The Flying Book

by David Blatner

  When I was just starting out, my folks used to travel with me on tour. My mom was petrified of flying, so she went to the doctor and he prescribed pills to help calm her. She took one before getting on a plane and another when we were in the air. By the time we landed, she was very relaxed. How relaxed? I turned around and she was sitting on the conveyor belt! She rolled right out in front of the customs officer. It was like a scene straight out of I LOVE LUCY.

  —Singer Barbara Mandrell

  The world is divided into two kinds of people: normal, intelligent, sensitive people with some breadth of imagination, and people who aren’t the least bit afraid of flying.

  —Layne Ridley, WHITE KNUCKLES

  I am not afraid of crashing; my secret is…just before we hit the ground, I jump as high as I can.

  —Comic Bill Cosby

  Remember that fear intensifies around the unknown and the unseen. Studies have shown repeatedly that the more you know about airplanes and flying, the more comfortable a flier you’ll be. (See The Fear Factor, pages 115–38)

  Learning what is and isn’t dangerous is the key to flying confidently. For example, the fact that air is invisible is at the root of many people’s anxiety. Some people are nervous about the aircraft’s doors opening while in flight, and they are surprised to learn that this isn’t physically possible (because the door is actually wider than the door frame, and the air pressure inside the airplane is greater than it is outside).

  A surprising number of people avoid flying in propeller airplanes and go out of their way to fly on jet aircraft, believing them to be safer. However, in the 1950s and 1960s, the situation was just the opposite, and airlines had to work to convince passengers that jet engines were safe, even though you couldn’t see what was propelling the airplane forward. Today, when it comes to scheduled passenger airline flights, both propellers and jets are about equally safe. (Of course, this statistic doesn’t include those small bush airplanes that fly in remote mountainous areas.)

  What You Can Do

  If you’re prone to anxiety when flying, keep these suggestions in mind:

  Avoid caffeine in sodas, coffee, tea, and chocolate before and during the flight. It increases your heart rate and blood pressure. Also, avoid alcohol or other drugs. Although you may think that a drink will calm you down, it can actually increase anxiety because you feel less in control.

  Eat a healthy meal before you fly. Your body will feel better if you feed it well.

  Try to get a window or aisle seat near the front of the airplane, which often psychologically feels less confined.

  Arrive at the airport extra early. It’s much better to read a magazine (or this book) at the gate than to stress about making the flight.

  Tell the flight attendants that you’re a little anxious about the flight. They’ll often take extra care to explain unexpected-but-normal events on the loudspeaker.

  If something scared you during your flight, don’t disembark until you find out (from a pilot or a flight attendant) what really happened.

  Bring relaxing things on the airplane with you: music, a familiar scarf or picture you can pin to the seat in front of you, or some calming essential oils you can rub on your sleeve and sniff occasionally. You’re going to sit there for a while, so make the space “your own.”

  Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.

  —William Shakespeare, MACBETH

  However, if you have a more serious fear of flying, it’s probably worth looking into a professional program. Many of these programs have an 85 or 90 percent success rate with fearful fliers. For a list of organizations that offer such programs, see The Flying Book Web site (www.theflyingbook.com).

  Staying Healthy in the Air

  Almost nothing can live in the incredibly harsh environment 6.5 miles (10 km) above the surface of the Earth, where there is little oxygen and the average temperature is -56°F (-49°C). Nevertheless, that’s exactly where millions of people travel in airplanes each day. It’s no wonder that many passengers feel terrible after getting off an airplane.

  People routinely blame their icky post-airplane feelings on jet lag, airplane food, catching a cold from fellow passengers, or even “stuffy airplane air.” However, the truth is that you can fly for long distances and walk off the airplane feeling reasonably good; it’s not that hard if you follow the tips in this chapter.

  Airplane Air

  For an airplane to carry passengers tens of thousands of feet up, it must be pumped full of air (pressurized), like a sealed balloon, so that the oxygen is dense enough for passengers to breathe comfortably. But the more pressurized the airplane, the more strain on the fuselage, so airlines and governments have compromised: The air inside an airplane should be no thinner than the air at an altitude of 6,000 or 7,000 feet (about 2,100 meters). This rule is pretty reasonable—many mountain ski resorts are at even higher altitudes—but the air at this altitude can still affect passengers.

  For instance, if you take off from an airport near sea level, the oxygen level of your blood will drop somewhat while you’re flying. Although a lower oxygen level isn’t dangerous for most people, it does make alcohol more potent, and you may feel dizzy or unco-ordinated even without drinking any alcoholic beverages. Plus, some passengers, such as those with lung, heart, and blood conditions, may have trouble breathing without supplementary oxygen.

  The Earth’s atmosphere filters out radiation from cosmic rays and the Sun, and the higher you fly the less is filtered out. Should frequent fliers worry? Most doctors believe that 50 mSv (milli-Sieverts, a measure of radiation dose) per year is a reasonably healthy upper limit, and the average person gets a dose of about 3 mSv from natural sources on Earth. A five-hour flight boosts your radiation dose by only about .025 milli-Sieverts. That means you could fly every day of the year, twenty-four hours a day, and still be fine. The one exception is pregnant women: Occasional flights won’t harm a fetus, but pregnant pilots and flight attendants should be careful.

