Manchester to Florida.. and very anxious!

[dreamcatcher]

Hey, I’m due to fly from Manchester to Sanford, Florida in 10 days with my friends (I’m 18) and my family are due to fly out on the same route 4 days later. We’re all travelling with travel city direct (researched into the plane used and it’s a Boeing 747 and travel city direct work alongside Excel Airways) and I’m starting to become very anxious, not only for the safety of me and my friends but for the safety of my family as well.

I’ve always been nervous when flying (particularly when taking off and landing!) my worrying eased off a few years ago but after suffering from anxiety during the past year, my worrying is back with vengeance! Basically, I typed in Boeing 747 and I ended up on a website that explained all the problems the aircrafts have faced so now I’m so worried both about my journey and my family’s journey.

So far reading the forums has helped greatly but I still have a few worries (They may have been covered, haven’t had chance to read through all of the threads, so sorry if I’m repeating questions that have already been answered)

1) I’ve never travelled on a jumbo jet before. Are jumbo jets as safe as normal planes? (For example, a plane that would go from England to Majorca)

2) I know this is a stupid question, but are the pilots on a travel city direct flight as qualified and experienced as those on say, a British Airways flight?

3) How many engines are there on jumbo jets and what happens if they begin to malfunction?

4) How likely is it that an airplane wing would catch fire? Or that the controls used by the pilots would break?

5) I know Florida suffers from a lot of thunderstorms. What if there’s a heavy storm when we’re due to land. Would the plane be able to land OK or would there be severe complications? What if lightening hit the plane?

Thanks for any insight.

[spleisher]

Hello Dreamcatcher, and let me first of all take a moment to welcome you to Taking Flight! We're a friendly bunch and we, believe it or not, actually enjoy answering questions and helping people work through their fear of flying. And they say you don't get anything for free these days!

Royd may be out flying, but if he is about, I'm sure he'll chime in. I'll do my best to tackle some of your concerns in the meantime since your flight is coming up pretty soon.

I'm in Orlando, so if you're flying into Sanford, that's not too far from my home. I'll wave to you as you fly by. Sanford is the smaller of the two major airports that serves the "House of the Mouse", but I hear it is nice.

Now on to your questions. I'll try to take them one by one, but I tend to ramble a bit, so forgive me if I digress a bit.

1) I’ve never travelled on a jumbo jet before. Are jumbo jets as safe as normal planes? (For example, a plane that would go from England to Majorca)

The short answer to your question is a resounding YES! The 747 "jumbo jet" has been in service for decades, and has proven to be a real workhorse of an aircraft. It truly is beautiful and majestic (in my opinion) to see something that large take to the skies, and you are lucky to be flying on one!

2) I know this is a stupid question, but are the pilots on a travel city direct flight as qualified and experienced as those on say, a British Airways flight?

I don's know much about Travel City Direct, but I will say this: If you're flying in the 747, there's a pretty good chance your pilot is plenty experienced. You don't get to fly the largest passenger airliners on the planet right out of the chute. It takes years of experience to get to that point in your career, so you can be assured your pilots are pros.

3) How many engines are there on jumbo jets and what happens if they begin to malfunction?

The 747 has four engines, and though it is extremely unlikely that any of them will fail, can fly just fine without all of them operating. That is actually true of all airliners. Airliners are REQUIRED to be able to climb safly even even if they lose an egine at the worst possible moment. (right at takeoff) Those experinced pilots I mentioned earlier practice for this unlikely event all the time in the simulator.

4) How likely is it that an airplane wing would catch fire? Or that the controls used by the pilots would break?

Airliners are extremely complex pieces of machinery, but they are designed so well, and are so over-engineered that worrying about a catastrophic failure is really not worth the time or brain cells it consumes.

The major airliner accident in the US was nearly 5 years ago. Conservatively, that means there have been over 50 MILLION safe flights since that accident! WOW! It doesn't get much safer than that.

) I know Florida suffers from a lot of thunderstorms. What if there’s a heavy storm when we’re due to land. Would the plane be able to land OK or would there be severe complications? What if lightening hit the plane?

Well, given that I am both a pilot, and a Floridian, I know iof what you speak! The bottom line with thunderstorms is that they are big, and they don't move too fast when compares to a a jet airplane. There is also plenty of fancy radar to know exactly where they are (plus two or more pilots looking for them) and they are really pretty easily avoided. If by some chance there is a storm right over the airport at the time you are scheduled to land, your plane will circle for a bit and wait it out. The nice thing about Central Florida "Thunder Boomers" is that they come and go pretty quickly, so the airport would rarely close for long.

As for lightning strikes, it happens, and it's loud, and it may do some minor damage to the skin of the aiplane, but it is not that big of a deal.

Anyway, I hope that halps in some small measure.

Stick around, and do some searches on the forum. A lot of the questions you ask have been covered well by and others in much more detail than I have given in this one post. If you get the chance, head over to Captain Ray's forum on this board, and read some of his helpful articles in the sticky at the top.

Again, Welcome!!!

[Lynda]

Hi

Welcome to Taking flight.

I have done the trip from Manchester to Orlando so many times I lose count.

The last few times we have flown with Virgin on a 747. The 747 is my favourite plane along with the 777.

Travel City Direct is as safe as any other airline in my opinion and that is very safe. Your trip to the airport is a lot more dangerous than the trip to Orlando.

:)

Enjoy your visit to Orlando.

[Falcon]

I apologize for the lateness of my reply.
1) The 747 is safe, it is an old and tested design with many aircraft in the air.

2) All British crew are trained to the same standard and checked every six months.

3) It has four engines. If one fails the crew will evaluate the situation and will make the appropriate decision. The aircraft will fly perfectly well.

4) There is little chance of a wing fire as no combustion goes on there.

5) If the thunderstorm is over the airport when you get there the flight will hold. The crew will be well aware of the forcast and carry the necessary fuel.

Try and enjoy as much of the flight as possible and focus on the lovely time you will have there. Any further questions please don't hesitate.