A fear I just can't push aside

IMPO, I don't think flying is inherently dangerous. But when things go wrong, the usually go wrong in a big way. The only way around it, is to not fly at all. Constantly drilling to get emergency procedures in your head is the only recourse you have of preventing things. But the most important thing to remember is that accidents, whether fatal or not, are almost always a chain of events, not just one event. So if you nip weak links in the bud early on, the only thing you'll have to fear is your own stupidity. Stay away from stupid, and you won't have a problem.

Just as an aside, and hopefully something to rest your angst, there have been a few accidents lately that have been fairly close to me, as in either people I knew, or knew of. The only ones that were fatal were performing low level aerobatics either in competition or practicing for a competition. The others, everyone has walked away with only a scratch, and a bruised ego. Read through these threads and you'll find a few engine failures, some people running out of fuel, and smoke in the cockpit issues where EVERYONE walked away. I never understood what "always look for a landing site" meant until I started reading these threads. So every so often, depending on certain factors, I look for somewhere to put down if things go to hell.

Flying itself is not dangerous, especially if your always prepared for the poo hitting the fan. Eventually it probably will, and if you have a good instructor, you'll be prepared.
 
Also, the idea is to use this "fear" to your advantage. Always remember that this is aviation and things can go wrong. So always do the right or safe thing. Never cut corners. And always be prepared for an emergency and not be caught of guard. A little fear in everyone is a good thing.
 
mikecweb said:
Do a google news search for fatal car accident and sort by most recent...
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Exactly. As a few people have mentioned there is risk in everything you do. Don't let the fear paralyze you. Instead, use it to become a safer airman.

Thing is we all die in the end, whether you chose to enjoy life assuming the risks or not.
 
A really good friend of mine perished in the crash of a Beech 1900C in Sand Point. They augered in so hard, I doubt they even knew what happened. I flew that very airplane before, and remember the panel in great detail. I know what it would be like for that thing to be rolling inverted IMC. I can picture what it would be like to see the water coming up to kill me and I have a feeling about how alarming and frightening that would be. My buddy was a really good pilot and the fact that it happened to him cautions me even more.

That thought scares the hell out of me. Its been several months and I still think about it on a regular basis. But it doesn't keep me from flying. I do this because I love it, and when my number is up, I can only hope its when I'm 90 years old, at home in bed, and not fighting with the controls of a broken airplane over cold, cold water. You don't get to pick when you go, you should fight to stay alive, but when the fates have selected you, and you alone, its over. Don't let it bother you, it bothers every sane human being in this industry.
 
If your worried about the dangers of flying I sure as hell wouldn't step foot in a car to go to the airport! ;)

As long as you know your limitations, don't get cocky, think things through, it is pretty safe. I honestly have no fear when I fly during the day. There are fields everywhere down here so if you have an engine out I really can't think of anywhere I would be where I couldn't get to one to make a livable landing in.

Flying at night on the other hand is when I get a little iffy, because you really can't see where the trees/fields are. It's just black. Don't get me wrong though, flying at night is a blast, and the wind is usually really calm and it is a smooth ride for the most part.

I wouldn't let this little fear overcome your want to fly, once you fly some you will probably lose that feeling. Just don't lose it too much.... then that is when you get in danger.

J.T.
 
Muff3n said:
Flying at night on the other hand is when I get a little iffy, because you really can't see where the trees/fields are. It's just black.
J.T.
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Just like the time-honored saying goes for night flying, if you can't see, turn on your landing light. If you don't like what you see then, turn it off.
 
I'll throw my $.02 in. Much of this has already been mentioned, but I'll put it in my words.

The rate of airplane accidents is SHOCKINGLY consistent. Most accidents are not fatal. Even midair collisions are not but about 50-60% fatal. The perception comes with reading aviation webboards where we scour every possible source to find out the latest accidents and in the slow news cycles where they start grabbing airplane crashes because "if it bleeds it leads."

Second, in aviation, we've had a very stable 75-80% of accidents are pilot error. Basically, 8 times out of ten, if you have an accident, it's because you screwed up. What does that tell us? It means, if you want to avoid accidents, study, practice, and learn from others' mistakes.

Also, already been mentioned, but look at car accidents. There were probably two airplane accidents in the whole country yesterday (on average). There were probably that many car wrecks in my little town of 30,000. Let's not even talk about a city like Memphis, Atlanta, Los Angeles, etc. The only reason normal, safety conscious people are willing to get into cars is because we're very comfortable with them.

The reality is that flying a small airplane is approximately as safe as riding a motorcycle from an accident/mile standpoint. But all that is approximation. It's true that it's a little more dangerous than driving a car, but it's safer than a LOT of other things we do on a regular basis.

Sorry for the long post. ;)
 
titansox said:
So I'm about to start my private pilots license training in a few weeks. I am really excited to start and if I didn't have finals coming up I'd already be flying. For someone my age, I've flown(commercially) a lot. I love flying and I've never feared heights or anything like that.

That being said, there's one thing I can't quite ignore. In the last 6 months I've been posting on this site, I've noticed an alarming amount of general aviation planes going down. It seems like every couple of days there is a thread about a plane going down. Most of these crashes are fatal too. This is something I haven't been able to ignore.

I understand that I will be taking part in an activity that is more dangerous than most everyday activity. Even though I have this understanding, I just can't accept this fact. My survival instincts are telling me not to do this and right now I'm trying my best to ignore my natural instincts but its just a counterintuitive mind set.