  Actually, airplanes aren’t entirely like “sealed balloons,” because the air in the cabin is constantly being refreshed. Throughout a flight, hot air passing through the jet engines gets diverted through air-conditioning units (called air packs) and then mixed with recirculated cabin air and fed back into the cabin. Contrary to popular belief, this recirculated air is far from “dirty.” In fact, modern airplanes use air filters similar to those used in hospitals, which can catch airborne microbes like bacteria and viruses.

  To maintain a constant pressure as air is pumped in, the airplane has a pressure valve which lets some air out. The result is a complete fresh air change in the cabin every five or ten minutes—much faster than in most office buildings and even faster than in many hospital rooms.

  Ear Pressure

  When you fly, the first sense that the air pressure is changing is probably a feeling somewhere in your inner ear. This is because the air that is trapped inside your body—including the little pocket of air behind each eardrum—expands as the airplane rises and the pressure drops. The expanding air presses against the ear drum, which can be uncomfortable. The same thing happens in reverse when landing: Air pushes in on the eardrum as the pressure rises.

  Air pressure in airplanes is serious business. If the cabin depressurizes while you are at cruise altitude and you don’t put on an oxygen mask, you can become unconscious within thirty seconds. In such an emergency, pilots will always immediately descend to a safe altitude; if they didn’t, anyone not wearing a mask could die within minutes.

  Sure, you can catch a cold or flu from the passenger in the seat next to you, but it’s extremely unlikely that you’d catch something from someone several rows away because the cabin air is filtered and changed so often. In fact, the air quality is as good as or better than it is in other forms of public transportation.

  Air expands as the airplane lifts into the sky. That’s why you shouldn’t fly for two or three days after extensive surgery or dental work: Tiny air bubbles tra
pped in your teeth could expand and be very painful. Similarly, don’t fly for twelve hours after you scuba dive because air "trapped" in your blood and gas trapped in your bowels could expand.

  Fortunately, the inner ear is connected to the back of the throat by the eustachian tube, through which air can escape. Unfortunately, this tube has no muscles of its own to keep it open, so it’s usually in a collapsed state. Chewing gum, yawning, blowing up a balloon, making funny faces, and swallowing are all ways to get the eustachian tube to open for a moment so that the air can equalize on both sides of the eardrum, which we hear as a “pop.” Another method, called the Valsalva technique, is to close your mouth, pinch your nose, and blow gently against your closed nostrils.

  Not only are colds, sinus infections, and allergies associated with fluids and swelling that stop your eustachian tubes from opening, but they also trap air in the sinus cavities behind your forehead and cheeks, which can be excruciating. If you’re congested like this, you should probably take a nonprescription decongestant a half-hour before takeoff. Of course, if the flight is a long one, you’ll need to take another before the descent and landing. Some people have found EarPlanes ear plugs useful, as they slow the change in pressure against the eardrums.

  Even though airliners carry medical kits and can quickly be in radio contact with doctors on the ground, about 100 people die each year while flying, from heart attacks, seizures, or other medical emergencies.

  This ear pain can be really unpleasant for infants and small children who don’t know what’s happening to them. Drinking from a bottle or nursing can help. A crying baby can be annoying, but remember that crying actually helps the baby open its eustachian tubes. One remedy for ear pain (your child’s or your own) is to put hot, wet paper towels in the bottom of two cups and then hold the cups against the ears. The warm steam soothes the eardrums, but make sure no hot water gets into the ears!

  General Health

  While it’s nice to have fresh air coming from outside the airplane, the problem is that air at high altitudes is extremely dry and it doesn’t take very long before people become somewhat dehydrated. Add to that the general stress put on the body from a lower-pressure environment, a lack of sleep, a change in diet, and the stress of flying in general (getting to the flight on time, and so on)—it’s no wonder that a passenger can feel poorly stepping off the airplane. Here are some tips that should help:

  Drink eight ounces of water for each hour you’re in the air so you don’t get dehydrated.

  Avoid alcohol, caffeine (in coffee, tea, Coke, Pepsi, chocolate, and so on), salty beverages (like tomato juice), and salty foods (pretzels, peanuts, and pretty much anything else that comes in a small snack bag). All of these items are dehydrating.

  Rub moisturizer on your hands and face before takeoff, and reapply in the middle of a long flight to counteract dehydration.

  Eat a healthy snack or meal before flying. Some studies show that drinking an electrolyte-rich “sports drink” before takeoff helps the body recover from flying faster. Bring some food on board with you, too; it’ll likely be more pleasant than what the airline offers.

  Wear noise-cancellation headphones while in flight. These headphones can remove much of the ambient roaring noise that causes drowsiness and discomfort.

  The in-flight air may dry out your eyes and your sinuses, so wear glasses instead of contact lenses, and on long flights keep your sinuses moist with a sinus spray.

