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   Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Dec-2025 08:32:19 JST Miakoda

   • Mike Fraser

   @mike You could not pay me enough to get on an airplane.

   • Embed this notice
     Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Dec-2025 20:43:59 JST Miakoda

     in reply to

     • Len

     @Hyperlynx Cause I have a phobia of planes, made much worse by Trump firing so many ATCs.

   • Embed this notice
     Len (hyperlynx@aus.social)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Dec-2025 20:44:00 JST Len

     in reply to

     @hellomiakoda why's that?

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     Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Friday, 05-Dec-2025 02:06:10 JST Miakoda

     in reply to

     • Len

     @Hyperlynx My phobia of plans has been mortifying at times. I had to repair a computer in an office attached to an airplane hanger. Without warning, the fired up jets on one they were repairing. My customer found me sobbing under his desk, terrified out of my mind.
     Thankfully, he wasn't judgey.
     I have absolutely no idea what I went through that could have caused such a phobia. Even flying overhead used to trigger it.
     It's not as severe these days, thankfully.

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     Len (hyperlynx@aus.social)'s status on Friday, 05-Dec-2025 02:06:11 JST Len

     in reply to

     @hellomiakoda oh, you're in the USA. Right, perfectly understandable.

     Aside from that, I found that the more I learned about airplanes the less scared of them I became. What really did it for me was learning that - at the worst case - if all the engines go out then you have a glider, and can still safely land. And that pilots must learn to do that as part of qualifying.

     Funnily enough, I have found the opposite with helicopters: the more I learn about them the more scared of them I become!

     ...anyway, that's just me, phobias aren't rational things anyway, and in any case I think your fears about US ATC are well-founded :/