Questions about flying etc

[Kemaiku]

I'm *very* scared of heights but I love flying and always insist on a window seat and spend most of the time looking out enjoying the view.

Some of the flights have been bumpy, a lot of turbulence, through a storm once or twice, my ears always ache badly but I still love it and have never really been frightened on a flight yet.

 

[Pegaritaville]

You can answer some or all or none of the questions I am about to ask.


Is there anyone here who has a phobia about flying?

Not a phobia, but I hate the hassle of commercial flying.

Have you ever done any of the following

Been in a small plane

Many times. When I was young, we used to have an airstrip on our farm. Several times a year we'd hold 'fly-in' breakfasts for the local farmers. I have several friends with planes, so I still get rides in a while.

Been in a helicopter

A couple of times, including once when we were put in harnesses and had to lean out and drop flowers on the people below.

Been in a glider

No, but if given the chance, I'd take it

Gone hang gliding

Once, and it scared the shit out of me.

Been up in a hot-air balloon

I went on a champaign brunch ballon ride in Palm Springs years ago. Loved it.

Been skydiving

Never, and I have no desire to do so.

Flown an ultralight

No, but I'd like to try it someday.

 

[Holdfast]

I've flown lots as a passenger on commercial services, and also gone up in small prop-driven planes, and a few different kinds of military helicopter. The choppers were the most fun, I'd say.

I don't have a phobia about flying, but I do find commercial flight extremely tedious. The whole boring routine of getting to the airport early, wasting time before boarding, sitting like a vegetable for hours on end on the plane... it all takes so LONG, and is so unproductive. Roll on transporter technology, that's what I say!

 

[Crusher Disciple]

I love helicopters.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I was spoiled the first time I flew. It was mostly an empty flight. Once you have a full flight and are wedged next to a stranger...flying sucks.

The most nerve raking part is when they bank as the approach an airport and you look out the window, suddenly we are veering towards the ground. This ain't the death star trench run, muthafucka!

 

[RJDiogenes]

the only other type of aircraft I've flown on was a blimp, which was awesome.

Oh, yeah, I'd love to do that, too.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Dangerous. Nothing Cessna-sized has any business near a thunderstorm, no matter what rating the pilot has. If the pilot managed to convince you things were fine, he must have been either very confident or very stupid.

I think it came up unexpectedly, but it was eighteen years ago, so I don't remember the part before the flight, just the flight itself. And about a week after I got home, I read that a similar flight had crashed in a thunderstorm.

But a picture I took during the flight won a little photo contest.

Do you still have the photo?

Well, I'm sure the original must be packed away somewhere, but I did find one of the large, framed copies; it's too big to scan, so I took a page from blab's book and just took a photo: