definitely flying is about loss of control. Same with riding with someone else driving. That's scary, too.

and for me flying is scary because I know I'm stuck on the plane & I get claustrophobic. I can always pull the car over & get out if I need to.

And if the plane fell, I'd have 3-5 minutes to regret getting on the plane, knowing full well that would happen.

Flying isn't statisticly more dangerous, but intuitively it's more dangerous because it's so unnatural. Most people probably die on solid ground, but the ground feels much safer than flying.

MickG said:

fear doesn't have to be rational

NDRU said:

fear is irrationality running amuck and obsessing over filling in the blanks of nonunderstandings.

which I could spin off on Prince and my nonunderstanding of such a fearfilled man. But lets not.

MickG said:

Flying is like all the other drivers have control of your car as well, not just their own.

NDRU said:

I thought that was only me.

There are probably only two people i feel safe with driving.