I'll admit it, one of the reasons I read these forums is as a sort of ongoing therapy to combat a fear of flying. I've always been a "knowledge is power" type.
I was following the thread on the problems with the Payne Stewart Lear Jet at
http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/For...ML/010172.html
After all, around here it actually is a *local* story. Halfway down the second page, SKYDRIFTER posted a graphic and gruesome description of death in an airliner by sudden decompression. Perhaps I am being overly sensitive - but I can't see how it added much of anything to the discussion, and in its own way was to me just as offensive as a link to an autopsy web site.
What was the point? To "educate" us that such a death is horrific? That being killed by a piece of flying metal would have been a kinder death? That if any of us are ever unfortunate enough to end up in a situation similar to the one described, we will *inevitably* all die a horrible death?
I considered writing the great gods about this, but figured that with all the brouhaha about the C4 documentary they've got better things to do than listen to the whinging of someone who is, after all, just a stupid passenger. In the past several months I can recall one person from the pointy end venturing down to the bargain basement (and posting amusing replies to queries such as "Why does the fasten seat belt sign always go on just when passengers are finishing their meals?").
On the 19th I've got to fly to ATL, spend 2-1/2 hours on the ground, and fly back to MCO. I have a boss who once announced to all the staff (other staff were on the same flight) that he was leaving early, in order to get to the airport early, to get the first choice of seats on Southwest, so he could sit in an exit row, because "I want to get the hell out while the rest of you are still sitting there burning up." Any wonder why it's *me* who's flying to ATL?
I found the decompression post so distressing that now I'm considering calling off a Spring trip to the Netherlands to visit some of the family who stayed on the right side of the pond.
I suppose I could just get the video of the North American family reunion converted to PAL, and mail it over there. Not quite the same as a visit, is it?
On a more positive note, I loaned my "All You Ever Wanted to Know About Flying, The Passenger's Guide to How Airliners Fly" to a co-worker who is a nervous flyer - she is off with her husband to DFW tomorrow, on a delayed honeymoon. The book certainly helped to turn some of my apprehension in to a fascination with how and why the airliner flies.
[This message has been edited by pax domina (edited 05 October 2000).]