Sunday, June 15, 2008

sit back, relax, and enjoy the fright



until i go to flight school, aeronautical engineering college, or complete a rotation in psychiatry in order to prescribe myself a bevy of percocet and it's anxiolytic cousins, flying in an aeroplane will never be an experience where i do not lose a couple of layers of skin around my cuticles (if cold cabin air didn't warrant closed toed shoes i would definitely move on to my feet).

i love it when people dispense advice, obviously things i have never possibly considered in my 32 years of commuting via jet plane.

"go to sleep": presumably, the idea being that i would sleep through turbulence. do these people never experience that terrible tripping/falling sensation as they are about to fall into a deep slumber? it is extremely distressing to go from a state of complete relaxation to one of panic. i feel a more efficient use of my time is to maintain a baseline of elevated anxiety that can move directly to panic within the space of 5,000 feet.

"watch a movie": this is fine if it's a romantic comedy with kate hudson or drew barrymore. however, anything featuring genetically engineered sharks trying to hunt down l.l. cool j, or tom hanks being fired at from behind enemy lines only serves to escalate my terror. and how am i supposed to detect changes in aeroplane noises if it is drowned out by bruce willis leaping out of an exploding building?

"listen to your ipod": i run to my music, i am not about to associate 80's madonna, jack johnson, or chumbawumba with a near miss plane collision.

"read a book, you love to read": reading requires concentration and focus, i cannot concentrate on keeping the plane up in the air/watch for dodgey looking passengers up to no good/fully engage my olfactory senses to detect any burning odours/obsess about lightning storms/birds flying into the engines/wings malfunctioning/pilots malfunctioning, if i am immersed in j.k. rowling's latest offering. air travel means catering to the attention requirements of alice in wonderland, where trashy magazines, featuring pictures of celebrity cellulite are the only option.

in addition to a sound aircraft, i have specific expectations from the pilot and first officer. while a clean mental health record and no "one for the road" martini habit is a given, i also need them to prepare me the way one does when transitioning a small child, or grown adult with a cognitive disability. prior to departure, the forecasted weather patterns and air pressure should be translated into if/when/how much turbulence is expected. i also need to be reassuringly notified with more than just a "ping" of the seatbelt sign coming on. if turbulence does continue, then i require a time estimate and accompanying pledge that my trusty flighy crew are ascending to try and find some "smoother air". i do not need the captain to be the great and silent wizard behind the curtain, or bullet proof/terrorist repelling door.

i used to be able to distract myself with in-flight cabin service, however this has now dwindled to no pretzels, and drinks having to be solicited via the call button. in lieu of not having friends or family that i have not given permanent bruising to their forearms, i typically require a narcissistic and highly sociable seatmate with negligible oral hygiene, who is willing to tell me fascinating stories about their life, for up to 5 hours at a time.

7 comments:

mansuetude said...

so that's how you get good drugs! hmmm.

maybe you should check for the black toe-- post flight.

Anonymous said...

Im Disa " Fly me"

Anonymous said...

When I met Andy over 6 years ago, I knew he was the guy I'd been waiting for. Two problems. (1) He lived in D.C., I lived in L.A. (2) He was so terrified of flying, he had not been on a plane in 7 years. He would take the train across country every Thanksgiving to celebrate with his family.

Months into our relationship, I gave him this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Flying-Without-Fear-Duane-Brown/dp/1572240423
He promptly started flying again and hasn't looked back. It's a quick read... and it changed my life.

Jill said...

I've been up and down on flight fright. The times I was the most fearful of flying I think tend to correspond to stressful times in my life - I was really afraid of flying just after my old best friend died. I was really afraid again right after my daughter was born.

I'm with the sleepers though - for some reason, pretending I'm on a Greyhound Bus & pretending the turbulence is a giant pothole has often been calming for me.

How about drinking in the airport bar beforehand and having a drink on the flight? Have you given that a try? You specifically request pilots with no martini habit, but how about a couple for yourself? :-)

Jill said...

BTW, meant to say I like your new(?) colors!

Disa said...

most of my flights leave at the sparrow's fart, so pre-dawn drinking might be frowned upon- or at least me attempting to bust into the airport bar through those pull across metal thingies they have when they close up shop....

Jill said...

That does make it a little more difficult...and you can't bring liquids on the plane...

I got it! You can put some vodka in your purse & then at security you can be all "Oh! I can't carry this on?!?! Well, let me just finish it up right here so it isn't wasted!"

As for pre-dawn drinking...I think you should just count it as an extension of the night before and therefor a perfectly acceptable time to drink. After all isn't last call in New York state like 4:00 am or something? :-) :-) :-)