Correction: It wasn’t wake turbulence but clear air turbulence. It was during breakfast service and completely unexpected so most of the passengers were not wearing seat belts. So different scenario.
This is a great read. I am not a writer myself but I love the imagery, “shrouded in darkness and snow like a wraith”…
If brains were dynamite he wouldn’t blow his ears off. That’s not how odds work. Being involved in one serious plane crash doesn’t now mean the odds are stacked in your favour against being involved in another one.
No, he wasn’t scared of flying, but he was terrified of minor wake turbulence. A passenger in a commercial jet died this week after the plane they were flying in encountered what is believed to be severe wake turbulence. It is likely the passenger wasn’t strapped in. The pilot maintained control, (being a large heavy commercial jet the plane didn’t invert, as Molin expected Flight 587 would) and managed to land the plane, with all other passengers bruised and battered but alive.
Fear is often irrational and something you can’t reason away with statistics about safety. If you experience trauma, those memories (even small details you mention like sounds and smells) are there with you for life. It is a human survival mechanism that kept us alive as hunter gatherers. I think a psychologist rather than a pilot (especially a pilot like Molin) would be better equipped to address the issue. Commercial aviation is safe (although don’t fly on any recent Boeing) because of people like Karlene.
Any decent pilot will tell you that fear is a part of learning to fly and flying at extremes (military pilots, stunt flying, acrobatics) and we’ve all had moments of fear or doubt. But you learn from it, you improve and grow. Some pilots enjoy the adrenaline rush of pushing themselves to the limit and coming close to death.
I am so sorry about that rapper or whatever he claims to be. It seems every woman I know has a story. Every woman. Horrible and heartbreaking.
Correction: It wasn’t wake turbulence but clear air turbulence. It was during breakfast service and completely unexpected so most of the passengers were not wearing seat belts. So different scenario.
This is a great read. I am not a writer myself but I love the imagery, “shrouded in darkness and snow like a wraith”…
If brains were dynamite he wouldn’t blow his ears off. That’s not how odds work. Being involved in one serious plane crash doesn’t now mean the odds are stacked in your favour against being involved in another one.
No, he wasn’t scared of flying, but he was terrified of minor wake turbulence. A passenger in a commercial jet died this week after the plane they were flying in encountered what is believed to be severe wake turbulence. It is likely the passenger wasn’t strapped in. The pilot maintained control, (being a large heavy commercial jet the plane didn’t invert, as Molin expected Flight 587 would) and managed to land the plane, with all other passengers bruised and battered but alive.
Fear is often irrational and something you can’t reason away with statistics about safety. If you experience trauma, those memories (even small details you mention like sounds and smells) are there with you for life. It is a human survival mechanism that kept us alive as hunter gatherers. I think a psychologist rather than a pilot (especially a pilot like Molin) would be better equipped to address the issue. Commercial aviation is safe (although don’t fly on any recent Boeing) because of people like Karlene.
Any decent pilot will tell you that fear is a part of learning to fly and flying at extremes (military pilots, stunt flying, acrobatics) and we’ve all had moments of fear or doubt. But you learn from it, you improve and grow. Some pilots enjoy the adrenaline rush of pushing themselves to the limit and coming close to death.
I am so sorry about that rapper or whatever he claims to be. It seems every woman I know has a story. Every woman. Horrible and heartbreaking.
Thank you so much for your comment, it means a lot.