Mocking CloudsThe A330 meandered in between the clouds, skirting the heavy ones and trying as far as possible not to ram directly onto it.
I guess pilots are taught to respect this weather phenomenon and not to try to challenge it by purposedly ramming jetliners onto it, unless there were no other ways to skirt around it, so I was told. I would have to verify this. I do know for sure about one thing, clouds are contributors to air turbulence.
Anyway, I think they have a name for it -- the cloud formations I mean, not the aircraft manouevre. I can tell a Cumulonimbus anytime when I see one. As for the rest of the brood -- Nimbostartus, Cirrocumulus and Altostratus, well I guess I need to read more in order to learn more. I know one thing though -- all clouds are Latin.
The cloud naming system was invented in 1892 by an Englishman Luke Howard. It comprises of two parts -- first to describe the altitude or the heights where the cloud were forming and the second, to describe the shape. The part that describes the heights are: cirro, high clouds above 20,000 feet; and alto, mid level clouds between 6,000 - 20,000 feet. There is no prefix for low level clouds.
The names denoting shapes are: cirrus mean curly or fibrous, stratus means layered, while cumulus means lumpy or piled. Nimbo or nimbus is added to indicate that a cloud can produce precipitation.
After a slight turbulence -- enough to scare an aviophobic like me -- the aircraft landed smoothly on the runway of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. As the A330 taxied to the terminal building, I looked out of the window and wondered what the clouds would have done had they were a living being. I guess they would have mock me all the way throughout the flight for being afraid to fly.
Hell, the clouds were mocking me even after I landed safely. I could see them reassembling to form what could have been the shape of a middle finger! WTF! Who do you think you are? Cumulusdickus?
Mocking Clouds
Flying Again
Bandar Maharani, Johor, MalaysiaI am flying again today, to the north, that is. It's just a short flight by A330 and to tell you the truth, I am looking forward to it. I don't feel apprehensive at all about the flight I am to take at 1.30pm from Changi Airport to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
That is not to say I've overcome my fear of flying. I guess it's still there only this time there's something inside that makes me want to enjoy the flight. Afterall it's just a 55-minute flight, including the time taken to taxi to and from the runway on both ends of the journey.
I guess it's just a mood swing. As I've come to realise, fear manifests itself in a varying intensity. I can have no fear of flying in one day, and completely freak out in another. In fact, there were days I can become jittery just by thinking about a flight. Mind you, I can become afraid to fly even when my feet are planted firmly on the ground. That's quite irrational, to say the least.
If I can become irrational on the ground, heck I can become irrational on the air. I guess, most fears are irrational, I can tell you that much. Anyway, subject to clearance from the air traffic controller, I should already be lounging around KLIA by 2.30pm.
The Business Of Being Busy
Ah, It's been a busy week. I hardly had the time to update this blog and when I did, I was already too tired and too drained out of creative energy to do anything with the the string of thoughts that come to mind. So I shall just let the thoughts float around for a while.
There are some pending things to do in relation with this blog: write emails to friends to discuss about aviophobia, blog about the test flights of Airbus A380 superjumbo to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and the problem with Malaysia Airlines which revenue seemed to be nosediving at an alarming speed.
Can somebody help throttle the company up, please? Then there is also the coming onboard of Sarawakian executive Idris Jala to be the Managing Director of Malaysia Airlines in December. May he be the one who could put Malaysia Airlines back into the black.
There are so many things to blog. Alas, here I am...letting things to be overtaken by events.
Fly Off Fear. Can We?
Marita Paige of A Leaf Off The Page of Marita's Life ask me in her comment, do I fly a lot. I don't.
That probably is one of the factors contributing to my flying woes. I don't fly often and therefore I can't get used to being on a flight. Therefore, I am afraid to fly. It's like meeting someone new. If you get to meet that someone often, you can become comfortable with that person.
