I did this once. A stranger asked me to hold her hand as we landed. It was the height of COVID and I was kind of wary, but I used some hand sanitizer before and after, and grabbed her hand as we hit the usual turbulence and bumps on approach. I figured if she was scared enough to ask a stranger to hold her hand, it would be meaningful to her to do it. We didn’t really talk before or after. Once we landed and started taxiing, she let go, thanked me, and I said you’re welcome.
I figured if she was scared enough to ask a stranger to hold her hand, it would be meaningful to her to do it.
This is such an important realization, I think. It was a little bit awkward for you, but imagine her internal process.
I’ve experienced some scary shit, for me – nearly lost a limb (thanks be to medicine), cancer scare, etc. Life shit.
The simple human kindness of reassuring touch is so trivial at the time until you’re really in the depths of the fear in the spinning, wild, no-no-no-no part. Then the triviality of reassuring human touch - platonic, but there to say you’re not alone - is a fucking lifeline. Just for a moment.
“Don’t worry about a thing, honey. I’m gonna help you through this.”
“Those are all normal noises.”
“Luggage compartment closing. Cross-checking.”
“Just sit back and relax.”
“That’s just the engine powering up.”
“That’s just the engine struggling.”
“That’s just the carp swimming around your ankles.”
“That’s just a routine patrol, we’re not actually in Russian airspace.”
“They’re bluffing.”
That noise was just a door panel busting open. This is a Boeing so it’s perfectly normal.
“That’s just the gremlin ripping apart the wing.”
Young flight attendant arm wrestles passenger for a coffee
If the flight attendants aren’t worried, I’m not worried. Eh, fuck it, I’m just not worried no matter what, it doesn’t help.
I’m not going to worry even if I’m being sucked out of the fuselage after the door plug blows out. Worrying won’t help in any of these situations.
I’d probably scream a little tho
That just sounds like a free ticket to go skydiving to me.
Only redeemable once, though.
Truly a once in a lifetime offer.
Interestingly, that’s not always true. Supposedly there are things you can do to improve your chances of surviving a fall without a parachute, like spreading your shirt to increase drag, orienting yourself to land feet-first, knees bent, or aiming for bushes. Luck is a large part of it though.
Falling out of a plane is literally safer than falling off of a skyscraper. Because at least with skydiving, you have a chance to direct your landing and pick something that isn’t solid concrete.
I wonder if you could make a makeshift parachute by taking off your shirt. What’s unclear to me though is just how rapidly you’d decelerate, and if the force associated with that would be manageable…or rip your arms off.
It would do nothing of consequence.
Best you could try to do would be to flatten yourself out.
What if you’re wearing a jacket and put your hands in the pockets and spread it out?
This is why Mythbusters needs to still be on the air
That looks like a Delta plane. Delta doesn’t fly any 737Max-9 planes. In the USA you’d need Alaska or United for that.
I’d probably scream a little tho
Yeah might as well. It’s funner when you put your hands up!
Propably got fired after this for not being strapped in during take off and landing
I know this is a very tame example for what he meant but I’m reminded of Mr Rogers saying look for the helpers
I think he would have said this is a perfectly valid example of what he meant
That’s my mom, she’s a nervous wreck whenever she’s on a plane and there’s the slightest bit of turbulence. They should have hypodermics full of powerful crazy knockout drugs for people like her - maybe a free mini bag of horse tranquilizers.
