Flying low cost (wow air) and I am afraid of flying
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Flying low cost (wow air) and I am afraid of flying
Hey,
next month I'm flying WOW AIR to Iceland next month. Stupidly (some may say...) I googled WOW AIR pilot conditions and read the thread here on pprune. Now I feel that we will sit there in turbulence and bad weather across the atlantic, with pilots without any idea and me crying my eyes out all the way there.
Anyone got any good words, to make me feel better? This post really has me going, with "no safety culture" in the airline and ... Just read.
What have I done, buying tickets with such an airline? Will I survive flying WOW air 27-31 August this year? Iceland may have autumn storms!! 
I am thinking about asking to greet the pilots before our flight, but what if it's two little 23 year old guys who looks as terrified as I do cause they just read the METAR in Keflavik? And why does my brain make these scenarios? All these questions... I just hope there is some real professional pilots - maybe even some from WOW air - who reads this thread and can come up with some nice, comforting words to a girl who's a little scared....! I am forever grateful!
next month I'm flying WOW AIR to Iceland next month. Stupidly (some may say...) I googled WOW AIR pilot conditions and read the thread here on pprune. Now I feel that we will sit there in turbulence and bad weather across the atlantic, with pilots without any idea and me crying my eyes out all the way there.
Anyone got any good words, to make me feel better? This post really has me going, with "no safety culture" in the airline and ... Just read.
"now only desperates are going there, or people that aren't aware of the problem. last year it wasn't clear the situation.
flying an airliner is a tremendous responsibility, people give their lives in our hands.
here the priority is ashtagging on Instagram and posting on Facebook. no organisation, no solid sops (no sops at all) no training no safety culture. it's a big flying club, off we go. and font's upset the flight attendants, they get more money than you do as a pilot and they don't want to be stressed by a briefing that only foreigners perform. briefing is not necessary, nobody know any emergency commands and nobody even think that this extreme weather is a safety enemy. hope everything will go well, i doubt, but i hope. please keep distance if you can, or be absolutely honest with yourself, you don't care about others, you just fly single pilot and you will be safe. but if you are going to become incapacitated nobody will rescue you, nor the other souls on board in the middle of the Atlantic, at night, with bad weather."
flying an airliner is a tremendous responsibility, people give their lives in our hands.
here the priority is ashtagging on Instagram and posting on Facebook. no organisation, no solid sops (no sops at all) no training no safety culture. it's a big flying club, off we go. and font's upset the flight attendants, they get more money than you do as a pilot and they don't want to be stressed by a briefing that only foreigners perform. briefing is not necessary, nobody know any emergency commands and nobody even think that this extreme weather is a safety enemy. hope everything will go well, i doubt, but i hope. please keep distance if you can, or be absolutely honest with yourself, you don't care about others, you just fly single pilot and you will be safe. but if you are going to become incapacitated nobody will rescue you, nor the other souls on board in the middle of the Atlantic, at night, with bad weather."
I am thinking about asking to greet the pilots before our flight, but what if it's two little 23 year old guys who looks as terrified as I do cause they just read the METAR in Keflavik? And why does my brain make these scenarios? All these questions... I just hope there is some real professional pilots - maybe even some from WOW air - who reads this thread and can come up with some nice, comforting words to a girl who's a little scared....! I am forever grateful!
IMHO it is worth telling the cabin crew that you are a nervous flyer so that they can take extra time and care to make your flight less stressful ... because you will be stressed on the day because it's a new experience and Iceland is such a wonderful destination!!!
All flight deck crew have to meet high standards in all areas of their professional workload. This is checked regularly - often every 6 months - and if they don't meet the standard required, they have to retrain or have supervision. This 'devil may care' attitude described above is stereotypical of a (poor) film plot. WOW, like every airline, may have its quirks and possible weak points, but employ qualified and competent pilots, and the company regularly checks to be sure that their flight decks are staffed by dedicated professionals, aware of their responsibilities to their passengers, crew and aircraft hull.
Try to put this cynical, jaded posting behind you - you are quoting it out of context of its originating thread - and start to look forward to a wonderful trip to an exciting and rewarding country. Wish I was able to join you!
All flight deck crew have to meet high standards in all areas of their professional workload. This is checked regularly - often every 6 months - and if they don't meet the standard required, they have to retrain or have supervision. This 'devil may care' attitude described above is stereotypical of a (poor) film plot. WOW, like every airline, may have its quirks and possible weak points, but employ qualified and competent pilots, and the company regularly checks to be sure that their flight decks are staffed by dedicated professionals, aware of their responsibilities to their passengers, crew and aircraft hull.
Try to put this cynical, jaded posting behind you - you are quoting it out of context of its originating thread - and start to look forward to a wonderful trip to an exciting and rewarding country. Wish I was able to join you!
