I am a nervous flyer and unfortunately have to fly quite regularly. Normally I'm travelling alone so don't have a companion to chat to and take my mind off things or grab onto when the going gets tough.
My last flight was on a Wideroe twin prop Dash aircraft, the crew are Norwegian so the first announcements are always made in Norwegian and then followed by a repeat in English. As my grasp of the Norwegian language is not great I rely on the English ones for complete information.
Half way over the North Sea to Norway there was an announcement from the flight deck which sounded different to the more familiar ones I've encountered so I listened up for the version in English. When it came I almost wished that I hadn't as it went along these lines..........."Ladies & gentlemen, we are experiencing a certain amount of icing on the aircraft which is perfectly normal but you may notice some unusual noises as pieces of ice may come off and hit the fuselage which will sound..........then there was a long pause as the member of crew was obviously struggling to find the right phrase in English to explain what it would sound like, before he continued.............something like machine gun fire hitting the fuselage"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a nervous flyer I didn't particularly wish to know what machine gun fire hitting the fuselage would sound like, nor did I have previous machine gun fire hitting a fuselage experience to compare it to - not being a war veteran. However, it did actually make me smile. It also made me think about the airmen who have flown in combat and the things that they had endured which kind of put me in my place a bit and helped me cope better with the flight.
Sometimes laughter really is the best medicine! Thanks to everyone who has shared the way they cope with being a nervous flyer, it all helps.
archieraf