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Fear of Flying
 Premonitions: Is it odd that I dreamt about a plane crash last night and woke up this morning to read about an airplane crash in Egypt, killing all 148 people on board?
I lived in a condo on the 19th floor, and during the last few months I was there, I had nightmares about planes crashing into the building. It didn't help that the building was on the Toronto Pearson airport flight path. Occasionally, while flying in or out of Toronto, the plane I was on would fly right by the building and I would spot my own condo. Less than a month after I moved out, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 took place. Over the years, I have developed a terrible fear of flying and thankfully haven't been on a plane in almost three years. Planes were not always terrifying to me, in fact, I used to greatly anticipate getting on a plane and loved the take-offs and landings. The last flight I was on, however, gave me a horrible ear infection because the landing was so rough. Both times I vacationed in Puerta Vallarta with my ex, plane crashes occurred - the first was a plane crashing off the California coastline, an Air Alaska, I think and the second time was when the Concorde crashed on July 25, 2000, killing all 109 people on board. On that second trip, the night before we were to fly home, I had a horrible nightmare that I was on an airplane and looked out the window to see the ground coming at me at a horrific rate of speed. I woke up just before the impact to realize I had to get on a plane that very morning. My ex and I had two flights to catch. The first, a small Mexicana plane, was to take us to Mexico City. The second, an Air Canada flight, would take us home to Toronto. At the airport in Puerta Vallarta I was a nervous wreck and I'm sure I was driving my ex nuts. I told him about my nightmare and he said I was just being silly, although he did say he was more concerned with the Mexicana flight than the Air Canada flight. We boarded the Mexicana plane and we were seated in the front row and the plane was so small that we could actually see the pilots, who had left the cock-pit door open. The flight was without incident until we started descending in Mexico City. All of a sudden the pilot was yelling at the co-pilot "levantar, levantar!" I glanced over at my ex, who looked pretty concerned and I asked him if he knew what the guy was saying. "He's saying pull up," he told me and then grabbed my hand. Needless to say, the co-pilot did as he was told and we landed safely. Still, it scared the hell out of me. I can't imagine what it would be like to die that way. Of course, September 11, 2001 did nothing to alleviate my fear of planes and I wonder if I'll ever board one again. A fascinating web site about plane crashes can be found here. The photo above is he second worst disaster in aviation history, March 27, 1977 in Tenerife, Canary Islands killed 583 people. A KLM 747 collided with a Pan Am 747 after the captain of the KLM plane started his takeoff roll without clearance.
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