But I had flown in many types of air transporters -- from 8-seater and 12-seater light aircrafts which I've forgotten the make, to the Fokker 50 and the commercial passenger planes by Boeing and Airbus. Had also been on a de Haviland Beechcraft flights and C130 militry transport aircraft. Island-hopping on Nuri helicopter, criss-crossing Sabah on a Bell helicopters in the 90's, and circling around Mount Kinabalu on a Russian made Mi-17 helicopter.
The longest flight I've flown so far was in 2003 along this route: Kota Kinabalu-Kuala Lumpur-Amsterdam-Stockholm. 3 days stop. Then Stockholm-Nice. 3 days stop. Then Nice-Paris-Frankfurt-Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu.
Not a single incident happened on those flights. Still, I am afraid to fly. Even a short 25 minutes of flight from Kota Kinabalu to Labuan can freak me out.
Perhaps it's because I had also seen crash sites, smelled the smell of charred bodies of air crash victims.
A Proven Cure For Aviophobia?
Psychologists believe Aviophobia or the fear of flying is curable. The rate of success can be high -- experts estimated that about 90 per cent of those who seek treatment, can actually wake up in the morning, take a flight and not feeling any fear at all.
The method they use is hypnotherapy. The problem is, you can't self- hypnotise. Somebody else must employ the process on you. An aviophobic reporter who had been to the hypnotherapist has written an article about it:
The rest of the article, here!Sitting Out Of Fear
The fear of flying (aviophobia) is a bit irrational – you’re more likely to be killed by a donkey or a falling coconut – but it is thought to affect about 10 million UK residents to a degree.
With me, just a touch of turbulence reduces me to sobs and wide-eyed panic. And the six major air disasters this summer haven’t helped.
Dr Richard Bradley is a clinical hypnotherapist, who has been practising for 14 years. He runs clinics at Carlisle, Dumfries and Corbridge. Most of his patients are aged between their late-teens to early 20s, but he has successfully treated people as young as seven and as old as 87.
He estimates that more than 90 per cent of his patients are cured through hypnotherapy: “Some go away after a couple of sessions and never experience their problem again. Others leave with a far more positive mental attitude. However it affects you, it always helps.” [...]
Dr Bradley has treated the fear of flying hundreds of times and is confident he can help me. We begin with a preliminary chat which allows Dr Bradley to analyse me and to decide the best way to help me.
“There are two main methods of hypnosis,” said Dr Bradley. “I treat 20 per cent of my patients through classic hypnotism, where you simply tell the patient to stop doing what they are doing. For example, I would tell a smoker they are a non-smoker and when they wake up they will oblige.
“The remaining 80 per cent are treated using Erickson hypnotism, a more complex method in which I will tell a metaphorical story which is embedded with suggestions to help the patient. It’s a less obvious method which appeals to the subconscious mind".
Dr Bradley asks me to consider why I am afraid of flying. Is it a fear of small spaces or a fear of death? I tell him it is probably a bit of both. And the fact that I am a bit of a control freak. I certainly don’t like the lack of control when sitting in a plane. And probably not when I am under the control of a hypnotist, either. [...]
An hour later Dr Bradley tells me he will use the Erickson method with me. While I’m getting comfortable on the couch Dr Bradley dismisses a few of my stereotypical beliefs about hypnotism.
“Nothing strange is going to happen. I’m not going to knock you out and become a mad magician. There are a lot of misconceptions about hypnotism. Television and entertainment would have you believe that we are in control and you won’t remember anything, but hypnotherapy is actually more about encouraging you to take control.”
My next 35 minutes are spent under hypnosis. Dr Bradley’s soothing voice lulls me into a semi-sleep and he talks me through the process, telling me I’ll feel light and relaxed or heavy and numbed, but relaxed. I feel the latter. It is a case of lying on the couch, listening to his words and using my imagination.
It is a pleasant experience that instilled a calmness in me. But has it helped me tackle my fear? As yet, I can’t be sure. My next flight is at Christmas.
The calmness I felt during the session remains and I am taking a far more positive outlook when reading about the horrors of a plane crash. [Source: News & Star, UK. Oct 19, 2005]
Thank You: Minishorts, Peter Tan, BlogsMalaysia
Hey, someone found my blog and posted it on the newly launched BlogsMalaysia.com. Thank you minishorts, for submitting my article and thank you Peter Tan for publishing it.
