Flying - C or D?

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I love flying in aeroplanes, sitting with my nose pressed against the wee window and watching as things drop away getting smaller and smaller. I feel every little movement and it's as though I'm the only person on board going "Woah!" whenever the plane banks. I look around with a big goofy grin expecting everybody to be doing the same as me, but they have their heads buried in magazines, or are harrassing the stewards. I'm 25 years old but I feel like a kid on a fairground ride everytime I go up in the bird. Flying is miraculous, it's fun, it's just plain weird! I flew for the first time when I was 21 and was wide eyed and gobsmacked the whole journey. I've flown a few times since then and it is still a novelty. Even flying long haul with the capacity to get bored was thrilling. I love that turbulence! I'm going on holiday in June and can't wait to board that plane, stand impatiently behind people struggling with the overhead lockers, then take my seat and steam the window with my nose-breath for four hours.....

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I love flying, but I have never been on a flight with more than very slight turbulence.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Rumpy Pumpkin I love you.

I've never flown.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:12 (twenty-one years ago)

the free booze makes it great.

i love landings and takeoffs. and the fact it makes me feel rich and like a rockstar on tour (albeit in the economy class) esp good when the air hostesses flirt with you (this happens far too little for me though)

and long haul flights gives you a sense of community within the plane. a commune of commuters.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never experienced that much turbulence myself, but the slightest little drop has me sitting up like a meerkat and saying "Whassat?"

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:14 (twenty-one years ago)

when the air hostesses flirt with you

this only happens in Britney videos.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:20 (twenty-one years ago)

You've never flown? Have you any plans to do it soon? Get a window seat and act unconcerned with all the little noises. And don't let folk kid you when they say you can't see anything once you get up there, you can see through the gaps in the clouds if they are light enough and I amused myself for hours counting tiny little cargo ships over the Bay of Biscay.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:24 (twenty-one years ago)

flying above the cluds is great, speshly as they look even more like cotton wool from above than below, like you could just get out and bound across them, or lie down on them and go to sleep.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, they look so clean from above, as if they've been skooshed out of a can. I like coming in to land on an island as well, especially a 'holiday' place where you can make out all the turquiose swimming pools.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Flying is great. except when they try and squish as many of you as possibly into the plane, and so there's no room to sit in economy class. for a 13 hour flight. Fun...

but you get to see things that you otherwise wouldn't.
like the shadows of clouds over the desert in Australia
or The peaks of mountains in the Himalayas, at sunrise

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:40 (twenty-one years ago)

when the air hostesses flirt with you
this only happens in Britney videos.

Nope. Busted videos too.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:44 (twenty-one years ago)

i hate flying.

― Chris 'The Velvet Bingo' V (Chris V), Thursday, 22 April 2004 10:55 (twenty-one years ago)

the free booze makes it great.

Ken, what airline are you flying on that give you free booze in coach? Even on 'proper' airlines the only free stuff is non-alcohol...

Rumpy OTM. I get very excited about flying (I just booked flights to Barcelona and I'm already giddy)

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Thursday, 22 April 2004 11:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Does it scare you or annoy you Chris?

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 11:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Barcelona? I LOVE flying over the mainland, it's an absolute mystery as to what things on the ground are until you start to descend and it all becomes clear....

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 11:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been going on aeroplanes for as long as I can remember - I remember my mum and dad took my baby sister to Malta when she was 5 months old but I don't remember when my first flight was. I've never been frightened but I don't get too excited about it these days - working down south for months and travelling up and down by plane every weekend kinda knocks the excitement out of it...

My boyf is scared of flying, he's worked in jobs where 4/6 flights a week were normal and he still has to have a couple of vodkas before we get on the plane - no matter what time of day it is!

― smee (smee), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I was in planes a lot as a child. Long Atlantic flights from Toronto to London, mostly. My parents said I never cried once (much to the delight of other passengers, I'm sure).

