Fear of flying?

[Lindley]

I'm not sure I'd risk this. Anything controlled by computers can be hacked. Imagine what terrorists could do with an airplane in this way. It'd be 9/11 writ large. And they wouldn't even have to risk their own lives - they could hack into and divert planes on a whim. It'd be even worse than the flying car problem.

Hmm, yes, safeguards would need to be taken against antagonistic input. I was thinking it could be made failure-safe with triple-redundant independent computers and a large battery source to guard against alternator failure, but when you add antagonistic input to the picture you need to get more complicated.

Now, the only real threat from hackers (assuming they don't have maintenance access, which would be bad regardless) comes in the instructions from ATC.

A first level of safeguard would be simply: don't accept a clearance for other than a known route to the intended destination, without multiple independent verifications from several ATC facilities.

Even those messages could be protected with RSA.....or, if necessary, you could even generate a 1-time-pad (unbreakable) for each and every flight. (Of course, how you securely get that pad from the plane to every necessary ATC facility is still a problem, but it at least moves the issue to a different domain.)

Simple jamming of communications isn't really a problem; there are Lost Communications protocols in place already anyway, the plane would just follow them.

 

[FrontLine]

There was a time when I would fly half hanging out of a Huey or dangling under it by a rope, or flying with the doors of a black hawk open.

Then I had kids.

Now I fly one or twice a month (round trip). On take offs I am literally white knuckled. It takes everything I have to maintain my cool. Once we hit about 10,000 ft I relax, but until them I am scared out of my ass. I guess its based on the idea of you get X many take offs until you eat it. I know its an irrational fear, but it is there. I guess the big change was having kids and realizing that I am now responsible for more than just me.

 

[scotpens]

Now, the only real threat from hackers (assuming they don't have maintenance access, which would be bad regardless) comes in the instructions from ATC.

The second Die Hard movie had a scenario somewhat like that. Terrorists took over the control tower at Dulles airport, hacked into the computers, and sent out bogus instructions and a false glide-path signal to an approaching airliner, causing it to crash.

I'm sure there are all kinds of implausibilities there, but it's only a movie.

 

[Lindley]

Well, yes, a false glide path signal in IMC would be bad. But that's going to be a problem regardless of who's flying---if the weather's bad enough that the plane is using an ILS, then the pilot can't do much more than follow the indications.

It's also less of a problem these days than it would have been a few years ago, since GPS could be used as a backup. If the GS has taken you to decision height and you're still 5 miles from the airport, something is suspect....

And besides, if the plane reaches decision height and the pilot hasn't seen the runway visually yet, he can just go missed approach.

 

[B.J.]

I love flying, but the anticipation is what really kills me. Gives me a very nervous stomach to the point where I need to be near a bathroom (but that's true for many other things, too). But once I'm in the air, I'm fine. Well, mostly. Since I design aircraft for a living, I've got this minor worry in the back of my mind - kind of a "afraid to fly because I know too much" thing.

 

[Sky]

Since I design aircraft for a living, I've got this minor worry in the back of my mind - kind of a "afraid to fly because I know too much" thing.

OK, I definitely shouldn't have come back to this thread 15 minutes before I have to leave for the airport.

 

[Mallory]

Well, have a good flight! As to the topic, I've had a few scary moments and one honest-to-God white knuckle flight in my life, but those were due to mechanical problems or the weather and had nothing to do with the crew.

 

[bigdaddy]

I don't have a fear of flying, I have a fear of falling to the ground in horror.

 

[WillsBabe]

I dislike airports.

Me, too. I really hate them.

 

[JRS]

Sky, I would recommend you to read this book about flying and aviation, it could ease some of your fears(its a good book and ive read it myself) :
http://www.amazon.com/Flying-Book-E...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273138772&sr=8-3

Im not scared of flying myself but I though that might help

 

[Yeoman Randi]

SKY, i hope you had a great flight!

I loved flying until i had kids. Then i was so afraid that we'd die in an airplane crash that i actually made my husband take a different flight than me!! (The joke then became that our two planes would crash into each other).

Now that the kids are older and it is post 9/11, my fear has become terrorism on our plane.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Nope. I kinda like the thrill of the take off.

Now, flight-related headaches, those I could do without.

 

[Sakrysta]

I don't have a fear of flying. I prefer to have a window seat when flying so I can watch the take off, landing and the scenery below me. For that reason I dislike (i.e find it boring) when I am flying over water.

This describes me. It's like an amusement park ride that's actually SAFE!

I dislike airports.

I don't really mind them. I like people-watching. I usually only fly about once a year, one way, non-stop, so I don't have the hassles of connections and usually don't have to worry about delays. To me, the airport is just part of the adventure.

Man, I need to get a life!

 

[TheBrew]

I always get nervous during take-off a bit. But I quickly shake it off by realizing that there is nothing I can do about. As a fellow control oriented person, knowing when and how to let go is really powerful.

Or get drunk before hand.

 

[SmoothieX]

I'm not afraid of flying, I just don't like the whole commercial flying experience.

Show up at the airport 2 hours in advance, pass through security, spend $9 on a beer before your flight. Then get onto the plane and be herded into the plane, always seated next to some fat fuck or blabber mouth or screaming kid, try to get some sleep, and wake up with a bitch of a neck cramp when you land, totally jet lagged.

 

[Captain Ice]

I am not afraid of the flying. It's the crashing that gets me.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Back when I used to fly Midwest (the aforementioned stop-in-Milwaukee thing), they had totally delicious chocolate chip cookies on every flight. That's one thing I miss about them.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I love flying so much.

 

[Neeka Keet]

Mine is more of a fear of crashing.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

That's why you have a drink or 5 on the plane.