The A380 is ‘Indestructable’

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A380

A few months back a Quantas Airbus 380 had a huge engine failure that caused a lot of damage to the wing. But, the aircraft made a perfectly safe landing. As a precaution Quantas grounded all their a380's while the incident was investigated. The problem was promptly identified and fixed. Today I saw an article on Sky News following an interview with one of the pilots and I think it would benefit any nervous flyers to read it. A copy of the article follows; The airline grounded its fleet of the world's biggest passenger jets in the wake of the dramatic emergency landing in Singapore last November, raising safety fears about the planes. But in his first TV interview, Richard de Crespigny told Channel Nine's 60 Minutes programme … [Read more...]

Get a Free Copy of My New Fear of Flying Book

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I have some news.... I'm going to write a book on overcoming your fear of flying. Whereas I think this site shares some great information on how to overcome your fear (I hope you agree!), as it has grown the information has become hard to find. There are some great articles here that don't really get a lot of views for various reasons. It is probably also true that all the articles I have written here at Flying Fear are not in any particular order, thus making it hard for any fearful flyer to follow a set course and get the help they need efficiently. So, after careful consideration I decided that a book was the answer to all these little problems. I've never written a book before, but I know I can do a good job. I'll let you be the judge … [Read more...]

The Fear of Turbulence: Video of Turbulence on easyJet Flight to Milan (MXP)

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Hello fearful flyers, just a quick video for you today to show how little the aircraft actually moves during turbulent conditions. I managed to capture this video on a recent flight as a passenger. It shows a view of turbulence from a passenger window over the wing. You will see the wing moving around slightly, but the aircraft barely moves at all. However, this particular part of the flight was actually quite bumpy. Just as I have said before, it always feels like the aircraft is moving around more than it is, and this video proves it! Is this the worst turbulence I have ever experienced... No. But it still shows how little the aircraft moves around, despite it feeling otherwise. Anyway, here is the video. Just click play to view; … [Read more...]

Bombs Found on Cargo Planes in UK and Dubai

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This is going to be a very quick note in relation to the recent foiled terror plot. Bombs have been found on US bound planes. One was found on a cargo aircraft in Britain, and one in Dubai.  As a fearful flyer, it's very easy to see these reports and relate it to a passenger flight. If a bomb can get onboard a cargo flight, surely it can get onto a passenger flight? This is categorically not true. Cargo flights are not subject to the same security standards as a passenger flight. This has been an issue for a while, and it appears the terrorists have picked up on this, and probably led to the decision to specifically use cargo flights.  The bombs were addressed to two synagogues in the US, and these were the likely targets. Does this … [Read more...]

BA117 Emergency Landing at Heathrow

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You may or may not have seen the reports of a British Airways emergency landing all over the media yesterday (2nd October 2010). This is yet another example of complete incompetency on behalf of the media. The story goes that a handle on a cabin door was seen to be moving and this caused an emergency landing. Rubbish. What happened was a precautionary landing on British Airways Flight 117. I have mentioned many times how the whole aviation industry works with a 'just in case' attitude, and this is all this is. Due to the fact that it's important an aircraft door remains firmly shut during a flight, the BA pilots made the decision to return to Heathrow when it was seen that the handle was moving. Following this, that door will be … [Read more...]

Editorial: Michael O’Leary Suggests ‘Getting Rid’ of the Co-Pilot

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Michael O' Leary

Airline pilots have accused Ryanair's Michael O'Leary of endangering passengers' safety after he called for co-pilots to be replaced with air stewardesses ~ Sky News Online Ryanair (a UK low-cost airline) boss Michael O'Leary has always been arrogant, loud-mouthed, and obnoxious, but has he gone too far in suggesting getting rid of one of the pilots to save money? Despite everything Michael O'Leary has said in the past, there is no doubting that the guy is clever to a certain degree. He never seems to run out of absurd comments to make to get the airline in the news. His philosophy appears to be: negative publicity is still publicity. I seem to remember watching a documentary on the Ryanair Chief Executice a while ago, where he … [Read more...]

Video: 10 Steps to Overcoming Your Fear of Flying

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This is a quick fear of flying video I put together for YouTube. It's what I like to call a video article, I hope you enjoy and gain something from it; For those of you that are interested, the background music is from Ellie Williams, a Exeter based singer & songwriter. To buy her album from iTunes click here. Before you ask, yes, the rest of the album is just as brilliant as the music in the video! … [Read more...]

How Does Hot Weather Cause Turbulence?

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As the summer is pretty much upon us now, it is a good time to discuss a certain form of turbulence that will be common over the next few months. Often you will experience turbulence just after take-off and/or before landing despite it being a clear sunny day, with no clouds. So, why? What causes this 'bumpy air'? When the above happens, you are most likely experiencing what is usually called 'convective turbulence'. As shown in the simple diagram on the left, the sun heats the earth's surface  leading to the air at lower altitudes to rise (warm air rises as I'm sure you already knew). As the air rises above a certain level it cools down and begins to fall again. As a result, the air at lower altitudes is moving in different directions … [Read more...]

Why is it Suddenly Safe to Fly Through Volcanic Ash Cloud?

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The Icelandic volcano (Eyjafjallajoekull for those that care!) that has caused so much disruption in the UK and European aviation industry is still erupting. So the question on many fearful flyer's lips is; why is it now ok to fly through the ash cloud? Ok, a little background information to start. This country has never experienced an event such as this before, and safety regulations were not amazingly clear when the ash cloud entered UK airspace. Therefore the authorities (CAA, NATS, and the UK Government) decided a blanket ban on ALL flights in UK airspace was necessary. This response has been heavily criticised, but it shouldn't have been. … [Read more...]