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I've flown a lot ever since I was a kid. It used to be classic all the way, and there are still things I love about it, mostly because I love travel in general. But more and more, it kind of gives me the fear. I love the view, landings, and sometimes even takeoff, but spells of heavy turbulence are probably the closest I've ever come to having anxiety attacks.

Don't most airlines have free booze on long-haul flights, even in coach? Not that it matters for me -- I find drinking on planes somehow makes my body skip the being drunk bit and go straight into the hangover.

― the krza (krza), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I've suffered from panic disorder most of my life and it scares the shit out of me. I've flown twice in my life. And it wasn't a pleasant experience.

― Chris 'The Velvet Bingo' V (Chris V), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

As far as I know, British Airways always have free booze - it's them cheapo ones where you get nowt...

― smee (smee), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Never been offered free booze on a flight, I think BA give free minatures on their shuttle service, but that's a short flight so you can't really take advantage enough to get canned. I love the excitement of peeling back a film lid to get at my surprise dinner underneath, though it always involves little cubed potatoes and crackers....

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Ahhh fluffy clouds, the ground dropping away like a map, the free booze (even in ahem World Traveller if you're going transatlantic or whatever), *sigh*...

Air India do free booze. I had far too much Cointreau flying to Chicago and, as above, went straight into a dreadful hangover while watching a mystifying Bollywood movie.

Flying is still dead dead fun for me, despite the long haul flights starting when I was two years old. I used to enjoy going for walks and looking up the stairs to 1st Class on Boeing 747s. I thought there was a magical fairyland up there or something, and really really wanted to go up. Like getting the top bunk bed only a million times better.

When are you going to Barcelona, Rob? The boy and I are off there in June. Yay Spain!

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to love flying when I was a child, but now I am scared of it and don't like to do it. A lot of people I know seem to go through phases of being scared of flying for a few years, then not minding it for another few years, and so on. Are the people I know weirdoes?

I particularly hate the ancillary crap that goes with flying. Check-in queues, luggage retrieval, overpriced food, that kind of thing. If I had more time I would go everywhere by train or boat or bus. It's much nicer.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm scared of flying but geting better.

When I was twelve, I was in a 747 when an engine blew up and we had to make an emergency landing. The plane flew for an hour over Miami jettisoning fuel to lighten the load. Three people passed out, a woman bit the crown of her tooth of and we had all the firetrucks and foam exit paraphenalia when we touched down.

I remember my mum screaming "WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" over and over.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:34 (twenty-one years ago)

most 747 have 4 engines i think, and the pilots are trained to fly them when even only 1 is left working. or something like that

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Mikey G, I think you have every right to be scared of flying! Now I'd like to tell my boyf that story and go, see HE has a genuine right to be fwightened, but I think perhaps that may prove counter-productive...

― smee (smee), Thursday, 22 April 2004 12:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I loved those 747s. I also remember looking at that staircase into 1st class and thinking it was a gateway into some sort of fantasy-magic-land.

Well, I've flown BA and never been offered free bouze. I'm going to make up for it next time, let me tell you. But yeah, alcohol on flights isn't as much fun as it should be. Worst thing I did was get plastered ON KAHLUA (baffling, I know) in a fancy exec lounge before getting on the plane. I didn't feel very sexy on the flight I can assure you.

Liz - going to Barcelona May 26-30 with some friends, partly to see this: http://www.primaverasound.com/index.php?lang=3
That lineup is MENTAL.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Thursday, 22 April 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I should add that I've flown loads since then and never had a single problem. I'm not sure I should tempt fate as I'm flying to New York on Friday!

