problem with flying

[Bel Bel]

he's older than my boyfriend haha

[fffftiger]

he's older than my boyfriend haha

by 1 year, 5 weeks and 6 days. EEP!

[Weasley]

If you think you are scared of flying...you should take a seat next to me on a plane. Unfortunately where I am now if I want to even go across 2 or 3 states I need to fly...damn this massive country.
On my last flight I took on the plane with me my Eeyore Teddy. I am 25 years old. I sat next to a complete stranger and cried my eyes out during takeoff and every little bit of turbulence that happened. I even asked the flight attendant to get the pilot to "stop the plane." How stupid did I sound???!!!!!???

Thing is, no matter how scared you are, if you let it hold you back you would never go anywhere. I can assure you airport staff and flight attendants have probably seen a lot worse things, even worse than a 25 year old clinging on to a huge Eeyore teddy and crying hysterically while there are doing the pre take off security!!!

[captainf]

I'm still curious as to what your fear of flying is, weasley? Like, think about it - what about flying scares you?

A friend of mine was training to fly light aircraft a few years ago, he went flying with a friend who was already qualified and they crashed on landing (theres a bigger story to this but that isnt the concept of my post) Anyway my friend who was training developed a fear of flying after that accident but used the rest of his private pilots licence training to actually get over his fear - now he flies light aircraft quite happily without fear. He has no aspiration to go on to the airlines but he is happily having fun cloud hopping in a C172 around cornwall.

It is possible to overcome your fear, you just have to get to the bottom of what it is that scares you.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

My boyfriend is scared of flying because once the wing hit the runway when landing. He isn't that bad REALLY...I just ignore his fears and get on with it; cruel as it may sound he's not getting attention from his behaviour so he stops doing it as much. He always got mollycoddled off his mam; he mam asked me a while ago how he was on a plane and I said fine; she seemed suprised. The annoying thing is he won't ever get airplane food (I LOVE IT) and you can't buy for one person; only for the 'whole party'; he says I don't like eating on the plane; yet every plane we've been on he'll happily scoff a sandwich. I don't want to get the food for the two of us because it's expensive and if he doesn't eat it GRRR.

My dad is also scared of flying - we ignore him haha. He needs lots os whiskey before he gets on the plane and whilst on the plane; he normally has his earphones in and talks REALLY loudly above them...we were watching the Simpsons once years ago on the plane; Nelson came on and went "ha haa"...my dad repeated it sooooooooooo loudly and everyone on the plane stared. My dad gets wingy days before he flies; I got screamed at last time for doing nothing; he gets nervous and naturally it's my fault. My dad says it's "not natural" to fly....I always say neither is sitting in a car. My parents go on hols next week and he's already started the manic depressive state...He came in from work last night and to be honest I don't know how he didn't trip over his wingy face. He's not spoken to me since about Tuesday when he shouted at me...I guess I should write a book about it one day.

[Bel Bel]

If you book online most operators now allow you to select the number of meals required for your party

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I don't think Thomson do . I've only flown with Thomson or easy jet over the last few years.

[Bel Bel]

Thomson do on line. I went with them this year

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Really? I thought I tried to do it when we came back just to see and I thought I still couldn't do it. Next time I'll look more

[Bel Bel]

Maybe it is related to the type of holiday you pick? We went all inclusive on a platinum one so maybe it gives you more options

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Ours was half board and the one I tried online was half board. It's not the end of the world; I'm just curious now.

[captainf]

Can you clarify for me the situation regarding the wing hitting the runway? What happened and did the wing really hit the runway or did it just come close due to windy conditions? I ask because a wing strike on the runway is extremely rare and has the potential to cartwheel the aircraft. I also want to see if this was ever really documented as an incident at all so if possible do you have airline/date/aircraft type information at hand?

Its never a good idea to leave a scared passenger to deal with it on their own. Even in the types of planes I fly, i'd never ever think of leaving my passengers to get on with it.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I don't know I wasn't on the plane; I think it just got hit by wind as it was really close to the runway. The only thing I know was it happened at Faro airport.

Its never a good idea to leave a scared passenger to deal with it on their own. Even in the types of planes I fly, i'd never ever think of leaving my passengers to get on with it.

but how many times can you say "it'll be ok" without driving yourself mad. I never "leave" anyone; no one is left alone. I just leave them to do as they please as it's easier for all involved. As I say my bf has gotten better with flying because when he's flown with his mam his behaviour has been re-inforced so he's kept doing it; with me I'm used to scared people so I don't make a fuss about it.

[captainf]

It was probably something like this..

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Southwes ... 1242626/L/

Landing like that can happen for one of two reasons - a gust of wind causing the wing to drop.. or the 'wing down' to compensate for crosswind landing method - we're taught to approach the runway with the wing down, using opposite rudder and then land so that we're already straight with the the whole approach but we rarely use this method. The typical method we use is to crab down the approach and kick the rudder in during the flare to line up with the runway.. so to take a guess i'd say the landing your boyfriend experienced was probably a gust of wind but its nothing to worry about.

I understand what you're saying but you still cannot leave frightened flyers to it. I've helped out many and all have been most grateful. Remember that to most flying is an exciting and mysterious thing - the whole idea of being in the sky, the sensations in the stomach and head are all very prominant for those who do not fly regularly and for some this is very scary. Ignoring frightened flyers can just make them think they are being stupid when they are not. They just need to be calmed and treated respectfully.

[RagDoll]

I guess if Dipsy's boyfriend actually deals with the whole thing better for not being fussed over, I can understand why she just leaves him to it. Sometimes it does make you more scared if someone is making a big deal over it, whereas if you just try and get on with things and take your mind off the problem by acting 'normal', it's actually easier to deal with and ultimately less scary