From: dst+@cs.cmu.edu (Dave Touretzky)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation
Subject: Re: prevalence of engine failures
Date: 23 Jul 92 03:36:22 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Cc: Bliss B. Siman <ROPBB%CUNYVM.BITNET@bitnet.cc.cmu.edu>


Bliss B. Siman <ROPBB@CUNYVM.BITNET> writes:

> I may be in the wrong place, but I hope you guys will put up with me. I am a
> very fearful flyer faced with a trip to Barcelona on Friday and just
> discovered the plane is a 767 which I am told has only two engines.  So I get
> on to find out what people are saying about a 2 engine plane across the
> Atlantic and read what seems very light-hearted banter about engine failure.
> Can anyone respond to my concerns--flying TWA, by the way--which will help
> insure that I make the flight. My daughter and husband will kill me if I
> back out, but right now I am REAL upset.  Any help would be appreciated.

First, for all of us here on rec.aviation, let me extend my sympathy that
you have to fly on an airplane when you really don't want to.  Flying, like
sex, should be a purely consensual activity.

The folks on this newsgroup may joke about engine failures, crashes, etc.,
but it's because we are able to put these things in context, the way people
who love cars might joke about having a blowout on the freeway.  I don't
want to give you a long boring lecture about flying on an airliner being
statistically safer than driving your car to the airport.  You probably know
that already.  Instead, let me just try to get across two key ideas.

KEY IDEA #1:  twin-engine jet airplanes fly just fine on one engine.  They
do fly more slowly on one engine, and they can't do a one-engine takeoff
from a standing start, but once they're in the air, they will get you to
your destination even if one engine quits.  So when you fly a two engine
plane across the Atlantic, you are NOT betting your life that both engines
will keep running.

KEY IDEA #2:  to a pilot, mechanical failures are ROUTINE annoyances, just
like getting a flat tire is to a motorist.  So if the thought of something
breaking on the airplane scares you, just remember that the crew has been
through it all before, either on some previous flight or in a flight
simulator.  Even a lowly student pilot with 8 hours in his/her logbook knows
how to land a plane when the engine quits.  They have to demonstrate that
they can do this smoothly before they're allowed to make their first solo
flight.  (I give my primary students a simulated engine failure on every
flight, and they never know when it's coming.) By time someone gets to be an
airline pilot, they've been through hundreds of engine failures, electrical
failures, instrument failures, pressurization failures, and so on.  Most of
these are simulated, but a few will be real, because stuff does break every
now and then.  There is a procedure for dealing with each type of failure;
they're all written down on checklists which pilots both memorize and keep
by their side when they fly.

I personally have been through two engine failures; I've lost a vacuum pump
and a couple of alternators; I've several times lost the airspeed indicator
in night or instrument conditions; I've had communication and navigation
radios fail; and just this week I temporarily lost my gyrocompass.  To a
properly trained pilot, it ain't no big deal.  There are backup instruments,
backup radios, and procedures to deal with virtually every type of failure.

....

I hope this is of some use.  If you keep reading rec.aviation for a while,
you will see that flying is neither as difficult nor as risky as the general
public is (mis)led  to believe.  Ordinary folks fly airplanes, and most of
us wouldn't do it if we thought it was dangerous.  We spend a lot of time
talking about dangerous situations, but that's because we're intent on
avoiding them.

-- Dave Touretzky,  CFI-AIM,  Seneca N8147E (``The Beast'')

PS: a good way to get over your fear of flying might be to take a half-hour
lesson in a small plane with an experienced instructor.  When you can see
all the instruments with your own eyes, hear the radio yourself, and handle
the controls yourself for a few minutes, it takes a lot of the mystery
out of flying.

PPS: I've personally worked with one classic "fearful flyer".  For our first
flight, by prior consent, we just took off and came right back and landed
again.  She decided maybe this wasn't so terrible after all.  A couple of
months later we were doing acrobatics.