Brushes with death/ gratitude for life.

brianlux

F Me In The Brain said:

brianlux said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Turbulence won't cause the plane to crash.  (Birds might, though.)
I fly constantly and I hate it.  Hate it, so hard.  Just accept it is part of what I need to do for the life that I choose to lead. 
My hope would be that I would be the same as your friend in that circumstance, Soul, as there would be nothing I could do about the situation.  (Perhaps that is why your friend reacted to a situation she could control (leave, get people to stop, etc) on the ground and why she accepted that whatever was going to happen in the air was completely beyond her control.)

My Pop worked for United Air Lines and even though as a kid his salary wasn't great, we got to fly for dirt cheap so we did get up there a number of times.  Every time we hit turbulence I went through the white knuckle/sweating/heart pounding business.  I just hated it!  Then I'd look over at Pop and he'd be calmly reading a magazine like he was at home on a quiet night.  Made me nuts!     He had no fear in the air.  UAL took him and a couple of guys up in a new plane (a Boeing jet but I can't remember which one) to test it for drop rate at engine stall.  They went up there, cut the engines and let 'er drop.  He came back telling us about this like a kid who got a brand new bike or something.  Made me crazy! 

Yeah I would not want to test out the drop rate at engine stall.  Ever!

I kind of experienced it one on a UAL "ferry flight" when I was maybe 10 years old.  The airline briefly went  on strike when we were back east and the only flights available were to ferry employees.  The pilot of our plane didn't realize there were kids on board so he had a little fun by taking the plane up at a steep angle and then leveling off abruptly.  It felt as though we were falling rapidly and my brother and sister and I were totally freaked out and crying.  We thought we were going to die.  The pilot soon learned there were kids on board and felt badly so he invited us to come up to the cockpit.  My brother and sister were wise to accept the invitation.  Me, being the rebellious black sheep thought, "Fuck that, I'm not going up there."  I sort of wish I had.

PJ_Soul

F Me In The Brain said:

Turbulence won't cause the plane to crash.  (Birds might, though.)
I fly constantly and I hate it.  Hate it, so hard.  Just accept it is part of what I need to do for the life that I choose to lead. 
My hope would be that I would be the same as your friend in that circumstance, Soul, as there would be nothing I could do about the situation.  (Perhaps that is why your friend reacted to a situation she could control (leave, get people to stop, etc) on the ground and why she accepted that whatever was going to happen in the air was completely beyond her control.)

I guess, but the thing is, it never even crossed her mind that she might die or that the plane might not make it back to the airport (also meaning that she had no thoughts about dealing with impact, getting out of the plane okay if necessary, etc). It's not like she thought, "Oh, this is bad but there is nothing I can do." It was more like, "This is nothing because nothing bad could ever happen to me." It doesn't seem to have been a coping mechanism, but rather an inability to understand that something bad in fact could happen to her. It never occurred to her that there was anything actually wrong. Now that I think about it, she didn't even believe the flight crew about what happened until I pointed out the bird guts all over the plane after we landed. She's like one of those people who would stand there in a hurricane taking photos right up to the point where a giant piece of siding decapitates her, lol! Her total indifference pissed me off, but I also feel like her attitude actually made her one of the dumb dangerous people in an emergency - the one who just stands there being useless, hahaha. Adrenalin has a purpose, and hers just wasn't kicking in. 

F Me In The Brain

Yeah, sounds like perhaps your friend has other attributes than her brains. 

goldrush

I've only had 2 that spring to mind (thankfully!)

When I was younger and more stupiderer I used to crowd surf, especially at festivals. During Rocket From The Crypt's set at Reading 96 I was at it again. It would probably either have been Young Livers or On A Rope because everyone was going nuts (Scream, Dracula, Scream was out and RFTC had some hit singles in the UK). Without any warning at all I suddenly went from happily being thrown along to being flat on my back on the floor. The crowd just parted and I dropped to the ground. I have a very vague memory of boots in my face and on my chest (it seemed that everyone wore Doc Martens in 96) and feeling like I was suffocating then, nothing.
When I regained consciousness I was in the St John's Ambulance tent behind the stage. Apparently one of the security guys had seen what was happening and dived into the crowd after me and pulled me out. I was lucky as hell to escape that with just bruises and a few banged up ribs, it could have been so much worse. I only crowd surfed one more time after that, the very next night (I told you - young and stupid!) but my ribs hurt like hell and I freaked out. I used to help 'launch' people up onto the crowd if they wanted to surf but I was always mindful of watching to see if anyone fell after that.

The second time was the summer of 2002. I woke up on a Sunday morning struggling to breathe. By the time i got to hospital I could literally just take tiny gasps of air and that was it. The doctor diagnosed a particularly shitty case of pleuropneumonia (pneumonia complicated by pleurisy). My girlfriend's mum worked at the hospital and I overheard the doctor telling her that there was a chance I could have died in my sleep. Not exactly the words you want to hear! 

brianlux

goldrush said:

I've only had 2 that spring to mind (thankfully!)

When I was younger and more stupiderer I used to crowd surf, especially at festivals. During Rocket From The Crypt's set at Reading 96 I was at it again. It would probably either have been Young Livers or On A Rope because everyone was going nuts (Scream, Dracula, Scream was out and RFTC had some hit singles in the UK). Without any warning at all I suddenly went from happily being thrown along to being flat on my back on the floor. The crowd just parted and I dropped to the ground. I have a very vague memory of boots in my face and on my chest (it seemed that everyone wore Doc Martens in 96) and feeling like I was suffocating then, nothing.
When I regained consciousness I was in the St John's Ambulance tent behind the stage. Apparently one of the security guys had seen what was happening and dived into the crowd after me and pulled me out. I was lucky as hell to escape that with just bruises and a few banged up ribs, it could have been so much worse. I only crowd surfed one more time after that, the very next night (I told you - young and stupid!) but my ribs hurt like hell and I freaked out. I used to help 'launch' people up onto the crowd if they wanted to surf but I was always mindful of watching to see if anyone fell after that.

The second time was the summer of 2002. I woke up on a Sunday morning struggling to breathe. By the time i got to hospital I could literally just take tiny gasps of air and that was it. The doctor diagnosed a particularly shitty case of pleuropneumonia (pneumonia complicated by pleurisy). My girlfriend's mum worked at the hospital and I overheard the doctor telling her that there was a chance I could have died in my sleep. Not exactly the words you want to hear! 

Close calls there, goldrush! 

I'm either surprised that more people aren't hurt of killed in mosh pits or I just haven't heard all the stories.  In my younger concert going days, quite often everybody just kind of sat on the floor or in their seats, grooved to the music and behaved.  By the time slam dancing came along, I was a bit older and settled for balcony seats.  Had I been born later, I would probably have been roughed up pretty good!  I'm glad you got through that one alright!

And getting through the pleuropneumonia!  I've had bot pleurisy and pneumonia but not at the same time.  I can only imagine how rough that was.  Glad you got through it ok!