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Thursday, 22 April 2004 13:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Classic

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 22 April 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i hate it! i was fine up until college, then i became a complete white-knuckle paranoiac. lately i've been having to fly often, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. i have to take several xanax, at least, plus ambien if it's a long-haul flight. every bump of turbulence has me gasping and imagining the crash, and every groan and squeak has me convinced that the engines are simultaneously failing. i know i'm irrational, but it doesn't matter. nearly everyone i know has lectured me on the subject but i continue to be a total mess.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 22 April 2004 14:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I flew long-haul on an old DC-10 with tiny holes on the outer pane of my window. When it got icy up high the ice looked like it was forming on the inside of the glass, I could hardly bring myself to check. That plane was a juddering old wreck, and at points I was pretty scared. There were bizarre mechanical clunks and buzzings from the undercarriage at various points throughout the flight, but I stole lots of fluffy blue blankets to compensate.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 14:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Mary Poppins to thread.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Thursday, 22 April 2004 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I get a little scared on take off, that's the point where it feels most likely we're going to just fall back to earth. Once on a return flight I got really scared for absolutely no reason and couldn't look out of the window until we reached 'cruising altitude'. This had never happened before and hasn't happened since. I don't think it's weird, irrational maybe, but it happens to us all. (I think?)

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 14:09 (twenty-one years ago)

On a package holiday to Bulgaria many many years ago we were on the oldest most scary plane every - they double booked our seats and started taxiing down the runway while we were still standing in the aisle!

― smee (smee), Thursday, 22 April 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Aw man, you don't know how funny that is! I'm sitting here wetting myself at the thought!

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 14:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd never flown before I was 23. The first time was a combination of huge thrill at take off speed, ground dropping away etc. and mortal fear every time it got bumpy or banked too sharply. I discovered soon enough that I could control the fear part with alcohol.

Only had one really bad experience: We took off from Chambery into some quite nasty turbulence - I could look down the length of the cabin and see it twisting. Halfway through there was a really big drop that even shocked the crew and caused me to exclaim 'FUCK!' very loudly. I didn't calm down until we were level and I decided things couldn't get any worse.

Then the in-flight Jim Davidson video came on.

― robster (robster), Thursday, 22 April 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Flying - C or D?

Well, it's easily the weakest track on Magical Mystery Tour (though some would argue that "Your Mother Should Know" is worse).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't like flying at all, will avoid doing so, probably forever.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I swear I posted about being stranded for four hours in a giant tin shed and fed on unleavened bread, goat’s cheese and dried yak on the same holiday to Bulgaria - but it's disappeared!

― smee (smee), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I really don't mind flying within the country. But long, transatlantic flights... ugh. dud. especially when the only movie playing is "chasing papi"

― mandee, Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

omg wtf lol i'm flying tomorrow and i'm a nervous wreck.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate flying. I'm not afraid as such (really guys, what are the odds of a plane crash?) but it makes my ears hurt and sitting still next to fat bores for hours and eating shitty food and having to piss in a tiny cubical is not fun.

― mouse, Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

reading this thread is giving me anxiety. ugh.

― Chris 'The Velvet Bingo' V (Chris V), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

dude, don't read this thread! Anyway, it'll be fine!

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Flying's great, done more of it in the last few years than I have for the rest of my life and it's grand. I have the occasional twinges of fear of course, but nothing really bad. The trick is always to get an aisle seat.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm really keen to fly on one of those single or twin prop planes they use for the Western Isles. Apparently every movement is exaggerated x 10 in a smaller aircraft. And there's the added bonus of being blown off course. Yippee!

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

my consolation is the inflight duty-free when going transatlantic. i buy things to keep my mind off of my impending fiery death. search: yves saint laurent touche eclat and moulton-brown's lip conditioning stuff. destroy: the fuji nexia aps camera. it looks all cute and mod and spy-like, but it's really just a world of pain.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

And window seats are the business, especially nect to the wing, when the plane banks you feel it so much more because you see the wing tipping. Nothing would compare to the pilots view though. I stumbled in on the cockpit once while looking for the toilet and wow what a view.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't do it! The smaller the plane, the scarier the journey! I remember we used to get wee planes (like 20 odd seaters) down to Bristol and if you sat under the engines it was hell, you'd hear all the clunks and clangs and the engines shutting down - you end up a nervous wreck by the end.

