Going to LA

There is a small chance I might be going to LA for a few days sometime in July for "business reasons", not a family holiday.

I'm not a very good flyer, despite having flown more than 20 or so times (and twice on a 24 hour flight), but I haven't flown much recently so my nervousness has built-up again.

I figured that mentioning the possibility of me going would jynx my chances, so that's good, on the other hand, if I am elected to attend, then hopefully I will have gotten some words of advice from you guys, who I understand are frequent travellers (what with PDC, WinHEC, etc).

I get really nervous about tubulence, one time flying back from Turkey the plane dropped 5 meters, I was literally praying for my life.... but almost everyone else seemed fine. Watching programmes on TV like "Air Crash Investigation" don't help either... knowing that, for instance, if I was flying some DC plane that my life depends on a single thread located in the tailplane.

The cold air-conditioned air in cabins don't help either, when I get nervous my hands sweat a lot, this combined with their evaporation into cold air makes my hands turn really cold and is really uncomfortable.

Finally, after reading into all the hype about United 93 and the "TERRORISTS!" I am a little unnerved by the concept of someone easily getting on board and causing me to die in some way or another. And especially since this is a flight heading towards the USA....

So, what do you guys recommend? Should I pop a few tranquilizer pills and Beta-blockers before boarding or are there more cognitive ways of dealing with the problem?

Flying is the safest way to travel.

"since 1997 the number of fatal air accidents has been no more than 1 for every 2,000,000,000 miles flown, making it one of the safest modes of transport" -- Wikipedia: Air safety

I think that you should just think logically; if you are scared of the plane crashing, then you just have to look at statistics, I don't have them here, but I know that it is very unlikely.

Are you taking your tablet PC? If you are it would be a good idea to just immerse yourself in watching a movie, or doing some work; you wont even notice that you are on a plane.

I personally think that turbulance is fun, it's like a roller-coaster.

Angus Higgins

Off topic: What brings you to my part of the world?

Maurits wrote:

Flying is the safest way to travel.

"since 1997 the number of fatal air accidents has been no more than 1 for every 2,000,000,000 miles flown, making it one of the safest modes of transport" -- Wikipedia: Air safety

blowdart wrote:

Don't drink. At all.

Wear gloves if you have too, I always wear two pairs of socks on long hall flights.

And don't sweat it about a single thread, otherwise you wouldn't get in a car, or a train, or a bus, or a bike ever again. Heck even buildings have a single keystone.

As for terrorists, can't help you there. You're either afraid or not. You know the statistics, the probabilities, if you can't reassure yourself no-one else can either.

Larsenal wrote:

Off topic: What brings you to my part of the world?

Harlequin wrote:

Maurits wrote:Flying is the safest way to travel. "since 1997 the number of fatal air accidents has been no more than 1 for every 2,000,000,000 miles flown, making it one of the safest modes of transport" -- Wikipedia: Air safety

Damn, means that if you ever fly to Uranus, you're guaranteed one person will die.

blowdart wrote:


Don't drink. At all.

blowdart wrote:


As for terrorists, can't help you there. You're either afraid or not. You know the statistics, the probabilities, if you can't reassure yourself no-one else can either.

W3bbo wrote:

Larsenal wrote:Off topic: What brings you to my part of the world?

I'm under NDA, can't tell you, sorry. Although if you or any other niner wants to meet up (If I'm going and I've got enough free time) then sure.

This is a battle that can only be fought within. Anything we say is meaningless.

But here is something that might help... There is this stuff, boots sell it off the shelf as well as most larger chemists ... Called "Bach Rescue Remedy" ... I haven't tried it but have it on two separate personal recommendations as a way to reduce stress / nerves. It is like a mild natural tranquiliser but with no side effects.

I'm not a big fan of "Natural Alternatives" but two separate recommendations from people I trust is good enough for me. All it does if flatten out everything, so you'll still be nervous but just less so than you otherwise would be.

Cybermagellan wrote:

My recommendation...kill them before they kill you

W3bbo wrote:



Cybermagellan wrote: My recommendation...kill them before they kill you

Not much help if they have a fail-safe bomb switch where killing them causes the bomb to detonate.

Well, if you want to see the other side of the story:

Accidents and incidents in aviation (Wikipedia)

Note that sabotage (including hijacking) accounts for only 5% of accidents.

Flying is the safest form of transportation, as long as you're on the ground: the chances of getting hit by a crashing plane are incredibly small.

Also, the chances of there being a bomb on the plane are 1 in a million. The chances of there being two bombs on the plane are 1 in a billion. So, bring a bomb, it'll drastically reduce the chance of anybody else bringing one too.

Furthermore, I recommend some prior studies watching Air Crash Investigation on National Geographic. Knowing how little is needed to fall out of the sky should help tremendously.

Kidding aside, you don't have anything to worry about. I've had a pretty rough flight one time; we had to land in a thunderstorm, now that was turbulence! A friend of mine who flies to Brazil twice every year (so he's flown a lot) said he'd never experienced anything that bad). We all came out unharmed (the whole plane gave the pilot a round of applause too ).

And for me, watching Air Crash Investigation actually does help. I like knowing what went wrong in the past, and what steps have been taken to prevent it from happening again. Not that I was afraid of flying to begin with, mostly I'm just afraid I'll get bored to death on long flights.

Things i use when flying

Book
mp3 player
Computer with DVD player
extra batteries for computer and mp3 player...

For flights longer than 4 hours.
All the above
Go to doctor get drugs to help sleep.  (I'm a very lite sleeper a mouse fart wakes me up)


Thats about it...

and other other stuff don't sweat it.