Something I have noticed

[Passenger Mark]

As you know, I had severe FOF. How can you measure FOF... well... when you make a plane go back to the gate... the is severe! ha ha

Anyways, a bunch of flights later, I don't even think that way anymore. But I can clearly recall some of my thoughts then.

Also... I have been reading the posts here. And between reading the posts here, and thinking back to my own thoughts I have some things that come to mind.

I "think" that we FOFers think that the whole flying deal is "cowboy style".

In other words, they load the plane, shut the door, roll out to the runway, and yell yeehaw and let loose. If it flies it flies, and if not... well...

If they fly along and run into a storm... the guys up front look at each other, raise their eyebrows, and yell... "Hey watch this!!!"

Or they just "happen" to find the right airport to land at. That the pilots are up front, looking out the window, straining their eyes, going "is that it? Looks like it. YEA!! Theres the McDonalds next to the airport... I hope they never turn the lights off on those golden arches or I will NEVER find this place!"

When in reality it is not that way at all. I don't think there are any cowboys in the front... and if there are, they leave their cowboy hats at home.

Nothing is left to chance... or "lets see if this works"! Everything (Weight, fuel, runway length) is carefully calculated for the takeoff.

The pilots are well educated, trained, and monitored.

The route is carefully calculated, and then check while in route.

The weather is watched, watched some more, and then watched again.

It may seem that they just shut the doors and go, but there is far more going on behind the scenes that we never see.

[aerobat]

I used to think that all of aviation was cowboy country. I thought of pilots as reckless rodeo riders who loved to spit in the devil's eye and have har-raisin' close calls just to outdo their buddies' tales down at the hangar.

Of course you are right, Mark; it is nowhere near that way in commercial aviation. The degree of risk management is extraordinary, from multiple redundancies to precise guidance to superb engineering to highly reliable onboard weather radar to rigorous screening, training and recurrency and lots more.

I think some of the cowboy reputation hails from the early days of aviation, when pilots routinely took serious risks, when there were no aeronautical charts or instrument approaches, and when engines and airframes were far less reliable. If anyone wants to read an excellent rip-snortin' page-turner about this phase of aviation history, check out Ernest Gann's Fate Is The Hunter. Here are some reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0671636030/ref=dp_nav_1/104-4370966-3652719?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

When I busted through my fear of flying I found myself with a relentless yearning for aviation knowledge. It was this which pushed me into flight training--where I otherwise would not have gone anytime soon. And once I got a taste of the pure stuff, man...that was it. I was hooked--air junkie forevermore. :cool:

It is an important step for anyone with FoF to come to trust pilots, aircraft, and the airline industry. Getting to know a few pilots is tremendously helpful. Talking with your pilots before you board is on the short list of things to do to combat fear.

There is still a thread of cowboyism woven into the GA tapestry, I must say. But it is for the most part constrained by a deep desire to live and fly again. I know a number of airshow pilots, and they are very dedicated and serious about their craft. I have done a few wild-side things in the sky (a 52-turn spin for example) but always with thorough attention to safety: careful planning, perfect weather, more than enough altitude, all the math in place, and nothing left to chance even there.

aerobat

[mercier]

It's very hard to shake the notion that flying is somehow dangerous. Logically, I know it's safe, but try telling that to your emotions.


I did notice something interesting yesterday though. At a flight tracking website, I was browsing a bunch of flights, and I noticed there was a storm system somewhere around Manitoba, and all the flights tracked around it. If I can see it, then so can they. Some went out of their way, but obviously that's the safest thing to do. It's quite helpful to track flights. You start to see the many, many flights that arrive safely on a minute by minute basis. It's very reassuring.