― smee (smee), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

r. pumpkin, you are bonkers.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 22 April 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 27 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Yes, they are. Thank you for pointing that out (they take lots of hours to go from Glasgow to Inverness also).

Yes, but only 3 and a quarter. It's nice, and when you've added in the check in times and all I maintain my mentalist stance. Also, WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE ENVIRONMENT?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 22 April 2004 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

the best landing has to be the approach to the old airport in Hong Kong, which was in the harbour, right among all the tall buildings. My grandparents lived across the harbour from the airport and I would spend lots of time just watching the planes land.

The landing at the new airport there is still quite pretty, watching random isolated islands with beautiful, untouched beaches.

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 22 April 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

i like trains. i'm usually advised to fly from london to glasgow or london to manchester, but it seems silly.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 22 April 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I'm totally over the internal flights thing. I want to go on the sleeper next time. I haven't done that since I was a kid.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 22 April 2004 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

i went on a sleeper from krakow to prague. uniformed men with heavy accents and black leather gloves kept popping their heads in the compartment to check our passports. we drank blackberry brandy and ate cheese with a penknife. i almost died of cliche.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 22 April 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

the old approach into HK was fantastic, though not recommended for anyone who hates flying (big bank turn some 400 feet above the part of Kowloon with the highest population density on Earth).

the only time I've ever been scared in a plane was when I rode along with my brother in a small prop. Not because he wasn't capable or the plane had problems or the weather was bad, but mostly because I know he's broken like 15 bones in his body and used to be somewhat of a klutz (tho he's a brain surgeon now, go figure).

― hstencil, Thursday, 22 April 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never been in a helicopter yet, I regularly hint to Mr Pumpkin that I'd love to do this, though if he did organise it he'd make sure that the flight involved hovering over Celtic Park till our money ran out.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I took a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon and I nearly threw up. They pilot was 17 years old - I shit you not. His guests were me and 2 U.S. marines on holiday, and when he asked the marines if he could "fly a little wild this time", they proceeded to be all "go for it! right on! yeeeah!", as you would expect. I didn't want to spoil the fun (or look like a pussy) so I said go for it too. Holy crap he sure did fly wild. Scared the hell out of me but it was pretty cool. You had to wear headphones and the best thing was that they played Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001 theme) as you approached the canyon, and the music peaked (you know the part) just as you dipped over the edge. I dunno if it was the difference in air density or what but the copter dropped at bit at that point, which is where I nearly lost my lunch.

Even when flying 'normally', a helicoptor is a very unstable and unsettling experience - and flying normally doesn't bother me at all. I don't think it helped that is was one of those bubble-domed, Magnum P.I.-type helicopters...

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

the old approach into HK was fantastic, though not recommended for anyone who hates flying (big bank turn some 400 feet above the part of Kowloon with the highest population density on Earth).

Hahaha, that would be Kai Tak airport which gives a whole new meaning to the word "touch and go". Watch out for that engine pod!

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Stratford-On-Guy

I was flying into Chicago at night
Watching the lake turn the sky into blue-green smoke
The sun was setting to the left of the plane
And the cabin was filled with an unearthly glow
In 27-D I was behind the wing
Watching landscape roll out
Like credits on a screen
The earth looked like it was lit from within
Like a poorly assembled electrical ball as we moved
Out of the farmlands into the grid
The plan of the city was all that you saw
And all of these people sitting totally still
As the ground raced beneath them thirty thousand feet down

It took an hour, maybe a day
But once I really listened, the noise
Just went away

And I was pretending that I was in a Galaxie 500 video
The stewardess came back and checked on my drink
In the last strings of sunlight, a Bridgette Bardot
There's a hat on my headphones
Along with those eyes that you get
When your circumstance is movie size

It took an hour, maybe a day
But once I really listened, the noise
Just went away

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.airliners.net/Airliners_net_image.file?filename=1/1/9/076911.jpg&ZyXtCe=MTk0NjM3&id=076911&ViD=middle

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Still, nothing beats the approach into St. Juliana Airport in St. Maarten

http://www.airliners.net/Airliners_net_image.file?filename=9/9/5/027599.jpg&ZyXtCe=MTk0NzUz&id=027599&ViD=middle

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

eight months pass...

