So… Are you scared to fly commercial?

[Zippatuh]

A lot of people I know have apprehensions about flying even before the attacks of September 11.  I myself get a little uneasy boarding a passenger liner.  My personal belief is the pilot is more likely to kill me than an equipment failure, which without the statistics at hand I believe is the majority of most aircraft accidents.  This brings me to the story of co-worker coming back to work today from vacationing at mouse land in Orlando.

He started off with the normal chat heading into the vacation nightmare story.  The vacation appeared to be doomed from the beginning with 1 of his 3 children having some sort of problem every day starting before they left.  He went through the rental car fiasco, dodging the crowds at the “it’s a small world” ride, and so on.  Finally it came to the checkout and drive to the airport.

On the way to the airport on the interstate everything was going well until the wheel of an oncoming 18-wheeler decided to come of, jump the median, and hit them squarely in the middle of the windshield.  The wheel shattered the windshield, creased the roof down to seat level, and went right off the back of their rental.  Unbelievably it was in the exact center of the vehicle.  The two oldest children where in the back seat behind driver and passenger and were in the middle of nodding off to sleep so heads where leaned to the door side for both.  The youngest in the center thankfully was smaller than the top of her car seat, which stopped the roof from crushing her.

Thankfully everyone is ok and made it back to KC in one peace.  Beaten and battered but nothing serious or permanent.  Just goes to show you have a better chance of being killed in your car on the way to the airport than you do in an aircraft.

[Eagler]

so true

Why worry about a terrorist when heck you can really go at anytime... and we will all go sooner or later

I have a way better chance of getting struck by lightning here in FL than I do getting killed by any terrorist action

Appreciate today, as tomorrow may never come

[Masherbrum]

perfectly worded Eagler!

Masher

[hawk220]

for me, its not the threat of a terrorist incident on a jetliner..it was for a while after 9/11, but not now. now its the pain in the bellybutton that the whole airline experience has become. you have to show up many hours before a flight to get in line for your body cavity search.. 'welcome to american airlines sir..please drop your pants'.. I'm lucky..I'm a white guy,they don't mess with me a whole lot,but I feel bad for Americans that are of Arabic descent..you KNOW the whole plane looks at them when they get up to take a leak..waiting for them to whip out a knife or something...for those that have flown..ADMIT IT, YOU DO TOO..oh..and the part-time barbers and taxi drivers with freaking machine guns jackbooting around the airport make me feel ever so safe... and the high-school dropout that is behind the flouroscope, making minnimum wage keeping bombs and guns off the plane..HA!...then some toejamhead runs thru the detector with a wrench in his pocket or bag..then runs off and they have to clear the whole airport to 'rescreen' tens of thousands of pissed of passengers and employees.. screw it all..unless I'm going international..I rent a damn car and hit the road.

[narsus]

no fear here, went to vegas last weekend, flying to puerto rico for a cruise and the the the convention. And flight lessons so I will have a hell of an amount of airtime. As eagler said just gotta live life.

[Otto]

So… Are you scared to fly commercial?

No.

[Curval]

Originally posted by hawk220
you KNOW the whole plane looks at them when they get up to take a leak..waiting for them to whip out a knife or something...for those that have flown..ADMIT IT, YOU DO TOO..

Damn right I do!  If I was alone I would request to sit next to one of them just to keep an eye on them.  I don't feel bad about it one bit.  

I am concerned about an attack...I cannot imagine a more horrible way to die.  I will do anything and everything to prevent it too.  I was flying about two months after 9/11 and when I got to the airport I saw a friend of mine who happens to be a white rastafarian (strange, but true).  He said that everyone was looking at him as if he was Osama Bin Laden.  But, while having a quick smoke (ciggie) before the flight we made a little pact that if anything happened that we would both punch first and talk later.  It made me feel alot better knowing there was someone else that was as concerned as I was.

[Creamo]

Cavity search? Hawk, I’ve flown 3 times since April and have been pulled aside by security on at least one leg of the trip every time. What airline are you flying? Certainly not American.

I was asked over to a convenient area setup by the gate. No prob.
I removed my shoes, 3 seconds.
They scanned them and the bottom of my feet with a wand, 1 minute.
They checked my luggage, 2 minutes.
I was then thanked and escorted to the front of the boarding line and off we went.

Seems anyone else asked to do this went through the same hassle free search. I was really impressed by how quick it all works and how much safer travel is. I honestly think it would be hard for a wouldbe wacko to get anything dangerous onboard.

Who ever gave you the idea you have to show up “ many hours” before a flight? International, sure. Give yourself a couple of hours to get through customs, check in, and handle any unforeseen problems. But domestic?  It’s good business post 9/11 or not to show up 1.5 hours before your flight. Gives you time to check in, do some people watching, and most importantly relax. You'll never have to look like the tards that are running to their gate late 3 minutes before departure looking all stressed and about having a grabber for gads sake. I never pity them.

I have this hunch your one of that people that always drive and the one time they do win a ticket from a time-share , they make it miserable for 99% of the rest of travelers. You know, for instance the people who are in like row 28, and sit at the edge of their seats cocked like a Olympic event waiting for the seatbelt sign to go off at arrival. Then the chime is like a starters gun and they shoot out of their seats, clanging their bags off the top of others people heads.

 Meanwhile, anyone that has flown more than a $49 U-CAN-FLY intro flight in a 150, remains relaxed and seated knowing it will take 10 minutes to clear out the front of the airplane and have to have tulips 1 inch from their faces. I just hate it, heh.

So next time you drive 3 or 4 days out to New York or Florida, I guess you won't have to worry about taking your shoes off and having them scanned.

I still don't get it however.



--

[Dinger]

The hassle varies by airport, and by terminal.
Monday after thanksgiving I went out Cincinatti at the same time as my little brother.  I was on some regional to St. Louis; he was on delta to Seattle.  He showed up 2 hours before departure; I showed up a couple hours later.  The line through security for the delta hub was 2.5 hours.  The rest of the airport had absolutely NO WAIT.

I did some math -- they had to process one flight per security line every two minutes.

They've probably fixed it, but I know one airline I ain't flyin'.

[eskimo2]

This reminds me of a story;

A friend of mine was in a helicopter accident.  Some trash got sucked into the tail rotor, and screwed it up.  The chopper went down and rolled on it's side, the main rotor came off and sliced through the helicopter between the pilot's seat and the right seat.  All four occupants walked away unhurt.

eskimo

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Otto
So… Are you scared to fly commercial?

No.

DITTO.

[Maverick]

Scared to fly commercial, no. Too poor right now, yes!  

[hawk220]

wow creamo, you sure pigeon-holed me, didn't you? Don't feel so threatened by someone that disagrees with your views, sounds like you have stock in one of the airlines. if you have this pleasant-valley-sunday experience everytime you fly, you are certainly the exception.

[Karnak]

No.

This whole terrorist crap hasn't raised my anxiety levels one bit.

I still wonder where the newsies get these people that are irrationally frightened.

Hint:  The danger level has not gone up at all, quite the contrary it has gone down a little bit due to slightly increased security.

The chicken littles are merely more aware of the danger level whereas they were previously blissfully ignorant.

[sling322]

Originally posted by hawk220
sounds like you have stock in one of the airlines.

Heh...dont worry about ole Creamy there...he just gettin' lonely cause Ripsnort aint around for him to wail on.  And he dont own stock in 'em....hell he works for them.