Aviophobic Anonymous, is, in their own words "rather intriguing and educational":
Weather You Like It or Not... It isn't every day that someone starts a blog to chronicle his experiences of living with aviophobia (fear of flying). Aviophobic is a fresh cut off the crop, and his blog is rather intriguing and educational.
Hmm...I guess I would have to live up to that "rather intriguing and educational" tag from now on, or else, Aviophobic Anonymous would perish, just like a doomed aircraft.
Aviophobic Anonymous
After two month of blogging about Aviophobia or the fear of flying and taking into consideration some of the comments here, I've decided today to "revamp" this blog, first by having its name changed from "I Believe I Am Afraid To Fly" to "Aviophobic Anonymous".
I will also edit some of the entries here to reflect a more positive attitude towards the safety of air transportation. The grammatical mistakes will still be there after the editing, I reckon, but that can't really be helped. I find English grammer as difficult to comprehend as the fear of flying itself.
Next possible entry: When a child is afraid to fly, what can the accompanying parents (who are also aviophobic) do to help calm the situation? Views and comments are welcomed.
Nigerian Air Crash Kills 117 (Edited Version)
Here's a piece of news that could aggravate aviophobia. A passenger aircraft crashes yet again. From Reuters:
All 117 likely killed in Nigerian air crash
LISSA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A Nigerian airliner with 117 people aboard crashed and disintegrated in flames shortly after take-off from Lagos and there was no sign of survivors, officials and the Nigerian Red Cross said on Sunday.
Dismembered and burned body parts, fuselage fragments and engine parts were strewn over an area the size of a football field near the village of Lissa, about 30 km north of Lagos.
Video grab shows the crash site of the Nigerian airliner in Lissa, about 30 km north of Lagos, October 23, 2005. (REUTERS/Nigerian Television Authority via Reuters TV)
"The aircraft has crashed and it is a total loss. We can't even see a whole human body," a senior police official said at the scene. The Bellview Airlines plane, which left Lagos on Saturday night on a scheduled flight to the capital Abuja, left a smoking 70 foot crater in the marshy earth, uprooted trees and blew the roofs off nearby houses.
"I can't confirm if there are any survivors, but there is no trace so far," Red Cross General Secretary Abiodun Orebiyi told Reuters after visiting the scene. "The plane was totally destroyed. It was scattered everywhere."
A wig, human intestines, clothes, foam seats and a hand were visible wedged in the sodden earth. A cheque for 948,000 naira ($7,300) from the evangelical Deeper Life church was one of a number of personal papers found in the smouldering wreckage.
A U.S. official confirmed that a U.S. military officer was aboard the aircraft. [...]Bellview Airlines flight 210 left at 8:45 p.m. (1945 GMT) and lost contact minutes later during a heavy electrical storm. It was carrying 111 passengers and six crew, the Federal Airport Authority said, updating an earlier figure of 110 passengers.
The pilot made a distress call after take-off, indicating the plane had a technical problem, a source at the presidency told Reuters.
Ten Deadliest Air Crashes In History (Edited Version)
Here's just for the record the 10 deadliest air crashes in history:
1. TenerifeA statistical breakdown also includes the following:
27 March 1977
Number of people killed: 583
Two Boeing 747s, operated by KLM and Pan Am, collide on a foggy runway at Tenerife, in Spain's Canary Islands. The KLM jet departed without permission, striking the Pan Am jet as it taxied along the same runway. Confusion over instructions and a blockage of radio transmissions contributed to the crash.
2. Mount Fuji
12 August 1985
Number of people killed: 520
A Japan Air Lines 747 crashes near Mount Fuji after takeoff from Tokyo on a domestic flight. The rupture of an aft bulkhead, which had undergone faulty repairs following a mishap seven years earlier, caused the destruction of part of the aeroplane's tail and rendered the jet uncontrollable. A JAL maintenance supervisor later committed suicide, while the president of the airline resigned, accepting full responsibility for the crash and visiting victims' families to offer a personal apology.