I was hoping this thread would make me feel better about my flight home to Chicago in March but it actually makes me feel worse. Fucking transatlantic flights. Long, boring, and scary on take-off. By the time I see Lake Michigan or Ireland I'm usually fine, it's just those first twenty minutes. I'm completely worked into a tizz about it months in advance. (I wish I could avoid it but I can't. I know that doesn't solve the problem, just makes the anxiety take on a different form, but it would be nice to be freaked out about something else for a few years. You know, variety!)
Cunard isn't sailing in March. bastards. I wish that Baring Strait Tunnel was done so I could just take the train home.
United Airlines has free booze, btw. I've only ever flown coach 'cause the bastards refuse my every upgrade request despite having enough miles to fly for free. Wankers.

― Catty (Catty), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:14 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

My plane got hit by lightning on landing at Dublin on wednesday! We were dropping through really bad turbulence and the pilot warned about hail storms, next minute there was a bang and a blinding flash.

My bowels turned to water. When we landed the pilot was chuckling about storms and lightning. Geez, I had never had that down as a possibility before!

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Monday, 7 March 2005 12:51 (twenty years ago)

Incidentally I'm now getting more scared everytime I fly. What's that all about?

On the flight home I was happily reading my magazine when I suddenly felt as though my brain was floating. I felt totally weightless and grabbed Kev's arm in a panic. "What was that?!" I blared, terrified. He shook me off and told me to calm down but I'd already had an effect on the girl next to me and the folks behind who all started mumbling and shifting uncomfortably.

How easily hysteria can strike on a plane!

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Monday, 7 March 2005 12:54 (twenty years ago)

i flew for the first time last March, to Barcleona, I'm in my 30's.

It was only a short trip and the gang of boys I was with were all winding me up about flying, ho ha ha. But I loved every minute of it, was expecting a lot more G's on take off though. Arriving into Barc banking and circling over the port was probably the sweetest thing I've ever experienced.

The only hate I had was the return journey where I was stupidly hungover, stuck in an aisle seat with no view and the back seat next to the toilet. so i just went to sleep.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 7 March 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

panic spreads on a plane like wildfire. on one occasion, i started to notice a burning smell but tried to ignore it. after a few minutes, i looked for an attendant. some other passengers were tentatively peering around for the same reason. when we all noticed each other and thus realized that we were all aware of the smell, everyone erupted into nervous calls for the staff.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 7 March 2005 13:17 (twenty years ago)

i've decided that i really love flying. the only thing i hate is not having enough money/vacation to do it all the time.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 7 March 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

I don't want to fly but what can you do?

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 7 March 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

I need to get over this irrational fear - I want to feel the way I did on the initial post. I think it's age related (she says a year after loving it.)

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Monday, 7 March 2005 14:00 (twenty years ago)

haven't flown for about 4 years...don't plan on it for a long time.

― Chris 'The Nuts' V (Chris V), Monday, 7 March 2005 14:02 (twenty years ago)

Incidentally I'm now getting more scared everytime I fly. What's that all about?

i think it's a psyche thing - every time you have a safe, uneventful flight you think 'well i've cheated death once again! but surely next time...' - at least i do, a bit. of course it's completely irrational and statistically you might as well be thinking 'well i didn't win the Lottery this week but i'll probably win it twice in a row next week'

i'm starting to enjoy it more tho i think, or at least be more relaxed about it all - landing will always be my favourite bit tho

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Monday, 7 March 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

and lightning on it's own can't really do any damage to a plane according to stuff that i read. i was terrified of turbulence until i read that it's the airborne equivalent of just travelling over a bumpy stretch of road, only with no damage to the plane (unlike say a car) - yet to experience the very bad kind tho.

