By the title of this post, I only wish I were writing to say that John Candy did not pass away years ago, and he's come out of hiding and is going to make great movies again. But I am not. Although, John Candy movies are still my favorites.
What I would like to address today is air travel. I do not like it, but there is not a way around it. If you want to get somewhere quickly or if you are going on vacation, you must fly. Every time I fly, I clam up. For some reason, I am convinced that there is a possibility of crashing.
What's even worse, is before you take off, the captain comes on and says, "it will be a few more minutes, we are having maintenance problems." Oh hell, that is when I am ready to run off the plane. Or when you have to stay in a "holding pattern" in the air for a while. I am so nervous already, I don't want to fly around for the heck of it.
And I have also noticed lately how nervous I get when the captain comes on to speak. My hopes are it will be "Sully" making a guest appearance, but my worst fears are that it will be Osama Bin Laden saying this plane is not going to Vegas, bitches.
Last night on Nightline (here I go again with TV), I learned a lot of great air travel facts that have put me at ease, and I would like to share.
- The most dangerous times in flight are the first 3 minutes, and the last 8 minutes.
- An aisle seat, at least 7 rows from an exit is your safest spot. Studies show that you may not be able to move more than 7 aisles in the event of an emergency.
- 95% of people involved in a plane crash live! 95%!
- You have a 1 and 35 million chance of being in a plane crash.
- Air travel is the safest form of travel. I can guarantee you, driving on 6-35 is way more dangerous than flying...although, I can't seem to convince myself of that.
I hope these fun facts make you feel more at ease next time you board a plane. I am sure I will still clam up, but mostly during the first 3 minutes and last 8 minutes.
Remember that awesome flight we took back from Chicago last summer? Or how about that even better one we took to Oklahoma last Easter when we literally thought we might die. I wish I would have known these facts then.
ReplyDeleteI had a horrible panic attack (first one of my life actually) on the way home from my honeymoon landing right there in the Big D. It was horrible....windy, the lights in the cabin were flashing, I was crying and couldn't breath. I might never fly again.
ReplyDeleteI just made things worse....didn't I?
Seriously though reading your facts did help. I will keep those in mind the next time I'm hurling into the barf bag. If I can just get through those first/last minutes...smooooth sailing!