paranoid about flying back

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Hollywood_Guy
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18 Apr 2023, 4:03 pm

I am getting a little paranoid of flying back to my home from vacation. I don't fear flying itself, and I hear everyone anecdotally says that it is even safer than driving.

But what if an Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) happened during the time when we were in the air and all the planes fall out of the sky? I heard that the odds of survival from that are very slim, if there is any chance at all. I'm also not going to gamble on spiritual providence or miracles. Not to mention EMP will be the sudden end of human society as we know it in general.

It is also depressing and heartbreaking that one electromagnetic phenomenon can take out everything and cause mass death and just because a terrorist group or crazy leader wants to be insane. It's even worse depressing that today's planes are all circuit computers and no physical moving parts which means there is even less backup protection to mitigate such a situation. Why does humanity have to digitalize everything and remove physical moving parts from everything?



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18 Apr 2023, 5:21 pm

I don't think there are many aeroplanes which are FBW (fly-by-wire) but I could be wrong. FBW aircraft (including Airbus and Boeing) still have some fallback manual control of basic flight controls. Have you checked if the aeroplane you will be flying in is FBW?


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DanielW
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18 Apr 2023, 5:29 pm

You can still fly and land a commercial aircraft without electronics...its happened before when cables were pinched between sections of fuselage. You aren't just going to fall out of the sky.

And no moving parts? WTF told you that? Planes still use hydraulics.

Unless you are flying on wonder woman's invisible jet - you're fine

(If you are flying on Wonder Woman's jet, for heavens sake don't use the toilet)



Hollywood_Guy
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18 Apr 2023, 5:55 pm

Now, I flew here and there was no problem. It's just a scary thought that popped into the back of my head. Especially with domestic and international things being on an intense time right now.



DanielW
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18 Apr 2023, 6:00 pm

A lot of us get weird, oddly-specific intrusive thoughts...it helps to just acknowledge it, and let it go on by. You don't need to act on them or give them any importance.

I could think of dozens of other things that COULD happen, but none of them would be likely to.