6 facts you know will help you cope with your fear of flying

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If the thought of traveling on an airplane throws you into a cold sweat, then these facts will help you calm down and calmly survive the flight.

1. Airplanes are the safest form of transport

You may have already been told that you are more likely to die in a road accident than in a plane crash. This is true.

Harvard risk communication specialist David Ropeik confirms that the odds of dying in a car accident is one in 5,000 and one in 11,000,000 in a plane crash. … In fact, you are more likely to be struck by lightning (one in 13,000 chance).

Plane crashes do happen. The problem is that the media gives them a huge amount of attention, so you start to feel like they happen all the time. In the United States, from 1982 to 2010, 3,288 people died for reasons one way or another related to aircraft., that is, 110 people a year. This includes private jet accidents and non-accident accidents.

Airplane flights are gradually becoming safer.

Boeing spokeswoman Julie O'Donnell said that in the 1950s and 1960s, fatal accidents occurred once every 200,000 flights. Now they only happen every two million flights.

It is also important to understand that most aircraft-related accidents do not end with the death of passengers. The planes lose altitude, land past the runway and enter the turbulence zone without receiving any damage. Even if something serious happens, with a 95% chance. you will survive.

The likelihood of a terrorist attack is also extremely low. It happens once every 16,553,385 flights. … You are more likely to be eaten by a shark. …

2. Aircraft are thoroughly checked before being sold to airlines

You will never know what strict control aircraft are subjected to until you deliberately start looking for information on this topic. Perhaps if you did that, you would be much less afraid. Even before taking off the ground for the first time, planes go through an enormous amount of testing.

You can also watch the tests of domestic passenger aircraft.

Aircraft are tested for several parameters.

Flexibility test

Airplane wings are subjected to a certain pressure, they are bent until they begin to crack. This is necessary in order to detect their tensile strength. This applies a pressure force that aircraft will never encounter in real life. Airplane wings are extremely durable, designed to be flexible and resilient.

Suction test

It includes two separate checks. The first is a bird resistance test. To do this, chicken carcasses are shot into the engine fan blades in order to simulate a situation when a bird gets into it during flight. The glasses are checked in the same way.

The second test is to test the engine protection against water ingress. The plane lands on a runway flooded with water. This reproduces the situation when it is raining heavily.

Temperature and Altitude Test

The aircraft is operated in extremely high and low temperatures to check if the engines and materials will withstand and if these conditions will affect the operation of the control system.

Minimum flight speed test

During this test, the pilot drags the tail of the aircraft across the runway to determine the absolute minimum speed needed to get off the ground.

Checking the brake system

The aircraft is loaded to the maximum possible weight and the worn out brake discs are attached. Then the plane is accelerated to take-off speed and decelerated to a complete stop.

Aircraft are also tested in case of various emergencies, such as a lightning strike or a lack of fuel. All this allows us to conclude how concerned aircraft manufacturers are with the safety of passengers.

3. Oxygen masks really work

There is a myth that oxygen masks are completely useless because they are not connected to oxygen cylinders. But we just don't understand how they work.

Oxygen masks are thrown out when the pressure in the aircraft cabin decreases. If you do not wear a mask, due to lack of oxygen, you can pass out in just 15 seconds. Therefore, you should first put on a mask on yourself, and then help others. However, the oxygen that these masks provide you does not really come from some central source.

When you pull on the mask, the spring mechanism triggers a chemical reaction that generates oxygen inside the apparatus to which the mask is attached. You may feel that you will not get enough oxygen this way, but you will have enough until the moment when the plane is at a safer altitude, where you can breathe calmly.

4. Airplanes can normally fly with only one working engine and land without it

It may seem that the engines are the only thing that keeps the plane in the sky, but they are not. They provide the necessary reactive force. However, if one of them fails, the plane can continue flying freely.

If both engines fail, the aircraft will glide.

All aircraft can descend safely by gliding, only the distance they can travel varies.

Lim Hoi Hin commercial pilot

Gliders can stay in the air for a long time. Single-engine aircraft can also glide for quite a long time in the event of an engine failure, in order to then make a safe landing.

The aircraft maintains speed even when the engines are not running due to inertia and gravity. This is more than enough to maintain the desired height and not fall.

Tim Morgan commercial pilot

However, do not worry that this situation will happen to you. Cases in which both engines fail in a twin-engined jet aircraft occur at a rate of once per billion flight hours. …

Even if such a situation happens, most likely, everything will end happily. When an Airbus A330-243 airliner ran out of fuel in 2001 and both engines failed over the Atlantic Ocean, it was able to fly 120 kilometers to the nearest air base. Nobody was hurt during the landing.

5. Airplanes are not as dirty as you think

If you are afraid of flying because you are afraid of unsanitary conditions on board, the following information will be useful to you. To begin with, after recycling, the cabin's air recirculation system does not release bacilli-infested air directly into your face.

Recycled air makes up only half of the air on an airplane. It is filtered 20-30 times per hour with high efficiency filters. They are similar to filters used in intensive care units.

The other half of the air is replaced every 2-3 minutes using the built-in air supply system. Therefore, the air in your home, office or your favorite cafe is much more stale than on an airplane.

Many people think it's scary to touch anything on an airplane. But the surfaces you come into contact with in the cabin are just as good as the sinks, cabinets, and cat toys in your home. There are, of course, some more dangerous areas. These include pull-out tray tables, toilet flush button and airport drinking fountains.

Wash your hands in time, use an antibacterial gel, do not forget to bring wet wipes with you and do not touch your face. This will be enough to keep you from picking up anything.

6. Turbulence is not dangerous, and its unpleasant effects can be avoided

Turbulence does not put passengers on the plane in danger, it just brings some inconvenience.

Patrick Smith commercial pilot

Your plane will not turn upside down, spin or crash to the ground even in the strongest gust of wind. It may not be in the most comfortable conditions, but it certainly won't break. Turbulence is inconvenient for everyone, including the aircraft crew. But for pilots, this is a common occurrence, with some hassle, but not a threat to life.

It is only natural for you to feel nauseous and anxious when you shake. If you want to reduce the risk of experiencing the effects of turbulence, try to get tickets for the early morning or closer to sunset, when the sun does not heat the Earth's surface.

Also, if you have the opportunity to choose your seat, stop at the one closest to the wing. In places near the nose and in the tail of the aircraft, passengers experience maximum shaking.

Most of the fears that lead people to avoid flying on airplanes have no real basis. What you really have to fear is missing out on the opportunity to visit other parts of the world or see your family.