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Anyone been to Italy?
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on November 06, 2011, 09:52:08 pm ---Does anybody know whether or not it's true that more accidents involving planes happen on the ground than in the air? ???
I guess that question doesn't really help here, does it? 8)
--- End quote ---
When you say "on the ground," do you include planes that were in the air until something went wrong, but weren't actually damaged until they made contact with the ground? In that case, I'd say that's definitely true. But if you mean planes that are moving around on the tarmac, then I'd say no.
Just off the top of my head, of course.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on November 06, 2011, 11:53:54 pm ---When you say "on the ground," do you include planes that were in the air until something went wrong, but weren't actually damaged until they made contact with the ground?
--- End quote ---
You mean like jumping out of a plane in flight without a parachute? It isn't the fall that kills you, it's the abrupt stop?
--- Quote ---But if you mean planes that are moving around on the tarmac, then I'd say no.
--- End quote ---
Yes, I meant planes on the tarmac.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on November 07, 2011, 09:59:50 am ---You mean like jumping out of a plane in flight without a parachute? It isn't the fall that kills you, it's the abrupt stop?
--- End quote ---
:laugh: Exactly.
(OT, but I once read an expert column about how, when Spider Man saves a falling Mary Jane in the first Spider man movie, she would have died even if she didn't hit the ground. It's the abrupt stop that's the problem.)
Back to air safety, I think the vast majority of plane deaths involve little private planes. A couple of years ago, a family my sons knew from school lost four members -- father and three sons -- flying a small plane with the father piloting.
But big plane crashes get a lot more publicity and, thus, attention. And as humans we tend to be much more afraid of things that capture our attention.
That same phenomenon explains why parents are more afraid of their child getting kidnapped while walking home from school than of their child getting hurt while riding in a car, even though statistically speaking the latter is far more likely.
Penthesilea:
Sorry for OT here, I'll keep it short:
What the hell happened to your avatar, Katherine?
Is it The Mummy Came upon a Bear or sumpn?
I can't make out what it is, even with glasses.
And my attempt at the topic:
Statistics about car crashs vs. plane crashs don't make much difference. Fear isn't always rational (or even mostly not retional). I don't care how few planes crash, I'm just afraid the one I'm sitting in could be the exception of the rule (when it gets shaky, for me it's the turbulances that get me, otherwise I'm doing okay).
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on November 07, 2011, 11:57:09 am ---Sorry for OT here, I'll keep it short:
What the hell happened to your avatar, Katherine?
Is it The Mummy Came upon a Bear or sumpn?
I can't make out what it is, even with glasses.
--- End quote ---
:laugh: It's a skullish face made entirely of crayons. I guess it is a little unnerving. I'll try to switch it when I get a chance.
--- Quote ---And my attempt at the topic:
Statistics about car crashs vs. plane crashs don't make much difference. Fear isn't always rational (or even mostly not retional). I don't care how few planes crash, I'm just afraid the one I'm sitting in could be the exception of the rule (when it gets shaky, for me it's the turbulances that get me, otherwise I'm doing okay).
--- End quote ---
Oh, I totally agree. People fear all kinds of things that are statistically unlikely; that particular fear just resonates with them, somehow. When I was a kid, I was terrified that someone was going to break into my parents' house and attack me. Never mind that that had never, ever happened (and hasn't since) in the middle-class suburb where I lived, that the odds against it were astronomical. Every night, I lay there watching the door of my room, waiting in terror for an intruder to appear.
Other people are afraid of snakes, heights, small places, etc.
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