I Can Relax On A Plane!

The view out my window as we flew over Alaska in route to China

First order of business, I hate to fly!!!!  I mean, I really hate to fly!
I was that lady on the plane you didn't want to sit by.  I listened to every sound trying to figure out if the plane was broke  and shouldn't take off, and then continued to analyze all the sounds of the plane as we flew, trying to decide which sound eventually was going to take us down!

 I was grabbing the arms of my seat and making heavy breathing sounds as I tried to figure out how to save myself.  I have been known to let out a few screams during turbulence, and guarantee I have made some other nervous travelers flights, much, much worse!!

Remember the Alanis Morissette song, where she talks about the "guy who waited his whole life to take that flight, and as the plane crashed down, he thought well isn't this nice".  I sang that song in my head as I flew, convinced it was going to be me!!

When I decided to fly to China, I knew I better get my ducks in a row.  So here it is, this is how I cope.  I have googled many different articles on flying, and these are the points that stuck!  Now this is what I say in my head as I travel:

If you fly every day of your life, probability indicates that it would take you nineteen thousand years before you would succumb to a fatal accident. Nineteen thousand years!

I love the plane trackers on long flights!

Turbulence is essentially just a "rough patch"  I think of it as driving on a bumpy, dirt road! (a car does not fall apart due to bumps, why would a plane)

 Even if an Engine fails the plane will still fly with the other one!

No flying bird can stop a jet engine.   

Planes are completely new every 4 to 5 years by the overhauls done to them in safety checks

Most planes can land in 0/0 visibility (heavy fog) 

Ice is safe (due to all the defogging technology)

There are people watching to make sure the planes get no where near each other,  I Wish someone did that with my car while I was driving!

lightning simply “passes through” the aircraft 

Planes take you here, Hong Kong 

There is no such thing as an “air pocket”.

According to the NY Times, of the 760 million passengers who flew on commercial airlines from the United States in all of 2006, 760 million passengers flew and lived with a zero fatality rate. 

As I prepared for China, I took information from many articles that answered questions i had, and simplified it to make it easy for me to remember.  As I searched for this same information today,  I saw so many articles discussing the recent tragedies in the airline industry.  The underlying answer in every article still was that Flying is safe, and continues to be.  Safety records and statistics, don't lie.  Flying is safer than riding in your car.

Now my last point:  Have any  of you ever drove and texted at the same time? Have you looked at instagram, or watched your husband check his email while driving down the road with you, and all your children aboard?

For me the answer is yes.  I am guilty of texting and driving, guilty of yelling at my husband for checking his email while driving, and guilty of complete distraction while  navigating  through my music playlists.

These days, I rest easy knowing my pilot is paying 100% attention to what he is doing and that the airplane has been thoroughly checked out and had all scheduled maintenance performed.  So much safer than my everyday transportation!

          

   

              Sony MDR10RNC Premium Noise Canceling Headphone

Headphones are a must on flights!  We have a few pair, and these are my favorites!

No matter what brand you go with, make sure they are noise reduction headphones or you will spend hours with your hands to your ears trying to hear your movie through the sounds of the plane.

 ( i have done this, it sucks!)

Now put on your headphones, turn on a movie, read a book, listen to music, take a nap, or just relax with confidence that fun awaits you when you land.

*If you have any tricks to making your flights better, I would love to hear about them!!

Just in case you wondered!!

DEATH BY: YOUR ODDS Cardiovascular disease: 1 in 2 Smoking (by/before age 35): 1 in 600 Car trip, coast-to-coast: 1 in 14,000 Bicycle accident: 1 in 88,000 Tornado: 1 in 450,000 Train, coast-to-coast: 1 in 1,000,000 Lightning: 1 in 1.9 million Bee sting: 1 in 5.5 million U.S. commercial jet airline: 1 in 7 million Sources: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California at Berkeley

Most of my facts above are from “Confidently Flying: Arm Yourself with the FACTS NOT Fears" eBook as part of the GoGetter JetSetter system to answer all of your fearful questions and to unequivably about flying safety, click here to overcome your fear of flying.