4 ms·

Off-topic, but it seems you guys fly a lot. Any solids topics on how to get over fear off flying? I simply cannot get over that, though I flew a lot in past.

lutorm 16y ago
It won't help you fly, but take solace in your much smaller carbon footprint.
- jrockway 16y ago
  But of course, your daily commute releases more CO2 than the occasional long-haul flight. So unless you ride your bike to work everyday, this is a premature optimization.
  - lutorm 16y ago
    Well, I do bike to work. But that's beside the point. All calculations I've seen conclude that driving alone actually is less carbon-intensive than flying, on a per mile basis. The average American drives 10-15k miles per year. If you fly even remotely often, you'll easily end up logging more air miles than car miles. And if you carpool, there's no contest. Flying is way worse than you may think, from a CO2 point of view.
oz 16y ago
I've read that statistically, you are far more likely to die in a car accident than a plane crash.
miri 16y ago
It depends a little bit on what specifically you fear when flying. If it's the safety of the plane, I'd get really familiar with how planes work. Having flown a lot since I was a child I can "feel" the plane and know that things are all right. I know the sounds of flying through clouds, brake flaps, the thump of the wheels, and it all makes me feel very much in control of my situation. I usually know what will happen, and it's reassuring to see the plane respond exactly as usual to everything (even turbulence). Having grown up with parents in different countries, I've flown quite a lot, and from a very young age, so I've experienced my share of "scary" situations. Finding out why things happened made me able to deal easily with them later, even though I was scared back then. (I also learnt to sit straight during landings in windy conditions - I thumped my head during landing at one time. I was just a small child and excited at finally being able to see everything on the airport on such a cloudy day, but I took home a life-long lesson :P ) I've held quite a few hands and talked to people who were terrified while flying - suffering from anxiety myself, I can sympathise. One such time we actually had to switch a plane because a there was a minor problem with the last check before take-off (something about some control lights - I remember it being fairly minor). The woman I was sitting next to was terrified, of course - instead of relieved that they made us switch planes for an error that probably would not have interfered much with the flight. Logical thinking like that doesn't work when you're terrified, but good preparation to reduce the number of unknowns can get you quite far. So yes, tl;dr: Go geeky, and learn about how commercial airliners work (they're actually quite cool!). Then compare your knowledge to what happens during a trip and see how predictable it is, and after you can try focusing on just how cool it is how everything works :) Good luck!
- simplegeek 16y ago
  Thank you. That helps. Off-topic, but are you studying in Norway? Which university you're a part of?
  - miri 16y ago
    Studying in Norway - at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. I <3 Gløshaugen.

lutorm 16y ago

It won't help you fly, but take solace in your much smaller carbon footprint.

jrockway 16y ago
But of course, your daily commute releases more CO2 than the occasional long-haul flight. So unless you ride your bike to work everyday, this is a premature optimization.
- lutorm 16y ago
  Well, I do bike to work. But that's beside the point. All calculations I've seen conclude that driving alone actually is less carbon-intensive than flying, on a per mile basis. The average American drives 10-15k miles per year. If you fly even remotely often, you'll easily end up logging more air miles than car miles. And if you carpool, there's no contest. Flying is way worse than you may think, from a CO2 point of view.

oz 16y ago

I've read that statistically, you are far more likely to die in a car accident than a plane crash.

miri 16y ago

It depends a little bit on what specifically you fear when flying. If it's the safety of the plane, I'd get really familiar with how planes work. Having flown a lot since I was a child I can "feel" the plane and know that things are all right. I know the sounds of flying through clouds, brake flaps, the thump of the wheels, and it all makes me feel very much in control of my situation. I usually know what will happen, and it's reassuring to see the plane respond exactly as usual to everything (even turbulence). Having grown up with parents in different countries, I've flown quite a lot, and from a very young age, so I've experienced my share of "scary" situations. Finding out why things happened made me able to deal easily with them later, even though I was scared back then. (I also learnt to sit straight during landings in windy conditions - I thumped my head during landing at one time. I was just a small child and excited at finally being able to see everything on the airport on such a cloudy day, but I took home a life-long lesson :P ) I've held quite a few hands and talked to people who were terrified while flying - suffering from anxiety myself, I can sympathise. One such time we actually had to switch a plane because a there was a minor problem with the last check before take-off (something about some control lights - I remember it being fairly minor). The woman I was sitting next to was terrified, of course - instead of relieved that they made us switch planes for an error that probably would not have interfered much with the flight. Logical thinking like that doesn't work when you're terrified, but good preparation to reduce the number of unknowns can get you quite far. So yes, tl;dr: Go geeky, and learn about how commercial airliners work (they're actually quite cool!). Then compare your knowledge to what happens during a trip and see how predictable it is, and after you can try focusing on just how cool it is how everything works :) Good luck!

simplegeek 16y ago
Thank you. That helps. Off-topic, but are you studying in Norway? Which university you're a part of?
- miri 16y ago
  Studying in Norway - at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. I <3 Gløshaugen.