Flying (General + Virgin America Q's) to San Fran

you shouldn't worry about it because you have no control over the aviation of the plane. That is kinda like worrying that our sun is gonna go supernova. You cannot prevent a plane crash or a supernova, so there is no point in thinking about what if it happens.

Take some prozac and drink a lot while you fly.

I have flown around a thousand or so flight legs in my lifetime and have never had a problem. You might also want to get in touch with Globetrotter here on the board, he's another guy who flies all the time that I know of on SF. Keep in mind flying is one of the safest forms of transportation in the world. If it wasn't people like me would be dead by now. You are exponentially safer flying to your destination than driving - and to those people who say OMG BUT I SEE PLANE CRASHES ON THE NEWS ALL THE TIME, you really don't; it's just that on the rare occasion that they occur it's a big deal. There are a bunch of car wreck fatalities every day and you don't see those on CNN. Flying is great - some people don't like it because it's five entire hours from one end of the country to the other. I would suggest you take this time to shut off the in-seat television and actually look out the window. The USA is beautiful when viewed from the level of a jet and you'd be surprised how fast the time flies. I've only flown Virgin America twice (IAD-LAX and back) but they were excellent each time. I think you will enjoy the flight with them.

+1, this is my train of thought when I fly.

lol... i'm leaving to watch the series too. flying virgin also. virgin to virgin airlines as well.

Physics works. Wind goes over the wing which creates a vacuum (sort of) which sucks the wing upward. Most airplane crashes these days (which are obviously few and far between) are the result of pilot error. The poland thing, for example, was idiotic. They were trying to land in heavy fog on a runway that didn't have the right instrument landing system for their plane. You won't have these types of problems. Instead know that as the engines go faster, the plane goes faster. The moment off "lift-off" is actually a good sign. Everything is working correctly and the plane is flying. (Um, err, I have the opposite fear... I am actually *happy* when lift off occurs. Otherwise we would soon run out of runway and be traveling very fast and not yet flying... ) This could happen if the plane had a very heavy load and/or the engines weren't generating enough power for some reason. There now you won't worry when the plane lifts off.

I used to really hate takeoffs when I was young, not only because of the feeling of acceleration, but also the sensation of losing gravity that occurs in the minutes just after takeoff several times as the plane starts to level off. As I've gotten older, I've gradually learned to let it not bother me, or maybe my inner ear has gotten less sensitive. It's still far from my favorite experience, I try to either read and just ignore the fact that I am in a plane or look out the window and watch the scenery.

Virgin America is a great way to fly to SF, you'll enjoy it. They have nice planes and good service.

Yeah, I liked Virgin America pretty much the one time I took it for a cross-country round trip.

The wind over wing thingy, that's Bernoulli's principle. The reason your probably don't like the "unsticking" feeling is because of the wing mushing, basically the airflow over the wing is just over the speed required for lift. It's no biggy, the speed increases, and the principles of physics mean you stay in the air.

He's right about the landing systems and the pilot error in the Polish crash. You just have to remember that pilot's are extremely skilled highly qualified people. Then even when they make a mistake (thankfully rarely) the computer is usually there to back them up. Think of the thousands of flights that take off each day. Then equate this to the number of crash's each year. Then from this small number take away crashs of small operators which are blacklisted, and the probabilities are miniscule.

Also as fredfred says take off is a good thing. It means everything is working properly. When travelling down the runway the pilots have certain call outs, V1,V2,VR. At V1 they are checking that speed readings are correct on the Captain and First officers primary flight display, that both attitude indicators are alive, that engine readings are all looking good, so if something is wrong then they stop the aircraft. No problems.

So you just have to remember the huge probabilities of a succesful flight. The fact the guy upfront knows what he is doing. That the aircraft is well designed and has many redundancy features, and that physics is on your side.

Safe and happy flying.

Virgin America has nice and new planes. I don't like the fact that they have lighting that makes it look like a night club in the plane. Too Vegas for me.

And the stewardess' are not to bad to look at!