Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Fear of flying
It's irrational. I know. I'm more likely to die on the trip to the airport. But I think it's the spectacular WAY you die that fixes it so large in the imagination. And it's not like it doesn't happen on a regular basis. Like, just yesterday:

Armenian plane crashes into Black Sea, killing 113

I know that seasoned travellers find us scaredy-cats amusing. The lady in the seat next to me on our first flight to Detroit seemed bemused at my VERY MILD ;) distress on take-off. Hello!?! This is completely unnatural! Planes weighing tons taking to the air? It's madness!

I was seriously uncomfortable at the thought of the six flights that would comprise our vacation. I was even preparing to write a holographic will, just in case. Which I never did, because good old laziness usually wins out.

I did pretty well. On all of the flights. Once we reach altitude, and the minutes pass by uneventfully, I reach a certain level of comfort. Of course any turbulence ruins my complacency and I immediately go back on alert. And then the stupid thoughts creep in, "what if we're in a midair collision?" Hey, it happened to that Russian plane years ago!

At the airport at Karlsruhe-Baden Baden I looked around the gate area where we were waiting to board. I noted the faces of the people around me. Old people, babies, toddlers, students, couples and families, and found that there is a feeling of safety in numbers. But that's irrational too. If the plane goes down we all go down. So then I think, well, these look like nice people to die with.

It's pretty scary in my head.