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Monday, 7 March 2005 14:05 (twenty years ago)

i think i got free booze on Southwest internal flight last year (Chicago to New York) incidentally - only about 20 people on the plane too which was great, i sprawled out in the emergency exit seat. that was the rockiest take-off ever tho, pretty white knuckle, but the weather outside was fine - must've been the cool air from the lakes or something...

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Monday, 7 March 2005 14:06 (twenty years ago)

Flying is probably my second favorite activity. I'm still filled with wonder at it, no matter how many trips I take. I even love airports. An ex-gf's father and now a good friend's father both have Beechcraft Bonanzas so I've been able to actually sit in the front seat and take the stick for a while. I've never done either but clearly taking off is easy (the plane wants to) whereas landing is incredibly difficult (especially in small planes where crosswinds introduce a whole new flight axis!).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 7 March 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

Small planes + bad weather = teh suck.

Transatlantic flights + ativan = classic.

― the krza (krza), Monday, 7 March 2005 19:19 (twenty years ago)

I love airports too, something about being in them makes me feel like my senses are heightened and I notice much more detail than usual...must be the imminent threat of/escape from death. I've been flying (alone) since I was a child and also developed a sudden fear of it about 6 years ago--dating from the first time I lived under a landing path. Only explanation I could come up with was that the sound subconsciously got to me. I much prefer transatlantic flights. I've had to take a lot of flights on propeller planes and they're awful--worst was trying to land at DFW for over an hour, during a thunderstorm. Worst turbulence ever. I kept focusing on reading my book to avoid freaking out and didn't remember any of it afterwards.

― sgs (sgs), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 00:21 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

It's that flying time of year again for me, shortly I'll be taking to the skies once more, and once again I'm feeling thrilled/terrified by the whole thing.

I find that reading a book or a mag only heightens the inner ear sensations, leading to that disconcerting "Whoa! Did you feel that?" thing I do to whoever's travelling with me.

I'm very sensitive.

― Rumpie, Wednesday, 27 July 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

six months pass...

AIEEEEE!

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Sunday, 29 January 2006 22:44 (twenty years ago)

The last time I was on mildly turbulent flight this woman started shrieking hysterically, and everybody laughed at her.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 29 January 2006 23:22 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Flying 2007 - any eventful flights so far?

― *rumpie*, Friday, 15 June 2007 08:03 (eighteen years ago)

Yes, trip tp Japan in February: Ophelia threw up four times during landing. One time she did some projectile vomiting on the (empty!) seat next to us.

― nathalie, Friday, 15 June 2007 08:09 (eighteen years ago)

At least it was empty I guess...

― *rumpie*, Friday, 15 June 2007 08:16 (eighteen years ago)

The funniest was a couple approaching Ophelia (when exiting) and saying what a cute girl she was. Then Ophelia vomited once more. I don't think I have ever seen someone run quicker than that couple.

― nathalie, Friday, 15 June 2007 08:21 (eighteen years ago)

The roughest turbulence I've ever experienced was landing at Narita in the hours leading up to a typhoon. I had befriended a little girl (maybe 8 years old) in the next seat, and she was acting like nothing was going on as the plane jerked violently all over the place. She kept talking about some mundane topic and meanwhile I thought my head was going to explode. It actually helped quite a bit.

― Super Cub, Friday, 15 June 2007 08:31 (eighteen years ago)

Leaving Narita the previous week, we had to wait a full hour because of a storm (with LIGHTNING! lots of WATER splish splashing around). I agree, having a kid (next to you) really does help. I didn't pay attention to the storm outside and just focused on Ophelia. That said, I didn't sleep much thanks to Ophelia wanting to sleep on my (instead of he crib). As a result my jetlag was HUMONGOUS.