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I'm sorry that my lingo is a little advanced, but I have spent a lot of time working on my fear of flying. Before I wouldn't fly at all - after several very friendly individuals took me flying in Cessnas, I have had several flights on jumpseat around Europe - I had visits to ATC towers and what not; I am now able to fly. I know what jet streams are, what NAT-tracks are, I can read a METAR, even snowtams, and I know what a spoiler mixer is. Whenever we take of I imagine the whole process in my head; thrust setting, V1, rotate, positive rate, gear up, I sense when the pilots do some manual flying, before going over to auto pilot. All coping mechanisms to subdue the anxiety. The negative part about learning so much about the aviation world, is that I also learned and understand the negative bits... I put an enormous emphasis on the professionalism of pilots, and prefer airlines which serve a good internal safety culture, just culture (that is, airlines where pilots don't have to be afraid to tell if something is wrong, simply put), and an airline where pilots can focus on flying - not focus on how to make ends meet next month and that they have to fly even when sick cause if not then they have no job etc etc. Maybe I listen too much to pilots? I even have a preference to Boeings cause I everytime sat on Boeing jumpseats and heard pilots calling the airbus scarebus with lower preformance in bad weather 
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Ya, doesn't really help me mr.Dorf 
I wouldn't normally buy tickets with such a company, but they were the only ones flying directly, with normal scheduled times. Icelandair was everytime landing in the night time. WOW air was the only direct flight alternative landing early in the morning. I could get the same arrival times with other airlines, but then fly via Copenhagen and Oslo. 2 transfers vs a direct flight... I hate it when the low cost airlines make themselves the most reasonable choice, except for the way they run the business...
I wouldn't normally buy tickets with such a company, but they were the only ones flying directly, with normal scheduled times. Icelandair was everytime landing in the night time. WOW air was the only direct flight alternative landing early in the morning. I could get the same arrival times with other airlines, but then fly via Copenhagen and Oslo. 2 transfers vs a direct flight... I hate it when the low cost airlines make themselves the most reasonable choice, except for the way they run the business...
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If you want I can send you pictures and/or videos from several of my flights, afaik it's no extraordinary thing to sit on the jumpseat in Europe - it happens quite often. Though company laws are getting tighter and tighter as years pass by.
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I wish you a safe and uneventful flight
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+1; I am sure that no professional pilot would risk his/her life by taking a risk of flying an unairworthy aircraft and/or failing to comply with basic SOPs that should guarantee the safety of the flight. Definitely worth informing cabin crew that you are nervous/anxious. Do try to relax; the most dangerous part of your journey is the road/rail trip to the airport, and your onward journey.
I wish you a safe and uneventful flight
I wish you a safe and uneventful flight
Why must I be a troll? I may not know much about pprune, I have only read the threads about airlines I fly with, but it seems like anyone who's from the outside is a troll? Or what's the deal? Why am I trolling, would you say? I am a member of many woman related forums (horses, gardening and knitting) and trolls are there to make a bad mood. I have only asked for some reassurance before my flight, I don't want to, nor have I tried, to make a bad mood in here. On the contrary, I want to have a good mood when I walk onboard that purple airplane. Again, for anyone who thinks I'm a troll, you're welcome to PM me and ask me what they are doubting about. I'm just a normal human being who's afraid of flying, but who's also made a conscious step to educate myself and try to get rid of this energy-sucking anxiety I have everytime I travel!!!
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pangro, I think that your fear of flying is so deep rooted that frankly I don't think anything we say will actually make any difference. WOW have been going for some time now and their record is good. Outside one or two far away countries, do not think that low cost equates to a poor safety culture.
Pangro - assuming you are genuine, a good rule of thumb is that if the airline is allowed to fly into the UK (WOW is allowed) you have absolutely nothing to worry about regarding its safety.
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pangro, I think that your fear of flying is so deep rooted that frankly I don't think anything we say will actually make any difference. WOW have been going for some time now and their record is good. Outside one or two far away countries, do not think that low cost equates to a poor safety culture.
Then I read this stuff in here on pprune, and it plants a seed of doubt.
Of course, the chances of something happening are next to none. That's the rational part of it. Then comes the irrational part saying "yeah... but..... it CAN happen. Just read what he said. Right!! See... Not everything is perfect. Maybe your pilots are stressed and sick and tired and the weather in Reykjavik is total
"..... And one ends up sitting like this: , wondering why one even ordered the tickets. Sigh. [And no, noone with fear of flying should drink or take medicines to fight it. It only makes the feeling of lack of control worse.]
Assuming you are genuine is the perfect response. This, after all, is someone who has, supposedly, flown on jump seats in Europe on numerous occasions.
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This, after all, is someone who has, supposedly, flown on jump seats in Europe on numerous occasions.
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Thank you for confirming it. It is far from anything extraordinary or special in Europe. It is up to the captain to decide, there is no rules or legislations against it (except for when you are flying into UK-airspace). Or, afaik, there is a general rule that you should have a clean cockpit under 10,000 feet - but it's mostly not super strict as long as you know the pilots and you give them the silence they need on ground control and until they are stabilized on the flight path after takeoff. My first jumpseat was with Norwegian (DY/NAX, not D8/NAI) in 2009, I told the cabin crew I had a fear of flying. He told me to talk with the pilots, and then the captain invited me to sit on jumpseat for the entire flight as long as I promised not to go "crazy with my arms and legs" (while laughing). This meant everything to me, without this I don't know where I'd be today! Not flying, that's for sure...
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...cause I everytime sat on Boeing jumpseats and heard pilots calling the airbus scarebus with lower preformance...
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