Questions from a newbie

[leela]

First of all, I am very grateful to Captain Hutch in trying to help us fear of flying folk overcome our phobias, so a big THANKS in advance.

I am new to the boards and posted some of these issues under "general" but I am going to put some of them here to see if they can be addressed in this forum.

Take-offs (not landings)
I actually like landing. During the landing process I feel some excitement and a bit of an adrenaline rush. Maybe I’m just happy it’s almost over? Not sure. But taking off scares me to death as I was told once that during take-off and landing the plane is under the most stress. I always picture the plane crashing into the ground just after take off and expolding into a fiery crash because of all the fuel on board. Any advice on how I can get over this fear?

Turbulence
I intellectually understand that it doesn’t mean the plane is going to fall out of the sky, but yet it scares me to death, and makes my physically ill. Is there any way to get over my fear of turbulance?

Not being able to get off the plane
The idea of being trapped in a plane when I’m soooo scared is brutal. It’s one of the few places where you can’t just exit the situation if you feel scared and/or sick. Is there anything I can do when I start to feel like I am going to die if I don't get off the plane right this second?

Terrorism
If we are about ¾ way through the flight I assume that if there was a terrorist on board he would have taken it over by now, but up to that point in the flight I’ve been terrified because I’ve had to deal with the possible scenario that there is a terrorist on the plane. I know Captain Hutch is protected from terrorists with the new regulations since 9/11, but what about the rest of us?

The Economy
I fear that in these tough economic times that airlines are cutting back. I wonder about the safety of aircraft itself, the flight crew being overly tired (I know there are regulations for how much they can fly, but I wonder if they are still being adhered to), overworked air traffic controllers, mechanical issues being overlooked due to cost cutting, etc. Are these fears valid?

Apparent increase in NA plane crashes
It certainly does seem that there is an increase in plane crashes over the past 6 months in North America. Why is that?

Again, thank you for any insight that you can give. :)

[Captain Hutch]

Dear Newbie,

I am happy that you have received some helpful ideas already from this site -- I'll try to alleviate your fears from my aspect:

takeoffs: I have covered this very topic fairly extensively in another thread somewhere--BarbSAN is usually pretty good about finding it--but basically, at the very time of takeoff, the pilots are looking for alternate places to touchdown in case of problems immediately after takeoff--think about "Sully" Sullenberger's landing in the Hudson River!

turbulence: most extensively covered by others, I haven't thought of anything new here.

not being able to get off the plane: also covered by others, but I would check to see where all the exits are, check the floor or low level lighting to see where it is located, either on the floor as strip lighting or on the lower portion of the seat, noticing the difference when you are at an exit row, think about how you would get there if you were walking or crawling, look where empty seats are as it may be quicker to get to those exits, think about what you would do in a water landing, including not inflating your life vest (do you know where it is) while inside the airplane.

terrorists: by the pilots being protected you are protected.

economy: also covered in another thread somewhere, but basically, if anything, the pilots and mechanics are more careful now than before.

apparent increase in NA crashes: statistically I don't believe this holds water--only careful analysis of each crash that might uncover a flaw in the system would be a valid reason to think that something like this would be the case.

Well, I hope that this has helped in some way. Thanks for your interest.

Hutch :tiphat:

[MathFox]

Apparent increase in NA plane crashes
It certainly does seem that there is an increase in plane crashes over the past 6 months in North America. Why is that?



apparent increase in NA crashes: statistically I don't believe this holds water--only careful analysis of each crash that might uncover a flaw in the system would be a valid reason to think that something like this would be the case.


I have been doing some statistics on the NTSB accident numbers and there is a clear reason why it seems that the number of crashes in 2009 is higher than in 2007 and 2008: there were no fatal accidents involving US airlines in those two years. That is partly luck and largely due to the hard work of everyone working in commercial aviation to make flying safer. See the attached graph which shows the improvements in your safety over the years.

The red triangles represent the number of fatal accidents per 100.000 departures (use the left axis). The thick red line is a "regression" line that shows the trend in the accident numbers.

[Barb-SAN]

See the attached graph which shows the improvements in your safety over the years.
Nice work, MathFox! :) Now THAT should be included along with every news article about "another plane crash"...because it does seem to me like there have been more crash stories lately in the media.

Do these numbers represent accidents occurring in the U.S. only? (i.e. including non-U.S. airlines operating in U.S. airspace, but not U.S. airlines operating overseas, or in Canada or Mexico?)

[Barb-SAN]

Dear Newbie,....

takeoffs: I have covered this very topic fairly extensively in another thread somewhere--BarbSAN is usually pretty good about finding it--
Hutch :tiphat:


Eh, that was an easy one...the thread is titled "Fear of Take-offs" :D, a couple pages back on your forum...linked here: http://www.takingflight.us/forums/showthread.php?t=8200

It's a good reminder for all of us to read some of the older posts as there are good discussions to be found. Then add questions to those threads if you can think of some new ones that weren't already answered. ;)

[MathFox]

Do these numbers represent accidents occurring in the U.S. only? (i.e. including non-U.S. airlines operating in U.S. airspace, but not U.S. airlines operating overseas, or in Canada or Mexico?)

These are based on the worldwide accident numbers for the scheduled service of US (CFR 121) registered airlines. (Flights that you get on when you buy a ticket at a travel agent, including the "Regionals".) I have worked with table 6 of http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/stats.htm (take the csv into oocalc and graph it.)

[scottr0829]

Nice work, MathFox! :) Now THAT should be included along with every news article about "another plane crash"...because it does seem to me like there have been more crash stories lately in the media.

Do these numbers represent accidents occurring in the U.S. only? (i.e. including non-U.S. airlines operating in U.S. airspace, but not U.S. airlines operating overseas, or in Canada or Mexico?)

I think there are more crash stories because of the 24/7 news cycle - along with the internet bloggers, twitter, youtube, etc... I included those social networking sites because I think the news networks are now competing with them so they reports every little situation now - fatal or not - so the social networks don't get it first.