3. Delhi
12 November 1996
Number of people killed: 349
An Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane from Kazakhstan collides in midair with a Saudia 747 near Delhi, India. The Kazakh crew had disobeyed instructions, and neither aircraft was equipped with collision-avoidance technology.
4. Orly
3 March 1974
Number of people killed: 346
A THY (Turkish Airlines) DC-10 crashes near Orly airport outside Paris. A poorly designed cargo door burst from its latches, leading to rapid depressurisation, failure of the cabin floor and impairment of cables to the rudders and elevators. Out of control, the plane slammed into woods northeast of Paris. McDonnell Douglas, maker of the DC-10, which would see even more controversy later, was forced to redesign its cargo door system.
5. Ireland
23 June 1985
Number
of people killed: 329
A bomb planted by Sikh extremists blows up an Air India 747 en route from Toronto to Bombay. The plane fell into the sea east of Ireland. Investigators in Canada cited shortcomings in baggage screening procedures, screening equipment, and employee training. A second bomb, intended to blow up another Air India 747 on the same day, detonated prematurely in a luggage facility in Tokyo before being loaded aboard.
6. Riyadh
19 August 1980
Number of people killed: 301
A Saudia L-1011 bound for Karachi returns to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when a fire broke out on board shortly after takeoff. For reasons never fully understood, the crew delays evacuation after a safe touchdown and the aircraft rolls to the far end of the runway before finally stopping. No evacuation is commenced, and the plane then sits with its engines running for more than three minutes. Before any doors can be opened by the inadequately equipped rescue workers at Riyadh, everyone on the widebody died as the passenger cabin is killed by a flash-fire.
7. Straits of Hormuz
3 July 1988
Number of people killed: 290
An Airbus A300 operated by Iran Air is shot down over the Straits of Hormuz by the US navy destroyer Vincennes. The US military said the crew of the Vincennes were distracted by an ongoing armed battle and mistook the A300 for a hostile military aircraft. None of the passengers or crew survived.
8. Chicago
25 May 1979
Number of people killed: 273
As an American Airlines DC-10 takes off from Chicago's O'Hare airport, an engine detaches from its mounting seriously damaging a wing. Before its crew can react, the aeroplane rolls 90 degrees and disintegrates in a fireball about a mile beyond the runway. This remains the worst-ever US crash. Both the engine pylon design and airline maintenance procedures were faulted by NTSB investigators, and all DC-10s were temporarily grounded.
9. Lockerbie
21 December 1988
Number of
people killed: 270
Pan American flight 103, explodes in the night sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all the passengers, and 11 people on the ground. Two Libyan agents are later held responsible (one is convicted) for planting a bomb aboard the aircraft.
10. Sakhalin Island
1 September 1983
Number of people killed: 269
Korean Air Lines flight KL007, a 747, from New York to Seoul (with a technical stop in Anchorage) is shot down by a Soviet fighter after drifting off course - and into Soviet airspace - near Sakhalin Island in the North Pacific. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) later attributes the mysterious deviation to "a considerable degree of lack of alertness and attentiveness on the part of the flight crew."
An accident survey of 2147 aeroplane accidents from 1950 through 2004 determined the causes to be as follows:Number of Boeing 747s involved in the 10 crashes: seven
Number resulting from terrorist sabotage or that were shot down mistakenly: four
Number that occurred in the US: one
Number that occurred prior to 1974: nil
Number that occurred during the 1970s or 1980s: nine
Number in which pilot error can be cited as a direct or contributing cause: three
Number that crashed as a direct result of mechanical failure: three
37%: Pilot errorThe survey excluded military, private, and charter aircraft. Sources: Wikipedia.org; Salon.com. (Article by Patrick Smith); airlinesafety.com. Extracted from an Al-Jazeera report compiled and edited by Asim Khan.
