Flying

Posted on October 1, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Book, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2078, Film, Flying, James Stewart, learn to fly, neville shute, Plane2 Comments

What skill would you like to learn?

For as long as I know I’ve been scared of flying. So why would I like to learn? Because I would be in CONTROL.

Alerons, throttle, yolk, flaps, landing gear. See I know the names of bits of planes, but not how to use them. I take note of TV programmes I watch. Even the ones where planes crash. But seeing mechanical failures really worry me. Like doors falling off without warning.

I think it stems from watching a James Stewart film when I was a child. It was either called “Glide Path”, or “No Highway”. It’s based on a book by Neville Shute. It is about a professor of engineering or mechanics who works out a series of recent crashes are caused by metal fatigue. The trouble is no one believes him. So he sets up a mechanical test to vibrate part of a plane and sets it going over hundreds of hours. But in the meantime he gets sent abroad and has to take drastic action to save himself and the other passengers on his plane.

It’s worth seeing, it’s set in the 50’s, and it put me off flying!

Esther’s phobia prompt

Posted on June 21, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged airport, ducking, Esther Chilton prompt, Flying, jet, Memory, no, phobia, Plane, Scared, Travel, turbulenceLeave a comment

Esther Chilton has a weekly prompt on her blog giving an idea to post a comment to. This week’s was PHOBIA.

Here’s my response:

My phobia is flying. I just won’t. Most of my family fly occasionally but I just can’t face it. For years my hubby wanted me to go to a local airport to see jets taking off and landing, but just seeing planes coming over a major road towards the airport was scary. The urge to duck was immense. Big metal tubes with wings, no I just can’t.
I like spiders and snakes. I’ll visit aquaria and watch sharks. I’ve been on boats and trains, I can cope in a car, mainly if I’m driving. But the thought of nothing underneath me except air… Even if there were no windows, so I couldn’t see out and know I was in the air, and if there was no turbulence. I just am too afraid!

Nowhere!

Posted on July 28, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Antarctica, carbon footprint, crash, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2011, Flight, Life, Plane, Screens2 Comments

If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go?

I might donate them to a family that need hospital treatment abroad, but I won’t be using them!

I do not want to fly, or more accurately I don’t want to crash. So I make excuses, it’s not good for my carbon footprint, Also, who needs to travel thousands of miles? The majority of the world can be seen on screens.

I recently saw a marvellous cruise to Antarctica advertised on TV, presumably you have to fly to catch the ship. But why? The cost must be exorbitant. And what are we doing tramping around pristine environments! You see the world burning and you think I want to add to 5ue temperature? Nah! Not me!

Millions of people fly each year, but until we are able to harness solar energy to power them I think I’ll give it a miss. Does anyone remember the flight of the Gossamer Albatross? Look it up!

Staying put!

Posted on July 25, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bike, bus, Car, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2008, Flying, Holiday, Plane, staycation, Train, Travel2 Comments

What are your future travel plans?

Not flying! I’m scared to fly and it increases your carbon footprint.

Not driving! I’m careful because of health issues. I can still safely drive but I’m being very cautious and not going far…

Not cycling! I’m too old and unfit to cycle any more.. I wish I could…

Not riding on the train! They are too expensive, and the railways seem to have been reducing services recently. If I want to travel on one it would take a lot of planning and probably a lot of money. Plus you are not going to be able to buy tickets at a ticket office, they are being cut back.

Not going by boat! We are near to a local canal, but hiring a boat for a few days can be expensive too, and I think having to go through lock gates could be very difficult. Plus I think steering a 72 foot canal barge must be difficult.

Not by bus! The services are being cut so you can’t get back in the evening. One friend had to walk 9 miles to get home last week because he missed the last bus…. Before 7pm!

I will be walking… Not going very far as in not very fit. But I guess I’m OK with that. I don’t commute and shops are close. Holidays are too expensive so my travel plans this summer? A staycation !

I could say pandemics…

Posted on April 24, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1916, Fear, Flight, Flying, Humour, Nervous, phobia, Plane, Poem, Poetry, Rhyme, Scared4 Comments

What makes you nervous?

