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Passenger Exaggerations

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People love embellishing the sensations of flight. They can’t help it perhaps — nervous fliers especially — but the altitudes, speeds and angles they perceive often aren’t close to the real thing.... (life.salon.com) More...

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EmeraldRocket
Good stuff Patrick. One thing I DON"T need to embellish is the "leg room" in coach. These planes, or many of the domestic ones, are designed for people under 5'9" and 150 lbs. I am 6'2" and 210. CLEARLY not a two seatbelt issue, just not a small person. It is VERY uncomfortable. My own pet peeve. You want to do a 757 at a 60 degree bank, tell me where. I will bring my headset!!
preacher1
preacher1 0
As some one told me once about an unconventional takeoff due to incoming wx,"sometimes you got to make a Winnebago drive like a 'Vette", but as Patrick says, a 60 degree bank will glue your feet to the floor.lol
dbaker
dbaker 0
Unless in a descent.
preacher1
preacher1 0
hey, we flying a 757, not an F 18.lol
Derg
Roland Dent 0
Wayne..brilliant idea..give 'em all little joysticks and load up some video games..F18s would be good. Every now and again you could let 'em (the pax) have a real "go" up front. Pass away the hours for them, MBAs would love it..new sales pitch. To compete Boeing would just have to replace all those big yokes with joy sticks... then all three hundred pax could have an input to a parallel FMS. The FMS would average out all the inputs yet keep the plane within the envelope.
preacher1
preacher1 0
JD345
JD345 0
I'm 6'1" and I've concluded that midgets run the airline industry. My favorite is when the wire holding the seat pouch open fits RIGHT under your kneecap.
panam1971
panam1971 0
If it were up to the airlines, we would have "standing room only" like the L in Chicago! lol
npog99
npog99 0
Do you remember when a Japanese airliner wanted to try a "standing section" on the A-380 to accommodate more people on internal flights? They were planning on inclined boards to have passengers lean and strap against it. Do not give the airlines any crazy ideas. They do just fine thinking crazy on their own. No help needed.
geoflyer
Erika Amir 0
You know, I'm 5'4" and there are some coach seats that even have *me* a bit scrunched up. Commuter jets with the 1-2 or the 2-2 configuration are the worst. Much sympathy to you tall folks!
GateHold
Patrick Smith 0
Actually, economy-class legroom in the US domestic market really hasn't changed in the past 30 years or so. In a lot of ways planes are LESS cramped than they used to be. Anybody remember PeopleExpress?
EmeraldRocket
Challenge!
WilliamDaniel
William Daniel 0
Wow, great article Patrick.
malinoff112
Donny Malinoff 0
WilliamDaniel
William Daniel 0
Donny! what up?!
99NY
99NY 0
I remember after a particularly sporty approach to LGA on a Delta Shuttle 727 the self-appointed aviation know-it-all in the seat 2 rows ahead of me claimed that it wasnt unusual for the pilot to shut down one or two engines during LGA approaches to cope with the wind.
preacher1
preacher1 0
LMAO!! Cold day in hell if I'd shut down an engine for anything but a problem.lol. Put 'em on the deck for awhile.lol Them's the kind of folks you'd like to buy for what they actually know and sell them for what they think they know.
WALLACE24
WALLACE24 0
Shut down an engine foolin around and it's almost guaranteed Murphy will not let it restart.
maplcp
Chuck Maples 0
I can remember checking out as an aircraft commander in the KC-135 back in the '60s where one of the items in the training syllabus was an intentional engine shutdown and restart. As you note, Murphy allowed the shutdown but wouldn't let us restart the engine. Good training experience and Murphy demo. Might note that in 8 years of flying the -135 I only shut down one engine for an engine problem (oil pump failed)and never had an engine failure.
preacher1
preacher1 0
You know, that was the military equivalent of a 707, and you just about couldn't beat them things and make 'em break
maplcp
Chuck Maples 0
You've got that right Wayne--witness the fact that they're still a major part of our Air Force today!
TXCAVU
Never...someone was playing with you.
jeffadam
Jeff Adam 0
If you've heard it once, you've heard it a million times...oh, wait, I might be exaggerating just a little! The real key is that flying, like many other things and businesses, are affected - and in fact, rely on - perception. Good or bad, it's an emotional response that we all have. That being said, on one of my trips, the landing was so hard that the wings bounced off the ground...LOL
madriverglen
Jo Ro 0
Try a BA 777-200 to London in coach. I am no small person either 6'4" 225, and those seats no leg room at all and for whatever reason these seats seem to recline far more than any other Boeing I have been on. The guy in front of me was splayed out such that I could not even open a laptop on my tray and read the screen.....On the return trip I did manage to get the exit row and had living room space, but that is the area were people wait to go to the 'washroom'...
RobertStuart
Robert Stuart 0
I was a pax on a DC-9 that performed an 80 degree starboard bank, 350 degree circuit of the field before a beautiful landing.
On the return trip we had a 65 degree nose down entry into the wedding cake due strict noise abatement.
Granted, neither were civilian flights. The planes do perform when needed.
RobertStuart
Robert Stuart 0
I was a pax on a flight that performed an 80 degree starboard bank at 1500 feet, with a 350 degree circuit of the field before a beautiful landing.
On the return flight, we performed a 5000 foot descent, 65 degree nose down entry to the wedding cake due to strict noise abatement at one field.
Granted, neither were civilian flights - the aircraft will perform when needed.
Yankee1
Robert West 0
Yeah It amuses me what I hear about the exaggerations. On a recent to HNL we encountered some turbulence and the wing tips were waving to the clouds. The pax were all checking the windows. My wife included, till I explained to her what is done in the testing of the wing flexing.
To Triple "S".... I'm 5'9" 164# Shawn and I too hate the minimal leg room thing too. Buts its for revenue. Mininmal leg room, more seats, more bucks.
And what cracks me up oops!! sholuld say makes me laugh is the first class thing too. all that extra dinero when they get to the destination the same time as the rest of us. A few hours in an Air Force troop carrier aircraft jump seat and they would be quite happy to fly in economy.
kenish
kenish 0
The worst turbulence I've ever experienced in 1200 hours in light aircraft and hundreds of commercial flights was on a 757. I knew we were "in for it" when the Captain told the cabin crew to secure the cabin ASAP, said that seat belts were NOT optional, and asked everyone to not use the attendant call unless it was a true emergency. They slowed way down and the turbulence lasted about 10 minutes...the pilot came on later and said it was the worst he had encountered in at least 10 years. No, we didn't "plummet thousands of feet narrowly missing Pike's Peak" but it got my attention!
preacher1
preacher1 0
I was on DAL one nite enroute from KATL to KLIT with a stop in Memphis. At KMEM Captain came back into the cabin and said "There is a bus coming to take whoever wants to go to KLIT. We will enconter severe turbulence. The plane is going to KLIT, whether you are on it or not". Seems there was a Tstorm line tha stretched from below Shreveport all the way up to St Louis topping 45-50000. To say it was rough is a gross understatement.lol
Caps8
Robbie Leahy 0
If a commercial flight really turned at 45-60 degrees, it would make the news because all the people onboard would complain about it.

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