33%: Undetermined or missing in the record
13%: Mechanical failure
7%: Weather
5%: Sabotage (bombs, hijackings, shoot-downs)
4%: Other human error (air traffic controller error, improper loading of aircraft, improper maintenance, fuel contamination, language miscommunication, etc)
1%: Other cause
Cell Phone Man Kicked Out Of Plane
This blog fully supports the action taken by the pilot of a Malaysia Airlines flight in kicking out a passenger for ignoring the instruction to switch off the mobile phone while inside the aircraft.
The passenger, according to the report, was a businessman on the way to Kota Kinabalu, which is about an hour's flight away. He kept on taking over the phone despite being repeatedly told to swith it off. Here is the story:
SIBU, Oct 5: A businessman "talked" his way out of a Malaysia Airlines flight from here to Kota Kinabalu on Monday.The businessman in the report was not being helpful, even inconsiderate, to other passengers who might not be as free from the fear of flying as he. It's even unfair to the majority of other passengers who duly abide by the instruction.
The pilot ordered the businessman off the aircraft after he refused to listen to repeated requests from the crew to stop talking on his mobile phone. It is understood the man even ignored the pilot’s request to switch off the device.
The businessman was escorted off the aircraft by security officers. Flight MH2802, scheduled to take off at 9.15am, took off minutes later. It is not known if action can be taken against the man for delaying the flight. [...]
Sibu MAS manager Abdul Rahman Hassan, when contacted today, said the drama began when a passenger noticed the businessman using his handphone even as the aircraft began to roll down the runway.
The use of mobile phones on aircraft is generally forbidden during flight. One reason is that the use of the device could interfere with sensitive equipment on the aircraft. [Source: The New Straits Times]
I should really kick up a big fuss the next time I saw people talking on their phone inside an aircraft. You see, I don't mind being exposed to danger so long as it's worth it. Hell, we all are willing to die for a cause.
But I hate it if my safety is being put in jeopardy because of the foolishness of others!
A Short Flight North
I am writing this about six hours before my flight to Kuala Lumpur from Singapore. It's just a short flight north but nevertheless a significant one becuase that would be my first since I started this blog as part of my effort to deal with Aviophobia or the fear of flying.
Previously I've refrained myself from thinking about what could go wrong in a flight so as not to aggravate the fear -- what I don't know can't hurt me -- but still I find it rather difficult to remain calm in a flight.
By blogging about the issue, I am unrestraining myself from thinking just about anything that could happen to a flight.
I said, okay, let's face it...read anything you can about flight accidents, air crashes, about flight security, aircraft maintenance, how a feather-less giant iron and fibre can fly, and whatnots. You can't run away from a flight so why don't you just turn back and face your demon!
So, I am flying today for about 50 minutes, that is -- long enough to scare me, hell, even a 25-minute flight from Kota Kinabalu to Labuan can scare the shit out of me! Wish me luck, will you?
All-Female Crew To Take To The Sky
An all-female crew -- save for one -- will take on to the sky on Tuesday, Sept 20, according to a report on Singapore news channel, Channel NewsAsia. I say, why not, for a change, eh? Would I be concerned if I were to be on that flight? I guess being concerned is a forgone conclusion. Aviophobics would still be concerned no matter who piloted an aircraft.
Here's what pilots -- and their co-pilots -- can do to help flight-scare people to remain calm during a flight: go on air every now and then, not just after the aircraft reach the cruising height and the minutes before descending.
Airlines Blacklisted
Several European countries have blacklisted over a dozen of airlines companies, citing safety concern. There was also a proposal for a common list of airlines being blacklisted from flying to European destinations but recent reports indicated that this is not going to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, individual countries are going ahead with issuing their own list.
France and Belgium had already done so while Switzerland said it will, shortly. More on this here.
Soaring Higher: Understanding A Lift
The Bernoulli's Principle 
Wright's plane
Biggest aircraft, the Airbus A380
To be updated...it's 4.51am and I need to catch some sleep. See you in a few hours...in the meantime, feel free to leave a message, will you?
