TimePilot From Japan, joined Sep 2005, 295 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1197 times:
Last night I was watching the Discovery channel (or History channel, I forgot) and they had a very interesting history of stewardesses. I only saw half of it, starting from the 1960s.
Anyone who's really interested in aviation knows that the 1960s were probably the heyday for the industry, especially compared to today. Service back then was tip-top, and the whole industry was an exotic new luxury. Nowadays it's more like just get on the plane and get where you're going.
I'm wondering how that relates to fear of flying? Being someone who's afraid myself, I'm wondering if I would have been more comfortable flying back then instead of now. With all the hospitality and luxurious amenities back then, would it have made it more comfortable? Seats facing each other, smoking areas, the lounges in the 2nd floor of the early 747s, etc. Or were there more unknowns back then, like wind-shear, CAT, etc. that would have made it worse? Basically I'm wondering if the fact that it's just another mode of transportation has anything to do with making it more scary. I've read about how aircraft interiors are designed to be more passenger-friendly, but elevator music before take-off depresses me for some reason, and there's always the drone of engines in the background.
Or am I just going off on some tangent, and there's no correlation? Can anyone who flew in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s shed some insight? What was it like back then in terms of turbulence, noise in the cabin, etc?
BCAL From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2004, 3384 posts, RR: 23 Reply 1, posted (5 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1191 times:
I have to confess that I am also now a nervous flyer, but when I was a child/teenager in the 1960/70s, I was never scared of flying. I then enjoyed turbulence, especially when it felt like the plane had "dropped" several hundred feet, and had experienced sudden depressurisation and an aborted take off on a BEA Comet 4B at Ciampino. Today when I look at pictures of the Comet, Caravelle, Coronado etc I wonder how these heavy-looking machines stayed in the air, let alone got airborne, and I still shudder when I remember that aborted take off - I would have had a heart attack today.
I think that for someone with a fear of flying, they would have been more uncomfortable had they flown in the 1960s or 1970s. There were then no fear-of-flying courses, so nervous flyers probably avoided flying at any cost. Aircraft were then much noisier, which added to the nervous passengers' fears. The aircraft used to hold at the beginning of the runway and power was applied to the engines. Gently at first, more power applied, even more power and the engines started to scream until it seemed like they were about to explode when suddenly the brakes were released and the aircraft screamed down the runway. You often saw aircraft taking off with black smoke pouring from its engines. I used to look at them and said to my parents, "That plane's engines are on fire!"
IIRC pressurisation was then my worse problem. You felt changes of pressure in your ears, which became blocked. As soon as you managed to unblock them, they blocked up again. When landing it was even worse, every minute your ears blocked up as the cabin pressure was changed. On today's airliners sometimes you do not even feel pressurisation changes.
Of course, back in the 1960s and 1970s some equipment that is now standard was then unheard of - e.g. Ground Proximity Warnings, ILS, full autoland, CAT etc. However, a 1960s or 1970s passenger would not have known of these devices and often wondered if the pilot knew what he was doing, was he high enough, was he at the right height/speed for a landing etc.
Apart from rear-engined aircraft, passenger jet aircraft of the 1960s and 1970s were much, much noisier than today's aircraft. Occasionally on today's aircraft the engine noise is so quiet, and touch down so smooth, that I am unaware we have touched down until we pull up at the airbridge. On the older jets, you knew exactly when you landed - the ear piercing pitch of the engines as they adjusted for landing, retraction of the under carriage which felt like the bottom of the plane had fallen off, and then full reverse thrust being applied on touchdown - the engines roared and the whole aircraft shook. Strangely, some of the earlier rear-engine aircraft were remarkably quiet in the front cabin. It was claimed that the most noise you would hear in flight in the front cabin of the VC10 or Super VC10 was the clinking of the ice in your drink. I never flew the VC10, but my uncle assured me this was the truth.
The hospitality and luxurious facilities around in the 60s and 70s did not make flying more pleasurable. One thing, however, is if we look back to the 60s, air passengers did not have the fear of hijacking or terrorism as much as today's passengers do.
[Edited 2006-04-25 15:16:56]
[Edited 2006-04-25 15:19:15]
MOL on SRB's latest attack at BA: "It's like a little Chihuahua barking at a dying Labrador. Nobody cares."
Nwafflyer From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 1046 posts, RR: 3 Reply 2, posted (5 years 9 months 3 weeks 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 1152 times:
I truely enjoyed flying in the 60's - I loved the feeling of the takeoff, look for that today -- yes, my ears hurt while landing, but I swallowed over and over and kept them from blocking.
In my opinion, and yes, flame me if you choose, the 50's, 60's and early 70's was much more 'real' flying than today. I somehow missed the 80's, but enjoyed the 90's too -- a real first class, great meal service on coast to coast flights, including engraved menu, made to order desserts.
Now, I will not fly coach on an international flight with the single exception of the NWA airbus (entertainment, drinks, etc even in coach), and I always fly first class domestically, unless i am stuck on one of the torture chambers, also known as CRJ's
TimePilot From Japan, joined Sep 2005, 295 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (5 years 9 months 3 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1098 times:
I was watching TV last night and the same program came on, so I was able to see the whole thing this time.
According to the program, the first stewardesses were nurses, and their job was to see to the needs of the passengers. It also briefly touched upon how aviation was seen as somewhat dangerous and so the carriers instead focused on sticking their stewardesses in mini-skirts and making the whole thing fun.
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