I watched a film called Charlie Victor Romeo (aka CVR in pilot-speak aka Cockpit Voice Recorder) where they re-enacted a bunch of crashes. Not the crash itself, but they had actors sitting in a flight simulator saying all of the dialog that was recorded on the CVR. At the moment of impact the screen just goes black and they give you the stats on how many people lived and died.
Anyway, one of the crashes was exactly this. They lost the hydraulics so the plane was flying just fine but they had very little control. They ended up flying to their destination several hours away (probably at least in part to burn up all the fuel) and then controlling the plane as best they could (which wasn’t much) they crash-landed. A trainer for the company randomly happened to be a passenger on the flight so he came up to the cockpit to help out as in some cases they needed as much muscle as they could to move things normally moved by hydraulics. I looked up footage of the crash on YouTube and it was a massive fiery mess, but I think something like 60% of the passengers survived. Not great odds but if you saw the crash you wouldn’t think anyone could survive.
My father was on a plane whose landing gear got stuck and wouldn’t descend. They flew around in circles to burn off all the fuel, and drilled the passengers on how to brace for a crash landing. All the news agencies sent crews to the airport: how often do you know in advance there will be a crash to report on? My mother and sister listened to the radio reporting in real time and were pretty freaked out. My father said he mostly tried to comfort the woman he was flying with, telling her they were in the back of the plane and had a good chance of surviving. This was before cellphones, so no one attempted to communicate directly.
A little before they were scheduled to attempt to crash, they heard a loud “thunk”, and the pilot came on the pa to say, “folks, our landing gear is now in place, we will land shortly”. And then they had a perfectly normal landing.
Wow! That’s very fortunate! I’m glad they were all ok in the end.
I was describing United Airlines 232 in my post, and I was wrong… they didn’t go all the way to their destination… they made an emergency landing in Sioux Falls. But there was warning that they were coming in and they had fire & emergency crews on the scene as well as the National Guard to assist with triage, and someone (I assume news) captured this footage of the crash (do not watch if you are flying anywhere today):
Yeah. He was on another flight (maybe I described it above) where the pilot put him in the copilot seat, and at one point, when they were in a bank of clouds, asked him to look around for the nearby plane that flight control said they should avoid. I have personally made an emergency exit of a 747 that had an engine on fire, and have also been on a flight that bounced around and creaked as it flew through a storm that shut down O’Hare for a day.
You’d think I’d be afraid to fly, but I’m not. The only part I have issues with is going through security, which always makes me anxious. Actually, airports make me anxious, too. I don’t do well with “hurry up and wait”, and I’m always afraid I’ll miss my flight. Especially if I get there too early – that maximizes the odds I might get distracted by a book or something, or that the gate will change without my noticing it. But once I’m on the plane, I’m fine. Maybe a little uncomfortable physically, but emotionally, I enjoy takeoff and landing and any good scenery out the windows, and I’m perfectly comfortable with the rest of it.
One last one-hour flight home. The first flight home had a rough landing, and I couldn’t see out the window
It’s a work trip, so I have priority status. Didn’t check my roller bag on the trip out because I had a tight layover and didn’t want to be luggage-less, but I decided to check it on the way home so I wouldn’t have to lug it through my connecting airport. Baggage claim is quick at my podunk airport, and the little plane on the second flight is too small for roller bags anyway, so I would have had to gate check it. Would require a wait either way.
Side note: I really hate Orlando. The flight out was full of screaming kids. And I mean SCREAMING. I know Orlando is a great place to take kids, but I wish the SOA didn’t have any conferences there.
First post-coyote flight is tomorrow to Denver, CO. I also need to fly to Boston, MA in two weeks. After that, I already know I’ve got a Halifax, NS trip in June, and a Canada trip at the end of July or early August. (My life is so mundane!)
I asked my Dr for Ativan this morning and he made me feel bad about (1) not getting a pap smear since 2019, (2) not seeing him for years, (3) not having all my blood shit checked for years, (4) requesting refills without seeing him for years, (5) having more resources than most people but not using them, (6) not talking to somebody already about anxiety around flying…
For one, I don’t understand why doctors get so mad when you ask for refills on medications that you are on for life - I’m on it FOR LIFE, what am I supposed to do, not get it refilled? Schedule regular uneccessary appointments just so that nobody yells at me for asking for refills?
For two, what’s talking to some junior social worker at the health care center about anxiety going to do about my anxiety? For real though?
I booked two appointments for later this month and I’m going to drive to Mebane (an hour away) to get those done but I feel like I should switch my primary care to the SAS health care center. All this because I don’t want to have to get smashed everytime I get on a plane.
It’s a professional standards thing, and why not get annual checkups? Hope your flight to the Mile High City goes well - I hear the Mile High Club is a real happening place.
On the one hand I, too, think that gatekeeping drugs that you need indefinitely is a bad thing. On the other hand, I think you ought to see a doctor for routine check ups. (blood tests and pap smears and a physical).
Yeah, I really need to change my primary to be local (or specifically to the SAS campus health center, which is still kind of out of my way unfortunately) so that I can do these things more routinely. Honestly I’m only saving like a half hour round trip.
But let’s be honest the real reason I haven’t switched to the completely free, comprehesive medical Disneyland is because the only way to sign up is to call a number. I can do presentations in front of 100’s of people, I can do product demos on the regular, I can even get on planes when I need to - but calling someone on the phone? Never gonna happen.
When we had to put the cat down, the vet gave my daughter a pamphlet with “aftercare resources” with info on cremation and stuff. And they helpfully showed my daughter that she didn’t need to go to the website, she could call this number if she preferred. And I’m sure there are people who prefer that. But my daughter is 30, and I find it implausible that anyone that young would prefer a phone call to a random stranger over a web site for something that emotionally difficult.
My PCP told me that some insurance plans now have incentives/penalties for the provider based on whether they keep their plan members up to date on their suggested reviews/tests. So if they don’t see you annually for a checkup, they might get a lower reimbursement on some future visit.
My wife, with her disabilities and health issues has been fired from a couple of doctors in part because her issues complicated the metrics they’re measured against.
Your call is very important to us.