Fear of Flying

[Kid Gleason]

Hey, I'm new around here, do you think I have all day to read threads?

 

He mentioned it in the music thread.

[Texsox]

He mentioned it in the music thread.

Of course that still doesn't answer the question

[Rex Kickass]

My fear was pretty mild until I was flying back from Brazil this summer. We hit a rough patch of air flying over the Venezuelan coast. Personally, I blame Chavez. Someone must have inadvertantly hit a button that reset the call lights for the flight attendants because as the turbulence woke me up, I saw the attendant call lights turn on and off synchronized three times in a row. I freaked out a bit.

[EvilMonkey]

My fear was pretty mild until I was flying back from Brazil this summer. We hit a rough patch of air flying over the Venezuelan coast. Personally, I blame Chavez. Someone must have inadvertantly hit a button that reset the call lights for the flight attendants because as the turbulence woke me up, I saw the attendant call lights turn on and off synchronized three times in a row. I freaked out a bit.

My first flight had me sitting by a window, behind the wing, with a good view of the engine. I kept staring at it, swearing that I saw it vibrating and coming loose. Then, as the plane landed, I saw the 'brakes' flip back from the engine covering to slow the plane down. I almost screamed, thinking the engines were falling apart during landing. But like someone on here mentioned, I just stared down the flight attendents, who seemed oblivious to what I THOUGHT was going on, so I was able to hold it together. Headphones, a good book, and a few shots, you'll be fine.

[CanOfCorn]

I found that a combo of xanax and bloody mary worked for my trip to Vegas.

 

How long were you in that coma Kid?

 

 

I dislike the discomfort in my ears and eustachian tubes on landing, but otherwise I really love flying. More than a lack of fear it's more the excitement of getting wherever I'm going.

 

Larry Eustachian tubes?

[Kid Gleason]

How long were you in that coma Kid?

 

Well, it was also about 1AM, so I was in and out of consciouness ever so often, I lay it to the time of day (night) more than the booze and drugs. I've taken xanax before, and it doesn't seem to have any effect on me.

[The Critic]

For the longest time, I thought I was afraid of flying (probably because of all the crashes I had read about ), but I had never flown until my honeymoon.

Turns out I really like it. I always take the window seat, and taking off is my favorite part.

 

I don't know if I'll like a long flight, but I also don't like long car rides, long movies, or long songs either.

I'll find out about the long flight theory someday when we go to London - it's the only foreign city I have any interest whatsoever in seeing.

[Rex Kickass]

London's fun. Heathrow is not. Stansted neither.

[Balta1701]

"After you get where you're going, take off your shoes and your socks then walk around on the rug bare foot and make fists with your toes."

[The Critic]

London's fun. Heathrow is not. Stansted neither.

My personality (disorder) commands that I get to the airport STUPID early, as I expect every airport to be brutal.

I don't mind sitting around - I LOVE to read, so I could happily go through an entire book if I had to.

Luckily, my wife also loves to read, and doesn't really mind if I just shut up and read for a while.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

[FlaSoxxJim]

How long were you in that coma Kid?

Larry Eustachian tubes?

 

 

 

Your innner ear, the tube you try to force air into to equalize pressure on both sides of the eardrum.

 

I'm an avid scuba diver, but I always have too take my descent slow because I have to really work at equalizing. Same thing on landing in an airplane.

[SoxFan1]

I thought I was afraid of flying until April of this year. When I was 5, we flew to Yugoslavia but I only remember puking on the plane, so I was nervous for my flight to Alaska, but I quickly got over it when the pilot gunned it down the take off strip.

 

I happen to love flying now. The only thing I hate is the lack of leg room lol. Hope for a cool captain who will take your mind off the flight though.

[Steff]

I'm an avid scuba diver, but I always have too take my descent slow because I have to really work at equalizing. Same thing on landing in an airplane.

 

 

 

Threadjack....

 

Jim wants to learn since seeing it done in Hawaii... You think lessons would be a good Christmas gift?

[whitesoxin']

Before I flew for the first time (in 7th grade) I about puked when I got on the plane because I was so nervous and scared. Now I enjoy flying, especially the takeoff and landing, as other people have mentioned. The only time I've been scared on take-off was when we left Tuscon, we flew right into the mountain range and it appeared for a long time like we weren't going any higher, but it was an optical illusion because the mountains were so high.

[3E8]

I'm deathly afraid of the slightest turbulence, not so much the takeoff or landing even though those statistically are the most likely times for problems to occur. I have to fly to Korea in a few months which will be a 15 hour flight that I'm already fearing.

[Dick Allen]

Nyquil does the trick. I don't have a fear of flying, but I do have a brother who lives in Europe who I visit often and I can't sleep in a plane. That was until someone turned me on to Nyquil. Drink about half a bottle when you board, and when you wake up, you will be well rested and at your destination.

[NorthSideSox72]

London's fun. Heathrow is not. Stansted neither.

 

I'm totally starting a best/worst airport thread.

 

"After you get where you're going, take off your shoes and your socks then walk around on the rug bare foot and make fists with your toes."

 

Die Hard.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

I'm flying to Iceland next month.

