I wanna confess something. This may surprise you.
I am afraid of flying. Yep, you read it right. I get nervous when I fly. I have traveled a lot and never seem to run out of trips but I get jitters when I am sitting on the plane and the pilot says “Please fasten your seatbelts as we are experiencing turbulence”. And when I hear the plane engine goes silent, I wonder if it was shut off or it was a standard procedure.
Last weekend, we watched a two-episode documentary, 10 Plane Crashes that Changed Flying. Erick warned me not to watch it because he knew that I’d get more nervous everytime I have to ride a plane. What the heck, I watched anyway and it got me thinking about my experiences when I was a thousand meters above the ground.
As far as I can remember, I used to enjoy riding the plane. I find pleasure in going to the airport, checking in, waiting in long queues, and staying in the lounge for my flight’s departure. So what happened? I don’t exactly know. Maybe I was afraid to fly ever since but just shrugged it off because most of my flights were smooth.
I can recall my ZestAir flight from Manila to Kalibo. The Manila weather was fair and there were rainshowers in some areas. I prepped myself that I will be riding a small plane – a 32-seater turboprop. But throughout the flight, we experienced frequent turbulences causing the plane to shake. Our plane was being pulled up and down. I got so nervous that I’m near to screaming. I distracted myself by plucking my eyebrows. Silly of me. So when we finally landed in Kalibo safe and sound, I can just say Hello Bora and bye-bye brows. I’ve overplucked my eyebrows.
Our flight to Batanes came as a surprise and I really didn’t expect that the whole plane ride would be smooth. The fact that it was delayed due to weather conditions was a giveaway for me to know that it’s not gonna be a happy flight. Thanks Seair for making it a memorable flight! One of the best flights ever considering we rode a relatively small plane with 30 or less seats.
Our flight from Cagayan de Oro to Manila was another story. Imagine passing though really dark clouds and a lightning that can struck your plane! Ayayay. But I was a good pretender back then, I just laughed it off as if I was riding a roller coaster.
And my worst flight to date was my Bangkok trip last October 2010. It was my birthday trip with Erick and girl friends Tata and Abby. I hate evening flights because I get bored easily but we had no choice since it was the only flight available from Cebu Pacific. As we entered the plane, we overheard the pilot asking the cabin crew if someone he texted replied to his message about the weather in Manila. We knew that when we left Manila four days ago, there was a typhoon coming.
It was a 3-hr flight adding the 1-hr time difference between BKK and MNL. As we we’re nearing Manila, the flight became really turbulent. Our plane was being pounded causing the plane to jerk. It didn’t help that Erick was sleeping soundly and I didn’t want to wake him up. I just closed my eyes and prayed (hehe). I told myself that this too shall pass. I don’t know if I was over-reacting or what because one passenger was snoring loudly during the entire time I was afraid for my life..lol. I envied the guy, he had no idea what was going on. My fear only subsided when the pilot announced that we are descending and will be landing shortly. After a few minutes, the pilot announced as the plane simultaneously ascended that we cannot land just yet. He sounded a bit in a panic. WHAAAAAT? More torture for meee… So we circled up in the sky which seemed endless. This time, I couldn’t hide my fear and I nearly broke to tears. In the end, we were able to land in NAIA 3 safe although it was rough one.
A week after this dreadful experience, I experienced another terrible flight. Erick and I went back to Manila after attending fiesta in my hometown in Legazpi. It was rainy that day and there I was again being paranoid and all. During mid-flight aboard Airphil Express, the pilot announced in the PA system “Manual” as we felt like our plane bumped into a very big cloud. What was “manual” supposed to mean? Manual as in we’re going down or manual as in the plane is not in auto-pilot? Whatever that was, it was another scary moment for me. After passing through the very big cloud, our plane was now flying in a clear blue sky. Whew, what a relief!
When I think of these awful experiences, I wasn’t sure if I can still survive a turbulent flight or I will survive but I would go crazy and wet my pants. Six months after, I was fine during our Bohol trip. Sometimes, I think my fear is caused by my vivid imagination. Blame me I can really imagine things to be horrific if I want to.
If there’s a song that would describe what I feel during a flight. It’d be Jack Johnson’s Go On.
I get nervous when I fly
I'm used to walking with my feet
Turbulence is like a sigh
That I can't help but over think
If Jack Johnson would sing for me throughout the entire plane ride, I would totally forgot I was scared. Or maybe drinking a couple shots of tequila before the flight would help.
How about you? Do you get nervous when you fly?