― nathalie, Friday, 15 June 2007 08:48 (eighteen years ago)

I once held hands with a complete stranger landing on Lanzarote during strong crosswinds.

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 15 June 2007 08:48 (eighteen years ago)

Oh yeah! When I was 12, I took my first plane flight. I think it waso n the way back that we caught the tail end of a typhoon. The plane was making mad movements and a woman had a heart attack. People puking. Me? I was sleeping. As I always did when shit was happening on a plane/boat. I can make myself fall asleep.

― nathalie, Friday, 15 June 2007 08:49 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

Active flights in the US at noon Pacific Time:

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-08/41846857.jpg

From here, somewhere.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 26 August 2008 20:45 (seventeen years ago)

NO WAI

― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 26 August 2008 20:56 (seventeen years ago)

five years pass...

Think this (and, touch wood, the return journey) will be the last time. In our haste we poison the air, we slice efficient lines across an unexplored, unconsidered globe...

― ... Jenks ... Neu! military£ ... snkkt! pickles Özil JTUPFRONT njhtdgs (imago), Thursday, 19 September 2013 06:02 (twelve years ago)

flying is aces i wish i could fly to work

― quite racist, don't mind rap (darraghmac), Thursday, 19 September 2013 08:49 (twelve years ago)

OP is fantastic but trains are almost as magical, generally nicer places to spend your time(*), and you don't have to turn up at the train station two hours in advance and spend the whole time queuing.

(*) except for the horrid cramped plastic cocoons that are virgin trains.

― click here to start exploding (ledge), Thursday, 19 September 2013 09:31 (twelve years ago)

We'd presumably halt climate change in an instant if people just stopped flying altogether, judging by that frankly terrifying map Ned posted five years ago.

I've flown several times since my first post on this thread, when I'd never flown at all. Spain 3 times, France once, New York, Scotland, Guernsey, Jersey, Dublin, Leeds-Bradford, Sardinia.

I love bits of the flying experience - seeing landscapes unfurl beneath you is as magical as Rumpy described in the original post - but I'm constantly aware that you're basically defying nature in a trumped-up cigar tube doing 500mph, so I also hate it too.

― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 19 September 2013 09:33 (twelve years ago)

A constant stream goes through my head saying "people wouldn't work on planes if they weren't safe; people wouldn't work on planes if they weren't safe; people wouldn't work on planes if they weren't safe" but it doesn't really do much to relax me.

― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 19 September 2013 09:34 (twelve years ago)

It should be faster.

― Jeff, Thursday, 19 September 2013 11:39 (twelve years ago)

ten years pass...

jesus christ, what did this passenger do up there??

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/29/united-airlines-biohazard

― Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 29 July 2024 18:59 (one year ago)

oh yuk, yeah i want to know more details

― Ste, Monday, 29 July 2024 22:08 (one year ago)

six months pass...

https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/1irwzdl/flight_attendants_evacuating_passengers_from_the/

Seems like it’s worse lately

― omar little, Tuesday, 18 February 2025 01:08 (one year ago)

INCIDENT: Southwest #WN2504 (Boeing 737-800 N8517F) in near miss 1448UTC/0848CST today @ Chicago/Midway as FlexJet #LXJ560 (Challenger 350) crosses Runway 31C.

ATC Audio (skip to 18min): https://t.co/e6OValtv39

MDW webcam & links: https://t.co/GzjpoMXwhL

(c) webcam host pic.twitter.com/IHqoie0rt3
— Airport Webcams (@AirportWebcams) February 25, 2025

Sorry for the shitter link but wtf (a very, very near miss at midway airport in Chicago)

― omar little, Tuesday, 25 February 2025 20:54 (eleven months ago)

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