It rhymes with might

I won’t see this sight

You can keep your air

It’s just not fair

You see I’m nervous

But not being verbose

I won’t write big words

Like phobic? of birds…

I look at the sky

And my, oh my

I see a plane

Flying to Spain

Or over an airport

Where airplanes depart..

You won’t catch me in one

I just think they’re no fun!

So you hear me cry..

I just won’t fly!

Cloudscape

Posted on February 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged cloud layer, Clouds, Flight, Mackerel sky, Plane, Rain, Sky, spectacular, Sunset, Weather2 Comments

A mackerel sky over Stoke today. A plane had flown through it leaving a slice of blue sky through the blue and white. These clouds usually happen when a weather front passes over the land I think I remember. To me it looked like a huge swans wing was covering the city. The low sun sparkled off sections of it, but as the sun started to set the cloud got darker and moved further over us, the feathery sections moving Eastward away from the sunset.The forecast is for possible rain showers and strong winds tomorrow

It’s not real, honest.

Posted on August 31, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged aeroplane, Drawing, Flight, Fun, Hubby, Life, Model, Plane, Sketching, yesterdayLeave a comment

Hubby was playing with a model aeroplane yesterday. The trouble was the shutter on my camera reacted a few seconds after I pressed it, so the plane was not in the picture. I had a silly idea. I would superimpose a model plane on the photo. Problem, I don’t have that sort of software on my phone. So I drew a plane instead. Its badly drawn and I had to erase bits of it to get the general shape. But you get the idea of what was happening in reality.

Condensation trail

Posted on January 17, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Afternoon, Condensation trail, contrails, Life, Plane, Science, Sky, vapour trail, WikipediaLeave a comment

We don’t see many planes overhead these days, but the last couple of afternoons we have seen a condensation trail as a plane has flown over.

Condensation because water vapour in the atmosphere condenses out on soot from the plane engines as the plane flies through the cold moist air. It makes a cloud that can hang in the sky for ages or dissipate quickly. In this case it was almost gone by the time the plane had passed over.

There are conspiracy theories that the trails are releasing chemicals into the atmosphere. This isn’t true but stems from some experiments years ago by scientists seeding clouds with silver iodide to create rain by giving water droplets a nucleus for the water droplet to form on.

So there is a grain of truth, but just that. The reality is far simpler. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrail. For more information.

F. R. O. G. Plane

Posted on August 3, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged aluminium, Box, Childhood, Flying, Fun, Plane, Tail, Time, winding mechanism, WingsLeave a comment

FROG stands for ‘flies right of the ground’ this plane was just on the TV. The body was aluminium and the wings and tail were made of paper.

This was made in the 1930’s? You put the body of the plane in the box with the propellar attached. There is a handle on the front of the box and a mechanism that holds the propellar. You turn the handle and it winds up a rubber band. Then you peg the wings and tail on and let it loose to fly up off the ground.

Our forebears may not have had the Internet but they knew how to have fun!

Con trail excitement!

Posted on May 20, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Atmosphere, Blogging, Con trail, Condensation, Ice, Life, Morning, Photo, Plane, RandomLeave a comment

Just had the excitement of seeing a con trail overhead. Con stands for condensation, it’s when a jet airplane flies high up and the hot and humid exhaust gases from its engine condense out as ice crystals in the very low temperature and low vapour pressure air. Its like when you breathe out in the winter and your breath turns into ice if its cold enough.

For some reason there is a conspiracy theory that the vapour is made of chemicals and that governments are spreading them from the planes.

Ask yourself, why would they do that? There were experiments in the mid twentieth century to try and ‘seed’ clouds to make them rain. But it didn’t really take off!

It is strange how these weird ideas get into the world. I prefer thinking things through. If it doesn’t make sense can it be true?

Anyway I don’t think one con trail makes for the end of the lockdown here, like the old saying ‘one swallow doesn’t make a summer’. And really, I for one would like there to be a lot less flights, or more ecologically sustainable ones when things do resolve themselves.

In the meantime please stay safe.

Good morning.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Plane