[PennBF]

I have flown many many times, in fact at one time would fly to Europe a
couple of times a month on business. I have experienced a number of
problems including but not limited to being forced down at an air base
because of a terrorist on board, twice had flaps lock up and had to land
"hot", second or third flight out of Lisbon on a 747 that was new and did
not have boosters to get it up quick, flew at tree tops for quite a while,
once in Stugart BOA plane right engine would not start and the pilot worked
until he finally got it going and then we took off never knowing why it would
not start, landed in Iceland (on Icelandic airline on snow and ice) while
on way to Luxenbourg. The moral of this story is that a pilot, given 3 seconds
can get you out of any problems. You could put bulldozers on the end of
both wings and they would not break.
As a group of pilots once told me..If you want to worry then at least worry at the right times. If you have 100% of worry use 70% as you take off and get to 4000-5000 feet as any problems are probably mechanical and the
pilot is trying to hold it together. Once in the air go to sleep as it is very
very rare a plane falls out of the sky. When the pilot says to buckle up as
they are going to land that is the other 30% of worry as anything at this time is usually pilot error.
Finally, remember there are thousands of take offs and landing each day.Go
to Faa.gov and look at the statistics and the number of airline problems
for the last 10 days. That should make anyone feel a lot better as they
are few and far behind. Two planes wings hit each other a couple of days
ago and it is a major story while 1000's take off and land...

[angiefox10]

We travel a lot and therefore fly a lot. I never minded the flying, but i am finding it more of a hassle every time. With the TSA, luggage issues, packing, airline prices going up, get there early, wait for luggage that often gets lost.....

Last month we decided to drive to TV... We had our own car, (didn't have to rent a vehicle) did a priceline on the hotel and got a 5 star for about $85, could have spent less had we known the area. It was a beautiful drive and we spent much less to do it! Oh.... and we are in Illinois. The only reason I would fly it in the future, is if time was an issue.