
Everyone knows that riding/driving in a car is far more dangerous than flying on a commercial airline.
To wit:
# of motor vehicle traffic crash fatalities:
2008 - 37,261
2007 - 41,259
2006 - 42,708
2005 - 43,510
(you can read more here)
# of commercial airline fatalities:
2008 - 3
2007 - 1
2006 - 50
2005 - 22
(got that info here)
Unfortunately, though, even with the above statistics, you will begin to freak out about the sheer number of planes in the sky above us at any given moment.
In 2009 there were 10,349,200 (that's million) departures and 7,557,161,000 (that's BILLION) miles flown in the U.S alone.
I know. . .stop thinking about it. Seriously, stop it.
Let's move on. . .
The problem isn't the facts. The problem is perception. Human beings are not bounded by the limitations of facts. Quite the opposite - we actively and aggressively reject any facts when they don't back up our already decided interpretation.
So, facts don't matter.
Back to the problem. . . Air Travel.
It's just so in-your-face that you are not in control of the situation, because, let's face it, most likely, YOU are not the one flying the plane
(P.S. thank GOD).
It's hard to give up that much control to someone else, especially when you're going 500 mph at 35,000 feet. The only way to deal with it is to avoid it altogether. But this poses a dilemma for live-TV folk: like using a porta-potty, air travel is one of the hazards of the profession. One could make a rather convincing argument that the portable toilet is more dangerous than flying. . . but that's not the point at the moment.
Star Trek has it right - the way to go long distances is to figure out how to do it in an instant. It's time travel, really, and it takes care of all your concerns about flying across the country.
"But Mary Woo," you may be saying, "teleportation won't be possible for another 5, maybe 10 years! How does that help me NOW?"
Well, I have the solution. All you need is a pillow, a cocktail, and Galilean Relativity.
Yeah, I SAID it - Galilean Relativity (more here).
Look - if there's no light, you can't tell if you're moving.
Try it the next time you're airborne - close your eyes and imagine that the plane is still taxi-ing down the tarmac. Could be, no? Now, I know you KNOW you're in the air, and if the plane climbs, turns, or descends (OH MY GOD!!!!!!) you can definitely tell you're moving. But, at a steady pace, with no turbulence,you can easily imagine yourself still.
Sleeping on a plane is virtual time travel. You put your head down on the pillow in Los Angeles, CA and - BLAM!! Suddenly you're landing in Charlotte, NC. Sweet!!!!
Give me a window seat, my purple pillow, a vodka soda in the airport bar and I am ready to time travel. Einstein would be proud. I mean, come on, it's in his name: "Ein" "Stein" - as in "One Stein" as in "A pint of lager, please, Mary!"
It's all perceptions - the dangers of air travel, travelling through time, Einstein's theory of relativity and cocktails. It's all how you look at things.
What was my point again? Oh yeah - facts are meaningless to human beings. That's a fact and it will be meaningless to you. When you strip away all the data and personal interpretations it all comes down to just a few self-evident truths.
Feather pillow, decent vodka, and our unalienable right to a clean, warm, dry place to do our business. Amen.
Ah, you mentioned in 2009 there were 10 349,200 departures. Any idea on the number of arrivals?
ReplyDeleteI am old so I still marvel at how fast air travel is compared to my youth when the most common mode of commercial transportation was via rail or bus. Spending five days on a train to cross the country may sound romantic to some but trying to sleep in a seat more than one night was the pitts. I want to take the trans Canadian train in the fall but only if I can get a sleeping room with a bed and maybe a couple of bottle of vodka or scotch.
I never fly.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that over the span of two weeks, two airplanes crashed into houses in my neighborhood? Of course, they were not commercial airplanes, but still...people did lose their lives and we're talking the people in their homes. Everyone in my neighborhood developed new paranoias.
The train is getting almost as expensive as flying these days!! Especially when you factor in the sleeping car and the booze.
ReplyDeleteThere are a LOT of small private plane crashes, if you ask me. Humans can barely operate cars, flying on your own seems almost too much to comprehend...