Pax Domina - all I can say is that I sympathise. I use Pprune in much the same way as you do, and most of the time I find it reassuring. I have no idea what Skydrifter was trying to do with his post, unless it was to exorcise his own demons. Perhaps if he ventures down here sometime, he'll give us an explanation.
I have a constant struggle to stay logical about flying (think of how many people are flying, right now, and they're all just fine - they WILL get home safely, so why should it be any different when I get on an airplane?) Realistically, there are so few incidents and there are so many other, more likely, ways to die out there! Needless to say, none of this is much help when I wake up at 3am terrified because I know I have a flight booked in a few weeks.
I'm booked on a flight for a much-needed holiday in 2 weeks. It's an 8 hour flight, from London to the Caribbean. I soooo want to go, and at the same time, I'm absolutely terrified. Like your trip to the Netherlands, it's something I really want to do, but instead of looking forward to it, all I can think about is the flight. The trouble is, travel is important for me, both for business and pleasure. I'm scared of flying, but I'm even more scared of cancelling a trip, because, having done it once, I don't think I could stop myself from doing it again. And how limited would my life be if I gave into this fear? No more holidays anywhere out of Europe, until I'm rich enough to cruise everywhere?
(the ironic thing is, I'm a shipping lawyer, and I know FOR SURE that sailing is more dangerous than flying!)
Neither of us knows if one day we'll get on a plane that will crash. What we do know is that it's very unlikely. We know for sure that if we stop flying, we won't get to do some of things we want to do. On the other hand, if we do stop flying, there's nothing to guarantee that we won't be in a car crash tomorrow.
Thanks for your post - I feel better knowing there are other people out there that feel the way I do.
Good luck.