Fear of Flying

whitetrash

Dunno if this has been covered, but in light of the wtc thang, is anyone now scared to get on a plane? American or otherwise?

Stephen

Not me any way. Air travel has been the "safest method of transport" for years hasn't it?

yellum

Lies, damned lies, statistics. Wonder who wants you to believe that statistic ?

Not afraid to fly at all. Unless it was in a Taliban area.

phaxx

No it's not, if you look at it from a miles-travelled perspective, it's by far the safest, but by passengers-arrived it's the worst.

Er, I'd better add that I have no idea where I heard that, or how accurate it is, so don't take it too seriously.

The added security that is bound to be in place after the WTC disaster is bound to set some people at ease.

(OT: what I can't understand is how a planeload of people were told "You're all going to die" by a few men armed only with knives, and they didn't do anything - 70 odd fit passengers with nothing to lose versus three or four fit men with knives. I mean, come on! So they'll get one or two of you as you take on the bastards, but sure won't you save the lives of thousands of people, and if you're lucky, a few on the plane? (Assuming at least one of them knows a BIT about flying and can avoid bringing it down perpendicular to the ground! Alright scratch that last bit, perhaps a bit too far-fetched, but still - wouldn't you at least TRY to save the people on the ground? Granted, apparently one plane crashed elsewhere probably because the passengers intervened, but that's only one plane out of four. )

chernobyl

i love flying, it just a shame that i will no longer get to fly in the cockpit now, which is what i enjoy most.

and i agree phaxx, i too thought it was strange that some guys did not group up and gain control.
everyone was placed in the rear of the planes and were told that they would die, surely when know this you would want to decide your own faith.

bonkey

Originally posted by chernobyl
and i agree phaxx, i too thought it was strange that some guys did not group up and gain control.
everyone was placed in the rear of the planes and were told that they would die, surely when know this you would want to decide your own faith.

I dunno where you guys are getting your stories, but thats not the version I heard at all.

The downed flight in Philly had the most outbound phonecalls after its hijacking. The passengers informed those that they were talking to that the hijackers were telling people to sit down, remain calm, and no-one would get hurt.

It was the people on the phones who learned from those they were calling about the other planes, at which point they decided to do something.

It is reasonable to assume that on the other planes the same tactic was used. Why tell anyone they are going to die, when you can just get control of the cockpit (killing or removing the pilot), tell everyone they're gonna be ok as long as they dont do anything stupid. Tell people you have a bomb in case they do something stupid.

People then sit still to save their lives, unknowingly helping the terrorists kill them.

Even if the passengers did know something on the Pentagon flight (not enough time on the second WTC plane, IMHO, and no chance of knowing anything on the first one), it still takes a lot of guts to be the "front man" in an assault on the armed hijackers, as you are basically deciding that you will die regardless. They were armed, in control, and there isnt exactly a huge amount of space on a plane. He will see you coming, he will be ready, he will be armed. You wanna be real brave to try anything.

It is a lot harder to die through your own actions then it is to sit by and pray that something will happen to save you - something I'm sure the terrorists relied on.

jc

MiCr0

the day it happened i was on 2 flights and another the next day, and then another 2 the next week.
the safety of flying isn't an issue - its the terrorists that you should have a fear of!!!

--MiCr0

bonkey

I've been flying since the event, and intend to continue to do so, while I can have reasonable surity about the security in airports.

While European security is not foolproof, American airport security was a joke at the time.

I also noticed that the US FAA have allowed kerb-side check-ins to recommence, as long as "appropriate security provisions" were put back in place.

The synic in me says that within 12-18 months, failing another major airline attack, security will have relaxed back more or less to where it was, because customer satisfaction, customer convenience, lower costs, and ultimately highr profits are more important to too many businessmen in the industry.

jc