WillFlyToDisney
06-19-2005, 04:29 AM
I resurrected an old trip report of mine from September of last year when I had to fly over a tropical storm. I was VERY nervous and felt like I had completely lost my confidence to fly.
Just hoping someone finds this useful.
September 8, 2004
I just wanted to share my trip on Monday and Tuesday because it really reminded me of why this group has been so helpful to me in the past year and a half.
I was all set to fly from CHS to ATL to BNA on Delta on Monday nite to meet up with the band to fly out of BNA to Long Beach, Cali (where I am sitting right now - on the Queen Mary Cruise Ship Hotel!). I had lulled myself into believing that I had pretty much conquered this fear of flying - after all I fly several flights a month now and have not really taken any Xanax in months and months.
Sunday nite I was made aware of the weather by a pilot friend of mine when he mentioned that the weather might be too rough for him to fly into Florida the next day. I froze. What he saw as an "annoyance" in the possible delay of schedule I read as "dangerous". All of the sudden my "B" movie started playing again. My horrid flight a dozen years ago (that grounded me for a decade) happened in BAD weather. Yikes! What on earth was I getting myself into! My pilot friend reassured me of all the things I had learned on this board - the planes wouldn't fly into any dangerous weather, turbulence can't hurt the plane, etc..... I exchanged a few emails with Ray and he assured me of the same thing. All would be fine. I just couldn't get it out of my head though. All of the sudden I felt like I was back to square one and could feel the panic creeping in. I had to go though - my job depended on it.
I arrived at the CHS airport and went to the gate only to find out that the plane was delayed 2 hours because of ATC in
ATL. Great, I thought. More time for the bad weather to REALLY set in! The pilot of our flight was standing at the gate so I approached him and introduced myself. I told him that I fly all the time and used to be a pretty nervous flyer but that the weather today really bothered me and asked him how bad the flight would be. The look of concern on the pilot's face is something I wont soon forget. He told me to come and talk to him since we had plenty of time and went back to the gate agent and told her that he was taking me on the plane. She questioned him but he insisted so off we go onto the MD-88 by ourselves!
Capt Chris insisted I sit down in the left seat in the cockpit and talk to him about why I was nervous about this flight. I gave him a brief history of my bad flights and years without flying then told him about this group and urged him to visit the board sometime and read and POST! The guy was so sweet and really seemed eager to put my mind at ease. He asked me what he could do to make the flight easier for me and I asked him to just please keep us updated about the turbulence. We talked alot about flying and all of the little knobs and buttons in the cockpit. He kept saying he wished we were in ATL so he could take me to the hangar to show me some of the testing they do on the aircraft. This guy knew his stuff - quoting stats about the plane that you could tell he LOVED to fly for a living.
The First Officer John came in and was just as sweet. John lives in Tampa so we quickly started talking hockey (a passion of mine!). He said he lived in the neighborhood with some of the Tampa Bay Lightning players and I told him that Delta pays him TOO well if that is the case. He laughed. The flight to BNA was bumpy again - moreso than the 1 from CHS but I hardly noticed.
Next day on American Super 80s from BNA to DFW then a nice 2 hours in DFW (blech) then our flight into Long Beach. The band was very upset that they didn't get a Bistro bag on either flight but that was the only complaint we had. American was GREAT to us and both flights were uneventful except for a patch of turb we hit as we were descending into LGB. One of the guys looked back at me when that happened because he didn't like it very much and I just smiled and told him it was "just turbulence" and we would be out of it soon. He laughed and said that he thought I was the nervous flyer, not him!
Sorry this is so long but I just really appreciated everyone here on the board from the pilots that answer our questions to the friends I have met on the board that I talked to or were at their computers tracking me. I guess you are never really "cured" of your fear - you just learn to manage it. The network on this board is definitely a great tool for that!
Thanks guys! Better eat lunch now - room service just brought my steak - YUMMMMMMMMM!
Kelley
Just hoping someone finds this useful.
September 8, 2004
I just wanted to share my trip on Monday and Tuesday because it really reminded me of why this group has been so helpful to me in the past year and a half.
I was all set to fly from CHS to ATL to BNA on Delta on Monday nite to meet up with the band to fly out of BNA to Long Beach, Cali (where I am sitting right now - on the Queen Mary Cruise Ship Hotel!). I had lulled myself into believing that I had pretty much conquered this fear of flying - after all I fly several flights a month now and have not really taken any Xanax in months and months.
Sunday nite I was made aware of the weather by a pilot friend of mine when he mentioned that the weather might be too rough for him to fly into Florida the next day. I froze. What he saw as an "annoyance" in the possible delay of schedule I read as "dangerous". All of the sudden my "B" movie started playing again. My horrid flight a dozen years ago (that grounded me for a decade) happened in BAD weather. Yikes! What on earth was I getting myself into! My pilot friend reassured me of all the things I had learned on this board - the planes wouldn't fly into any dangerous weather, turbulence can't hurt the plane, etc..... I exchanged a few emails with Ray and he assured me of the same thing. All would be fine. I just couldn't get it out of my head though. All of the sudden I felt like I was back to square one and could feel the panic creeping in. I had to go though - my job depended on it.
I arrived at the CHS airport and went to the gate only to find out that the plane was delayed 2 hours because of ATC in
ATL. Great, I thought. More time for the bad weather to REALLY set in! The pilot of our flight was standing at the gate so I approached him and introduced myself. I told him that I fly all the time and used to be a pretty nervous flyer but that the weather today really bothered me and asked him how bad the flight would be. The look of concern on the pilot's face is something I wont soon forget. He told me to come and talk to him since we had plenty of time and went back to the gate agent and told her that he was taking me on the plane. She questioned him but he insisted so off we go onto the MD-88 by ourselves!
Capt Chris insisted I sit down in the left seat in the cockpit and talk to him about why I was nervous about this flight. I gave him a brief history of my bad flights and years without flying then told him about this group and urged him to visit the board sometime and read and POST! The guy was so sweet and really seemed eager to put my mind at ease. He asked me what he could do to make the flight easier for me and I asked him to just please keep us updated about the turbulence. We talked alot about flying and all of the little knobs and buttons in the cockpit. He kept saying he wished we were in ATL so he could take me to the hangar to show me some of the testing they do on the aircraft. This guy knew his stuff - quoting stats about the plane that you could tell he LOVED to fly for a living.
The First Officer John came in and was just as sweet. John lives in Tampa so we quickly started talking hockey (a passion of mine!). He said he lived in the neighborhood with some of the Tampa Bay Lightning players and I told him that Delta pays him TOO well if that is the case. He laughed. The flight to BNA was bumpy again - moreso than the 1 from CHS but I hardly noticed.
Next day on American Super 80s from BNA to DFW then a nice 2 hours in DFW (blech) then our flight into Long Beach. The band was very upset that they didn't get a Bistro bag on either flight but that was the only complaint we had. American was GREAT to us and both flights were uneventful except for a patch of turb we hit as we were descending into LGB. One of the guys looked back at me when that happened because he didn't like it very much and I just smiled and told him it was "just turbulence" and we would be out of it soon. He laughed and said that he thought I was the nervous flyer, not him!
Sorry this is so long but I just really appreciated everyone here on the board from the pilots that answer our questions to the friends I have met on the board that I talked to or were at their computers tracking me. I guess you are never really "cured" of your fear - you just learn to manage it. The network on this board is definitely a great tool for that!
Thanks guys! Better eat lunch now - room service just brought my steak - YUMMMMMMMMM!
Kelley