  Human bodies were not designed to sit in the same place for a long period of time. Get up and stretch once an hour (walk around, too, if the person next to you isn’t snoring into his or her pillow). Plus, when sitting, don’t cross your legs; it restricts circulation. Try to stretch a little before landing, too, so your muscles are warmed up before you have to stand up and walk.

  Get a good night’s sleep before your flight. This not only makes you feel better but helps your body resist anything infectious that you might be exposed to.

  If you often feel ill on airplanes, you might be suffering from motion sickness. One solution is to sit by the window, where you can see the horizon or a cloud or anything that’s not moving.

  Try to avoid touching your nose, eyes, and mouth while flying to help prevent viruses from entering your system. Also, wash your hands before traveling and regularly throughout a long flight, just in case you do touch your eyes or mouth without thinking. And don’t visit the lavatory in bare feet or wearing only socks (don’t laugh; a surprising number of people do this).

  You may have heard of economy class syndrome, another name for deep vein thrombosis(DVT). It’s a potentially deadly disorder in which blood clots form in veins and deep within muscle tissue. DVT can strike anyone who sits in the same place for too long, whether flying economy class or first class, or even on a train or bus. One study showed that between 100 and 150 passengers arriving in Tokyo’s Narita airport are treated for it each year.

  With that in mind, it’s very important to get up and move around on long flights (anything more than an hour or two). There are also many exercises that you can do in your seat. Walking up and down the aisles is great exercise.

  Ankle circles: Lift your feet off the floor and draw circles with your toes, rotating your ankles. Repeat for about fifteen seconds, and then reverse direction.

  Knee lifts: Raise each leg six or eight inches, bending the knee. Repeat twenty or thirty times per leg.

  Shoulder roll: Rotate your shoulders in a circle by hunching forward, then raising shoulders, then gently pulling them back, then dropping them down.

  Repeat five times.

  Arm stretch: Raise both arms as high above your head as possible (ignore the people behind you). Use one hand to gently pull the opposite wrist for about ten seconds. Then repeat using the opposite hand.

  Neck roll: Relax your shoulders and drop your head forward gently. Roll your head to the left and hold about five seconds, then roll forward and to the right about five seconds. Repeat four times.

  Flight Attendants

  Flight attendants have been serving passengers for almost as long as passenger flight has been in existence. The job’s description has changed dramatically over the years, but it always comes down to the comfort and safety of the airline passengers. Britain’s Daimler Airways was the first to employ dapper young men for the job, whom they called cabin boys, in 1922. In fact, it was strictly men-only until 1930, when Ellen Church talked her way into a job with Boeing Air Transport (a precursor to United Airlines). Her argument was simple: Most of the passengers were businessmen, and most of them were afraid to fly. (After all, air travel was still a very new phenomenon.) Having a woman on board would not only be a comfort but also instill a sense of confidence—if a woman could fly, then so could these men. Besides, Church was a registered nurse, which could come in handy in an emergency.

  By the end of the year, Boeing had hired eight stewardesses, and soon other airlines were copying the idea. Applicants had to be nurses, unmarried, under twenty-five years old, and less than five feet four inches (1.63 meters) tall. The job wasn’t glamorous in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Responsibilities included weighing passengers and their baggage, making sure the wicker seats were bolted down, shining shoes, swatting flies, and stopping passengers from throwing lit cigarettes out of windows or opening the exit door when they were looking for the toilet. At the end of a long day, the stewardess would even help push the airplane back into the hangar.

  Still, the image of beautiful and cosmopolitan women on airplanes was a hit, and by the 1950s the airlines were using marketing slogans such as “Today’s stewardess, tomorrow’s wife.” The requirement to be a nurse was dropped during World War II, but other demands were made: weight restrictions, and even wearing girdles, white underwear, and particular shades of nail polish.

  Air travel has this hangover from the ’50s and ’60s where it was really glamorous and sort of elitist. Not anyone could just buy a ticket on Priceline.com for 60 bucks. You had to plan i
t, you dressed up and it was a big occasion. The reality is a lot different from what we have in our minds.

  —Rene Foss, second-generation flight attendant, author of the musical revue

  AROUND THE WORLD IN A BAD MOOD

  The specific rules regarding flight attendants vary among airlines and between countries. On U.S.-based airlines there must be at least one flight attendant for each fifty seats on the aircraft.

  Don’t mess with the flight attendants: Attacking them or interfering with their job is a federal offense.

  After years of immortalizing historic characters, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London decided to create figures of famous commercial occupations. The first commercial figure it created was a flight attendant: the world-famous “Singapore Girl” of Singapore Airlines.

  By the late-1960s, however, the wholesome “sky girl” had transformed into a glamorous sex symbol used to sell tickets. Airline commercials featured stewardesses in hot pants purring slogans, such as: “Hi, I’m Rose and I’m going to fly you like you’ve never been flown before”; “Service just means having things around you that make you happy…Like me”; “We really move our tail for you”; and “Fly me, I’m Cheryl.”