panthera
Retired WS Staff
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2006
- Messages
- 26,408
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Hi ! I can understand the last part about pilots being afraid of height. You wouldn't be able to pay me enough to stand on the observation deck of, for example, the Statue of Liberty, or even a cruise ship ~ but I love to fly (in commercial aircraft)!! I think it's because of the enclosure of the airplane that gives the feeling of not being out there where one could get pushed over a railing or fall off.You're not crazy. If you are frightened by it don't fly, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm flying to New York on Thursday and will be flying back from the same airport that was used by the plane that ended up in the Hudson and I have no worries whatsoever, but I fly a lot and I am a private pilot as well. (I've got 4 legs, 3 are on an Airbus 320 and the other is on a 757).
An interesting note is that an unusually high percentage of airline pilots are afraid of heights - they can fly the planes 7 miles up but are unable to go out on the hotel balcony when they get there. I don't have a source but I've read this many times over the years...
The sad part about this particular crash is that the wreckage is strewn miles over the Atlantic Ocean, down in the depths and swept away with the waves.