Airplane problems

by **Chrissey Babe** on Tue May 27, 2008 09:17 am

Hi

I getting really worried I go on holiday in five weeks and the weekend I have heard 5 horror stories about emergency landings in the past three weeks......

Whats going on? are our planes not safe these days? I am really worried - does anyone have any ideas - perhaps a sleeping pill at the airport and take enough until I wake up the other side..... deary me I was worried enough before but now hearing these stories I am even more worried.....

Can someone give me a little cheer about our planes/airports please.....

Another thing why dont we hear about these problems on the news? One friend had to do an emergency landing on the way to her holidays and lost 2 days awaiting the plane to be fixed and then on the way back had an emergency landing and the oxygen masks were dropped on the plane and the fire engines were called out and everything else... thankfully everyone was ok but her nerves are now in bits!

Any positive news?

Cheers

by **HW John** on Tue May 27, 2008 10:44 am

Well chrissy as a fully trained first officer i can tell you that if an aircraft isnt safe to fly that is registered in the UK, it wont fly. The slightest thing HAS to be reported and fixed depending on urgency.
Its as simple as that.

The media always hype it up for a story to sell papers. We had a faulty headphone on a headset and they said we nearly plummetted to death? All we did was dig out a replacement headset and off we went with no issues and no delays

Pilots get tested every 6 months in a simulator which takes sometimes around a week and through all eventualities. If we fail on the SLIGHTEST thing, its P45 time and unlikely another carrier will accept you. Infact it is a known fact that pilots get competancy tested more times in one year than a surgeon does in his life.

Foreign carriers can be a problem at times. If you notice theres only been one incident in god knows how many years thats brought a british registered aircraft down and in bits. Both had NO loss of life on impact. That could have ended up far worse than it did without the skill of the BA 777 captain at heathrow the other month. The likes of Adam air of indonesia are not fit to fly, but their countries have different regulations compared to the UK. Onur air suffer a lot as well due to poor maintenance standards and flight crew not carrying the proper documentation.

I can name at least 300+ crashes over the past 5-10 years that have only had 2 british registered aircraft written off. Those were

1999 - Britannia airways G-BYAG Cardiff-Gerona with the weather to blame (1 elderly person had a heart attack 2 days later and died, but was proved to be related to the crash)

2008 British airways B777 Beijing-Heathrow Possible fuel starvation.

People complain about technical delays, well if they want to get on a plane thats unfit to fly so be it...except we wont be there and risk our lives. Sometimes if we get stuck downroute and the problem needs a company engineer we have to wait for one to fly down..but its to be safe!

Everyone calls it an 'emergency landing' ..except 99% of the time it isnt. Its a precautionary landing to have the problem checked out instead of going further and risking a lot of lives. Yes scary as it may seem, at the pointy end everything is under control.

Any plane that suffers difficulties and has to make a precautionary/emergency landing ALWAYS has the fire trucks out just in case. Id rather they be there and not have to wait for them to come if something happened.

Moral of the matter?

Trust the pilots!

Use british registered planes (Thomas cook, Monarch, First Choice, Thomsonfly etc) if you want a peace of mind that the aircraft is safe to fly when your on it. Avoid the majority of low cost foreign airlines, as these can and do leave a lot to be desired.

Hope this helps a little.

by **Chrissey Babe** on Tue May 27, 2008 11:32 am

John

Thank you so much for that.... I feel much better... would you like to fly my plane on 2nd June to Cyprus please I feel much better already....

Thanks ever such a lot I do worry about things and as you have possibly gathered I am a very nervous passenger.... but your reassurance and figures has made me feel better.

I am flying with Thomson so yeah..... great thank you so much for taking the time to put my mind at ease.......

You definitely are a Gent.........

xxxxxxxx

by **HW John** on Tue May 27, 2008 13:01 pm

Haha well chrissy im on my last month with thomas cook. If you get real worried, ask to be sat near cabin crew..explain at check in you are a nervous flyer and they will do all they can.

by **Chrissey Babe** on Tue May 27, 2008 14:31 pm

I dont like to make a fuss so I just take some calming down tablets before i get on the plane... it usually works!

I just been hearing some real horror stories lately and wanted some reassurance and you certainly made me feel easier about travelling thank you very much......

by **tsuser** on Tue May 27, 2008 16:20 pm

Chrissey,

If you're really scared, ask to sit on the black box. After all they always seem to survive the crashes :-)

by **Mal 54** on Tue May 27, 2008 17:09 pm

We fly with Cyprus Airways to Cyprus, John, would you fly with them? You've got me worried now!!

Mal

by **Chrissey Babe** on Wed May 28, 2008 13:33 pm

tsuser

Cheers for that - thats just what I didnt need to hear.....! thats what my husband always says to me... in fact thats probably why I am such a nervous wreck.......... cheers!!!!!!!

So what you scared of then..... spiders??????

LOL

by **Mal 54** on Wed May 28, 2008 13:57 pm

Don't worry Chrissy, you'll be fine. Just think of that 'Hot Sun', sitting by the pool or on a hot sandy beach

Mal

by **Chrissey Babe** on Wed May 28, 2008 14:09 pm

Yeah dont worry I will...... have not had a reply from the spiderman... lol.... so perhaps he is scared of me eh.... ha ha ha

serves him right for trying to make me more scared....... NO seriously John has put my mind at rest... he wrote so much too ..