 

I have a crippling fear of flying. How can I get past it?

 

 

Sleep. If you need help doing that pop in a couple of your sleep aid of choice just before they start boarding.

 

I'm deathly afraid of the slightest turbulence, not so much the takeoff or landing even though those statistically are the most likely times for problems to occur. I have to fly to Korea in a few months which will be a 15 hour flight that I'm already fearing.

 

 

Call me crazy but I think turbulence is awesome.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Threadjack....

 

Jim wants to learn since seeing it done in Hawaii... You think lessons would be a good Christmas gift?

 

I think it would be great if he's really committed to wanting to go through the whole basic certification. You can do it in just a few weeks at any rate.

 

You typicallly can also do "resort certification" at your vacation destinations. Basically, a half-hour or so of pool instruction and then a supervised shallow reef dive with a well-qualified instructor as your buddy. I used to be very against these, arguing that it could give the novice diver a false sense of security and he/she may gget another chance to do a less controlled/supervised dive down the line and get into trouble.

 

In this case though, Jim is smart enough to know better, and if most of the dive opportunities he'd have are in a resort setting, I do think that is an option.

 

. . . especially sicne your open water certification dive in Illinois tends to be underwhelming at best (eg, a flooded rock quarrry in the summer), or brutal at worst (eg, a flooded rock quarry in winter). A quickie resort certification in a tropical setting may be more to Jim's liking.

[Steff]

I think it would be great if he's really committed to wanting to go through the whole basic certification. You can do it in just a few weeks at any rate.

 

You typicallly can also do "resort certification" at your vacation destinations. Basically, a half-hour or so of pool instruction and then a supervised shallow reef dive with a well-qualified instructor as your buddy. I used to be very against these, arguing that it could give the novice diver a false sense of security and he/she may gget another chance to do a less controlled/supervised dive down the line and get into trouble.

 

In this case though, Jim is smart enough to know better, and if most of the dive opportunities he'd have are in a resort setting, I do think that is an option.

 

. . . especially sicne your open water certification dive in Illinois tends to be underwhelming at best (eg, a flooded rock quarrry in the summer), or brutal at worst (eg, a flooded rock quarry in winter). A quickie resort certification in a tropical setting may be more to Jim's liking.

 

 

There is actually a place here in Plainfield that gives lessons in one of those pools. I think he would be more comfortable in that first. After that they have hook up that take you on weekend things to go diving. I think he's more interested in getting it done because we are going to Atlantis in Feb and The Vigrgin Islands in May. Aside from that he's back to traveling for work so he's going to be in California, Texas, and Florida for long weekends more often after Christmas.

 

I'm going to check on the price. I like to get him one off the wall gift a year and this might be it. LOL.

[CanOfCorn]

Nyquil does the trick. I don't have a fear of flying, but I do have a brother who lives in Europe who I visit often and I can't sleep in a plane. That was until someone turned me on to Nyquil. Drink about half a bottle when you board, and when you wake up, you will be well rested and at your destination.

 

Yeah, after you finish gagging. /no green YUCK!

[LosMediasBlancas]

I'm not afraid of flying or crashing and dying, what I hate is how uncomfortable it is. Sitting cramped up in a seat designed for a 5 foot person for anything longer than 2 hours is torture. My legs cramp, my ass goes numb, I get antsy and fidgety and I just want to take off running to get the blood flowing. I seem to always need the restrooom just as the attendants are clogging up the aisle with the food trays so you can't get around them. The seat never leans back far enough for me to get any sleep. Everyone is packed in real tight so you get a constant blast of people's breath and B.O. Besides that, flying is awesome.

 

I guess I'm too physically uncomfortable to even think about the potential dangers.

[Texsox]

There is actually a place here in Plainfield that gives lessons in one of those pools. I think he would be more comfortable in that first. After that they have hook up that take you on weekend things to go diving. I think he's more interested in getting it done because we are going to Atlantis in Feb and The Vigrgin Islands in May. Aside from that he's back to traveling for work so he's going to be in California, Texas, and Florida for long weekends more often after Christmas.

 

I'm going to check on the price. I like to get him one off the wall gift a year and this might be it. LOL.

 

All of the agencies that certify divers (NAUI, PADI, SSI, YMCA) have a universal referal program. Jim could complete the classroom and confined water dives, receive the referal, and do his final check out, open water dive anywhere. Getting certfied requires 5 dives. The first few are confined (pool) dives and/or snorkeling. Don't get too hung up on which agency is doing the cert, they all have basically the same standards. More important is the instructor and dive shop.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Don't get too hung up on which agency is doing the cert, they all have basically the same standards. More important is the instructor and dive shop.

 

I disagree, as far as which C card you end up with. PADI is more universally recognized than NAUI or NASDS, and a YMCA cert is essentially useless despite the fact that they were the forst organization to offer standardized scuba training as far back as the late 1950s. My first scuba certification training was a Y program through the Chicago park District. Great program, but if you didn't pay the extra $50 at check out time to get simultaneous PADI certification you couldn't find too many places (especially internationally) that would recognize the card. Maybe that's changed in the (insert big crooked number) years since I got certified, but i think PADI is the best route for Americans.