Ignorance is Bliss

The sound the engines were making changed. Was it my imagination, or were they were slowing down? I glanced out my window to see only clouds. Were we descending?

I'm not a nervous flyer by any means. I actually love take-off, that wonderful adrenaline-inducing moment when the engines fire and the plane leaps forward, gaining speed before delicately lifting from the ground and soaring into the blue sky. It's the stuff of wonderment to me. The sheer physics of it are astounding.

Unfortunately, it was those physics of flight that were on my mind when flying back from Townsville on Sunday. Suddently, I was gripped by the fear that for some reason, the engines would fail and we would fall out of the air like a 300 tonne brick.

There's a strange misconception amoungst the populace, some sort of false story sold to us by tv and movies, that planes can glide. It's true, most big planes can suffer the loss of one or more engines, but when all of them fail, there's no steady descent in which the pilot has the luxury of picking out a handy field to make a crash landing in. Nope. Commercial planes are not in any way, shape or form aerodynamic. They do not glide. The only thing that propels them through the air is the fuckton of thrust being generated by those huge jet engines. No thrust, no forward momentum. No forward movement, no lift. No lift, DOWN WE GO.

I always scoff silently at the air hosties' safety demonstration. Because honestly, the chances of anyone surviving a crash landing over the ocean are practically none. You won't need the lifejacket, the whistle or the little light because the plane will disintegrate upon hitting the water. At the speed it'll be coming down, the physical forces involved will make the water like concrete.

What? I'm sorry, but this is the kind of stuff I think about. I was growing panicked, and suddenly my heart was hammering so hard I could feel the thud of the carotid artery in my neck. After a few minutes contemplating a sudden and horrible plunge to my death, my brain finally decided to throw me a figurative lifeline and pointed out I should look at the hosties. If they weren't worried, why should I be?

They were acting perfectly normal. I therefore concluded we weren't going to crash and calmed down. Statistically, I was more likely to die in a car crash driving to work than in a plane crash. Chill, Sarah, geez. Maybe ignorance is bliss.

Do you love or hate flying? Got any good stories?

Leaving on a jet plane

[image source]

This blog has been a little silent of late. The reason being is I haven’t felt the need to post anything. I usually do participate in a few link-ups on the weekend however I was visiting my parents the last few days and in between helping mum with her computer, a big family birthday party and generally lolling about I didn’t really think about blogging!

Today I’m going on a work trip. My company is sending me to Sydney for 2 days to complete a training course, along with a few other newbies. I’m flying out tonight and coming home Thursday. This means two nights and two days away, coming straight after 3 days away at the farm. I’ll be missing my darling a lot by the time I come back, I bet.

But at the same time I’m kind of excited. I love flying. I love that surge of speed when the engines spool up and engage, and the plane shoots forward on the runway. I sit there grinning, thinking about the unbelievable amount of air that is being forced through the jet engines and generating enough speed and lift to get the great hulking behemoth off the ground. I’m not so excited about landings, I must admit (I dislike the way the descent makes my stomach drop) but it’s worth it for that feeling you get on take-off.

The engineering of an aeroplane is a fascinating thing, should you be interested in the way things work like I am. Fortunately I am engaged to a guy that is an aircraft maintenence engineer, so he explains things to me. Did you know that a plane has about as much aerodynamic-ness as a brick? It's not the shape that makes it able to fly - it's the mysterious forces of physics.

I’m also kind of looking forward to the novelty of my first “business trip” and the all-expenses paid accommodation and food. We’re staying at an airport hotel, so won’t get to see anything of the city, but I don’t mind because I’ve seen most of Sydney multiple times!

Do you ever travel for work? Does it lose its novelty quickly?