(no subject)

[rm]

This is a fantastic article:

http://nymag.com/news/features/53788/

It really captures of the competing narratives and realities of modern flight (and the general conflicts we have culturally when it comes to risk vs. reliability).

That said, if you have any fear about commercial air travel, this might not be the article for you. It doesn't tell horror stories or anything like that, but finding out just how computerized it all is strikes me as pretty disturbing.

Comments

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

My larger anxieties when flying came about during a time when my project at work had a lot of small problems and communication breakdowns and I realized, EVERY FLIGHT is like that, and I have no way of knowing where major mistakes are happening, or minor mistakes that could add up to major ones.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

We probably don't want to know how often the words Oh, &%*^$@#!!!!
are heard in an O.R., either.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Wow! Also, I hadn't known that the pilot had pulled off something no one had ever done before - managing that, while knowing that no one else has done this is pretty much the definition of heroism.

finding out just how computerized it all is strikes me as pretty disturbing.

As long as the pilot can over-ride bad computer decisions, I actually find that level of automation comforting.

As for flying, my own fears are far more pedestrian & unrelated. My one problem with flying is that such a wonder has been made so remarkably uncomfortable.

[argentla.livejournal.com]

My one problem with flying is that such a wonder has been made so remarkably uncomfortable.

I concur. I would like flying a lot if it were not for the idiotic security crap, the lines, and the rest of the herded-like-cattle parts. I've never been afraid of flying. The oh-god-instant-death stuff doesn't strike me as being nearly as frequent as in driving, where there's a high density of people with a large number of possible error or failures in judgment on a minute-to-minute basis.

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and whether manual or automated, the numbers speak for themselves -- I don't care how they do it, as long as people aren't dying and getting hurt, and it's the safest way to get from one place to a far away other.

The real problem though, it's the ridiculously inefficient energy consumption. The technology is out there for an entire train system based on magnetic tubes that uses 1/1,000th the energy, and the only hurdle is that we're too lazy to invest in laying the tracks.

[only-sound.livejournal.com]

Have you read, or tried to read this?

http://community.livejournal.com/jack_and_ellis/24703.html

I'm not sure how much you go in for original fiction steampunk, but it's got Australia and flying and epicness and stories and it's by Copperbadge, and so if you get 37 hours (even in very small chunks) I would highly recommend checking it out.