So I guess I this is just one of those posts where I'm just throwing this feeling out there. I don't know what I expect you guys to respond with. But I need to get that off my chest and acknowledge this fear for my own good.
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I think that the reason why most people are afraid of flying is because of the fact that, when you're in an airplane, you are traveling fast and off of the earth's surface. Therefore, the type of accident that those people think about usually involves a high-speed, fiery crash that you have little to no chance of surviving.

Now, the thought of getting into an accident while driving? Oh, just a little fender-bender, no big deal. I can survive those any day. Driving is more deadly than flying, but you think about the fact that you're on the ground and not moving as fast as an airplane, so that when you get into a car accident, it seems like you'll have a high chance of surviving it. You probably do, too.

The more you fly, the more comfortable you'll feel. The anxiety that you experience during flight training will help to keep you focused and alert while you're flying the airplane (just try to not let it distract you if it's overwhelming). You have to learn to cope with the anxiety and fear and, in the end, if you realize that flying isn't for you, then it just isn't. If you feel comfortable about driving (for instance) and don't really think too much about it, then, maybe, you can feel the same way about flying.
 
A small amount of fear is certainly healthy up there. Keeps you from getting careless and doing something stupid.
 
What I'm taking from this thread is my perception of this situation is flawed. Although a plane may go down every few weeks (every few days was a bit of an exaggeration), proportionality to the number of GA planes in the air, this numbers isn't as bad as it would seem. Furthermore, when you consider the proportion of fatal GA plane crashes to fatal automobile crashes, automobile crashes happen much more often. Finally, rarely do planes go down on their own. So the best way to avoid pilot error is to know your stuff and to avoid short cuts.
 
titansox said:
What I'm taking from this thread is my perception of this situation is flawed. Although a plane may go down every few weeks (every few days was a bit of an exaggeration), proportionality to the number of GA planes in the air, this numbers isn't as bad as it would seem. Furthermore, when you consider the proportion of fatal GA plane crashes to fatal automobile crashes, automobile crashes happen much more often. Finally, rarely do planes go down on their own. So the best way to avoid pilot error is to know your stuff and to avoid short cuts.
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Sounds like you got it. I'll now put up the wet noodle :D
 
Look at all the auto wrecking yards and body shops you've seen, there's very few
scrap yards for planes.
So many aircraft are being kept in the air partly because of the Required maintenance and Safety in their design.
I agree that pilot error is the usual cause nowadays,
but think of the men and women who flew during wartime.
Take the training seriously, keep studying and you'll be fine!
 
Fear is a natural response to new or unusual behaviors. Anyone who says they don't have fear--avoid that person! How to manage that fear is the key. Acknowledging the fear is the first step in that journey.

BTW: I stopped in the middle of my PPL after having read one too many NTSB reports. I got back in the saddle after realizing I could still be the most safety conscious pilot I knew how to be. Take control by confessing and remediating the risk.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
Through the first 4 months of 2010, I count only 3 fatal accidents involving production GA aircraft. Millions of GA flight hours have been logged in that time.
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I think you need to double check that figure, there were quite a few more then that.

Either way it is no reason not to enjoy flying. When your time is up, it's up.
 
Titansox:

Why tip toe through life just to arrive safely at death?

This is really what we are talking about here is it not? Fear of death. One has a choice. You can either graze in the fields of make believe safety and security with the other sheep for the entirety of your life. Or you can realize that you have absolutely zero control over when and how you are going to return the energy you borrowed from the Universe to exist.

Fear is a useless emotion and has no business in a cockpit ...period. There are things as pilots we must give respect to, i.e. Severe weather, icing, the mechanical condition of our a/c etc. Respecting everything we must to conduct a safe flight will get us through even the most dire of survivable emergencies, being afraid of those things will very possibly lead to panic. And if you panic in a cockpit.....you die. But being afraid of something that isn't even likely to happen to you means you may in fact currently be enjoying a hearty serving of fresh pasture grass. I suggest you change your diet. If not...well then:

Bon A Petite!
 
I don't think it's unnatural for you to have some anxiety when flying in small airplanes for the first time. If it's really something you want to do, get up there and learn how to fly. You'll know within you first 10 hours if it's something you're going to feel comfortable with.
 
titansox, I'm not that far ahead of you...I've got about 118 or so hours in the logbook.

During my training, I had one scary moment when I was first learning to land. It was a bumpy day, and my CFI had to save it. I learned from it.

During my solo, I accidentally cut someone off in the pattern, got flustered, and it was a calm tower controller who got me sorted out and back in the flow of things. Scared me though because for a few seconds I had no idea what was going on.

After my training, I was practicing at a field with a shorter, narrower runway than I was used to. I had to execute no fewer than 5 go-arounds to get the right approach, because I kept coming in too high and fast. I should have gone around on the sixth, but I got flustered, tried to save it. I got it down, and still had about 50 feet of runway to go when I stopped the plane.

You're going to scare yourself - the trick, I think, is to figure out what to tell yourself to fix the problem. Lost? Check your fuel. Got fuel? Good - you have time to figure out where you are. Approach look bad? Go around. Still look bad? Go around. Keep your head about you.

Your CFI will teach you how to keep from screwing up, and how to extract yourself from recoverable errors. Good decisionmaking prevents you from getting into the un-recoverable situations.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
I counted 10 fatal accidents in the ntsb database, tough all but three were in experimentals.
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For the first 3 months of the year I count ....

6 in Cessnas with 14 fatalities
12 in Pipers with 21 fatalities
9 in Beechs with 16 fatalities
2 in Cirrus with 4 fatalities

Plus another dozen or so involving various different airplanes. This didn't factor in rotorcraft, gliders, or any other category aircraft, or experimental aircraft.


Never the less I'll say it again. No reason to go off flying, you are more likely (statically) to get killed on your way to the airport then you are in the plane.
 
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