Questions From A Scared Newbie!

[emma_leigh]

Hi

I have a flight in 2 weeks time to Tokyo leaving from Heathrow.
I have a couple of questions that I hope you can answer!

1. I am flying with SriLankan Airlines and have never heard of them before :eek: Do you know anything about this airline? Is it safe?

2. The flight will be stopping over for 8 hours in Colombo, so we will have 4 flights in total (there and back!) does this increase the odds of being involved in an accident?

3. I have heard that Take Off and Landing are the most dangerous times of a flight, What are the odds of an airliner crashing at these times??

I thank you for taking the time to entertain my questions, I am so scared about my trip :cry: any help would be appreciated :blush:

Regards
Emma

[Falcon]

Airlines that operate into UK and US airspace are required to achieve a certain standard of safety. For the four flights instead of two. Don't confuse statistiscs with reality.
If I cross the road four times instead of two, yes I stand a greater chance of being injured based on safety figures but that doesnt mean I will come to harm. In fact you will be safer, halfway after you land the old crew will get off and fresh rested crew will replace them. The engineers will get a chance to give the aircraft an extra two once overs to ensure all is well.

Again with take offs and landings they are statisticly more dangerous. Why? you are closer to the ground. There is no law demanding an aircraft get airborne unless the crew are satisfied. So your crews (Four of them) will get two extra chances to keep you safe and abort the take off if they arent satisfied. Try thinking that way and please dont hesitate to ask if you have anymore questions.

[emma_leigh]

Thankyou for your reply!

I will try to think of how you put it, it makes sense!

I have 7 days until I fly and the only thing that is worrying me is that I wont arrive home to my children :( because the aircraft will crash or be blown up somehow (silly I know).

I guess no-one can help me with that fear as no-one can be 100% sure that they arent going to happen.

Emma x

[Falcon]

The same goes for car journeys too. Look and post on the general forum to see how others cope, they will only be too glad to help.

[EyesSkyward]

I guess no-one can help me with that fear as no-one can be 100% sure that they arent going to happen.

I think it's a bit unrealistic to think that you can't possibly be helped with your fear, simply because no one can tell you it's impossible for planes to crash. Heck, even if you were 100% sure, that wouldn't really help the fear. It wouldn't address the underlying issue.

See, the problem isn't that the risk exists. There's risk in everything we do. A fear of flying, however, is a reaction that is completely out of proportion to the real risk.

You can drive around in a car with little trouble, even though it is more dangerous than flying, because you have an realistic and healthy view of the risks involved. Nobody's giving you a 100%, iron-clad guarantee of safety, but you do it anyway.

The trick is to move toward getting that same view when it comes to flying. And it can be done. I've seen it!

:thumbsup:

- Jeff

[emma_leigh]

I think it's a bit unrealistic to think that you can't possibly be helped with your fear, simply because no one can tell you it's impossible for planes to crash. Heck, even if you were 100% sure, that wouldn't really help the fear. It wouldn't address the underlying issue.

See, the problem isn't that the risk exists. There's risk in everything we do. A fear of flying, however, is a reaction that is completely out of proportion to the real risk.

You can drive around in a car with little trouble, even though it is more dangerous than flying, because you have an realistic and healthy view of the risks involved. Nobody's giving you a 100%, iron-clad guarantee of safety, but you do it anyway.

The trick is to move toward getting that same view when it comes to flying. And it can be done. I've seen it!

:thumbsup:

- Jeff

You know Jeff that makes so much sense and I have never seen it from that point of view before!
Im really not sure of what the underlying issue is for my grave fear of flying, I wish to god I knew so I could put it right.
I think alot of factors contribute, but cant pin point any of them.
Thanks so much for your helpful post, it has made me feel a little differently, I just wish I could get it into my head that travelling in a car is more dangerous than flying, I will work on it ;)