UPDATE: Now, it's time for the update after more than 24 hours and not the few hours as promised -- moral of the story: sleepy people should not make promises. I should strive to be more dedicated in maintaining this blog. And thank you legendarychipmunk and wong for the message.
The reason the Bernoulli's principle is in this entry is because back in school we were taught that an airplane lifts because of the dynamics between speed and pressure. The greater the speed, the lower the pressure and therefore the plane lifts.
That has been the way I described a lift. Today, I realised that was not entirely it.
According to this site, the issue of a lift should not be principled based on Bernoulli's theory alone. "There is nothing wrong with the Bernoulli principle, or with the statement that the air goes faster over the top of the wing," said David Anderson of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Scott Eberhardt of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Washington. However, there are other dynamics at work when a plane lifts, they said. Newton's is one of them.
But I would not go into disucssing the article, lest I second-guess what both experts are saying and be on the wrong side again. You can read the interesting article "How Airplanes Fly: A Physical Description of Lift" yourself.
Afraid To Fly? Carry A Parachute!
10 Tops For The Fearful Flier: Expert advice on how to keep calmI guess I have not come to that stage of flight fright as yet -- I don't sweat profusely, my eyes don't go wide. In my case, the fear is perhaps still manageable.
By James Wysong, Travel columnist
How many times have you boarded a flight and noticed one or two passengers who are acting a bit peculiar? You might pass it off as stressful flight conditions or dissatisfaction with the airline, but they could be suffering from fear of flying. It becomes more evident as takeoff approaches. The wide-eyes, clenched fists, profuse sweating, and rocking motions are among its symptoms. The rest of the article here!
I had a friend who has a company doing event managements back in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. A hard working person, he dreamt of making it big one day. Jugding from his determination to succeed, I had no doubt he will able to achieve his dream, if only he can overcome one big hurdle, one that can be summarised in my conversation with him as follows:
Him: I had thought of going to KL and see some people there. Here in Sabah, the opportunity for this kind of business is very limited.
Me: True, things do happen in KL. Look at those big guys there...
Him: My problem is I fear flying. Two and a half hours of flying, man, I could die up there!
A Lot Of Airlines Flying Ageing Aircraft
But unlike in road accidents, you can't go by the roadside and flag another for help in mid-air, you know that. There aren't many two ways about a plane crash -- you either die or die.
Aviation people say there are many more people who died in road accidents than in plane crashes. True. But there are also many more people who survive car crashes. What airlines can do to help aviophobic people like me to come to term with their "irrational fear of flying" is to be transparent -- service record of aircrafts must be made available to the passangers!
Financial Times online has this article, "Indonesian airliner crash highlights safety fears". Excerpt:
[...] When the Indonesian government bought 10 Boeing 737s from German carrier Lufthansa in 1994 for $90m (€72m, £49m), media reports were blunt in their assessment of what Jakarta was getting: the aircraft were universally described as either “ageing” or “surplus”.
But with the fatal crash on Monday of one of those aircraft one of two 737-200s given by the government of strongman Suharto to military-owned Mandala Airlines as part of a 1990s plan to boost Indonesia's airline industry the cynical assessments that accompanied the deal have yielded a grisly epilogue.
Indonesian officials said on Monday night that the cause of the crash remained unclear, with a spokesman for Mandala telling Reuters only that the initial assessment was that the aircraft had suffered “a take-off failure”.
The crash highlights what analysts say are growing safety concerns in Indonesia, where a rapidly expanding domestic air market in recent years has yielded a surge in both the number of new low-cost airlines and their financial problems.
Earlier this year the United Nations banned staff in East Timor from flying [...] (Source: Financial Times online)
Over 100 Feared Dead In Indonesia's Worst Air Disaster
Over 100 people are feared dead when a Mandala Airlines Boeing 737 flight crashed minutes after taking off from Medan Airport in Indonesia this morning. Update from Reuters:
MEDAN, Indonesia (Reuters) - At least 100 people are feared dead after a Boeing 737-200 crashed in the center of Indonesia's third biggest city on Monday just after takeoff, breaking into pieces and setting fire to homes and cars.
