Michael Ash

In rec.aviation.student Larry Dighera <LDighera@att.net> wrote:
> But the 800 lbs gorilla in the room that no one is mentioning here is
> our inate fear of, and the risk posed by, heights. That's probably
> the first turn-off for those who bother to consider GA at all.

I'm skeptical of this. Hundreds of millions of people fly commercially all
the time. All the times I've done it, I've never encountered anyone who
mentioned or acted as though they were afraid of heights but felt that
they had to fly anyway. I have no doubt that fear of heights stops some
people, but I don't think it's any large number. (And I realize that
commercial planes and light aircraft would have different effects on
people this way, but I still don't think this accounts for a large
proportion of the population.)

Wandering off the subject a bit, I have a pretty fierce fear of heights.
Any time I'm on the upper floors of a tall building, I try to stay away
from the windows. It's something I can get used to with time; I spent an
entire school year living on the 15th floor of my college dorm building,
but that's not particularly high either. I'll go up to the top of
landmarks to sightsee but tend to stay away from the edges if I can.

Airplanes, on the other hand, cause no problems for me whatsoever. Even in
a really light single-seater getting smacked around by turbulence, or
making steep turns and looking straight down, I have no trouble. It's
weird.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software