The whole "you`re much safer in an aeroplane than in a car" platitude has taken a serious blow over the last couple of weeks. With aeroplanes falling out of the sky at the least provocation, I know that I am going to be very nervous the next time I`m required to fly anywhere.
I know the odds still work in my favour. I know there are more aeroplanes flying at any time than can ever be parked on the ground all at once and that the chances of the one I`m on being the unlucky exploding plane are fairly slim, but I`m still not convinced.
If you think about it, if you drive a vintage car, even if you look after it meticulously and service it every 20 000km, chances are that at some time or another, you`re going to end up stranded on the side of a highway somewhere.
Many aeroplanes are old enough to be classified as "vintage" in car terms. No matter how well they`ve been looked after, there`s still the risk that some old part is going to give up the ghost. And unfortunately for an aeroplane, giving up the ghost means falling out of the sky. There`s no nice airborne verge to pull over onto.
Flight fears
Unfortunately for an aeroplane, giving up the ghost means falling out of the sky. There`s no nice airborne verge to pull over onto.
Georgina Guedes, editor, ITWeb Brainstorm
Having effectively illustrated my fear of flying, I feel I can now move on to my next point. If I was to have to be in an aeroplane crash, and survive it, I would be overwhelmingly and volubly grateful.
I understand how bad the odds are of surviving something like that, and I know all that nonsense about oxygen masks is just a mental placebo, so if I was to make it through something like that alive, I`d be thoroughly impressed with everyone involved in landing the plane.
So I was amazed to see, after the crash-landing of Air France Flight 358 in Toronto, despite the general consensus that the staff and pilot behaved admirably under very difficult circumstances, that one of the survivors could only complain bitterly about her experience.
In a story on MSN, Gwen Dunlop blamed everyone who had anything to do with the airline for her discomfort during the crash.
Her complaints ranged from the fact that the flight attendants told her to "stay calm" when everyone could see that the plane was on fire, to the fact that they were then hurried off the plane into the rain and mud.
Of course they were told to "stay calm"! What would she rather have been told to do? Panic? And as for the rain and mud, what a pity the Air France team couldn`t arrange to crash-land on a day with more temperate weather.
Clearly, this woman is one of those who can`t go through anything without complaining about it. I know that a plane crash is a pretty big thing to go through, but for heaven`s sake, she survived it!
If I had survived a plane crash, I would have bought everybody involved in bringing that plane safely to the ground a huge bunch of flowers and possibly offered them my firstborn as a show of gratitude.
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