The plane, operated by local carrier Mandala Airlines, had 112 passengers and five crew on board, said Asril Tanjung, the airline's director. The cause of the crash in Medan city was being investigated, but foul play was highly unlikely, he said.
The plane slammed into the heart of Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, sparking widespread panic, witnesses said. Hospital officials and witnesses said some of the dead were residents on the ground.
Edi Sofyan, a spokesman for the North Sumatra government, said there were no reports yet of any survivors. He added that the governor of the province was on board the flight.
"I expect the death toll to be around 100," said Sofyan.
Fierce flames licked at the wreckage as it lay on one of Medan's main roads. Cars and homes were also on fire and plumes of thick black smoke rose into the air as fire crews tried to extinguish the blazes. [...]
Geez!
Near Tragedy At Beijing Airport
A refuelling truck rammed a plane in Beijing Airport, AFP reports today.
BEIJING, Sept 5 (AFP) -- Beijing International Airport was lucky to avoid tragedy after a refuelling truck rammed a plane in one of two accidents at Chinese airports over the weekend, state press reported Monday.
The fuel truck hit a Finnair jet bound for Helsinki after refuelling it on Saturday, becoming lodged under the plane's wing, the China Daily said.
The newspaper described the situation as "tense" as frantic maintenance staff were forced to pump out eight tonnes of petrol from the plane and deflate the truck's tires to release it.
All 287 passengers on board were evacuated and no injuries were reported.Another scare occurred in the northern city of Xian where a cargo wagon slammed into a China Eastern Airlines plane late on Friday, perforating its fuselage, the report said.Nearly 100 passengers were transferred to another flight. (c) AFP
Geez! *Wipe sweat from the forehead*.
Ignorance Is Bliss?
I had refrained from reading anything about plane crashes thinking that the lesser I know about how plane could crash, the easier it is to deal with flight-scare. You can't be afraid of what you don't know, so goes my reasoning.
But the fear of flying does not seemed to go away. Perhaps I should do it the other way around -- to know as much as possible not only about what could go wrong during a flight, but also what security or safety measures aircraft makers put in place to deal with situations.
Aviophobia, Aviotophobia, Aerophobia
Helicopter Crashes In Sarawak, Killing Three Russians
A logging helicopter crashed in Kapit Division, bursting into flames and killing three Russian nationals on board during heavy rain at about 3pm Saturday.This is the fifth crashes in the state this year, killing some 20 people. A Sarawak minister was quoted previously that he was now thinking twice before boarding a helicopter. That makes two of us, Mr Minister!
Kapit OCPD DSP Johar Ahmad, when contacted, confirmed the incident and said that investigation into the crash had begun.
The helicopter, of the KAMOV KA-32 model, was believed to be involved in winching logs to be transferred to waiting lorries which would remove them to the logging camp. (Source: Bernama)
Flight Security and Flight Safety
What if, what if, what if...
You Are Not Alone!
Many people develop fears as they mature and life seems more precious, while others may have experienced a bad flight.
You may have a strong imagination, recently began a family, or feel a need to be in control. Young mothers often feel protective and nervous flying with their kids or babies. Regardless of how fears develop, those who suffer can experience sleepless nights, elevated anxiety, and fear of panic attacks.
Friends and family often don't understand the problems caused by a fear of flying.
Afraid To Fly
Let's start with the definition. Anyone in the know what is the phobiatic term for someone who is afraid to fly?
UPDATE SEPT 2: Ah, it's called Aviophobia. Wikipedia has a an extensive explaination of the syndrome. It also listed among the notable people who suffer from it, including: Isaac Asimov, Dennis Bergkamp, Doris Day, The Dalai Lama, David Eddings, Aretha Franklin, Jackie Gleason, Jackie Jensen, Kim Jong-Il, Stanley Kubrick, Li Ao, Loretta Lynn, John Madden, Alan Price, Matthew Sweet, Billy Bob Thornton, Agnetha Fältskog, Wayne Coyne and Lars von Trier.
Posts
