Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the first test flight of the Jumbo jet. Airports all over the world were lengthening & strengthening their runways to cope with the coming revolution in international travel
Astonishingly the first Pan Am 747 took off within a year, in January 1970, and more than 1,400 have been sold by Boeing in the intervening years
It was another 10 years before I could bring myself to fly on one – well, in truth I was never in a situation when I had actually refuse to get on one
I used to be terrified of all flying, even though it was a necessary part of my job from the mid 60s. After one particular incident which left me a nervous wreck, unable to stop sweating & shaking for about 24 hours, it was clear that I either had to give up my job or conquer my fear
The first was not really an option
There were no courses in those days, but there were several things worth trying
The first was to tell myself, over & over: The pilot does not want to die any more than you do. He knows what to do – trust him
The second was just to learn more about what was going on – ask questions, of crew or fellow passengers. Thus I learned that bits of the wing called ailerons move because they are supposed to, not because they are about to fall off
Best of all though was the opportunity to spend the day flying in a small single engined Cessna, with the man whose job it was to inspect landing strips. For the first time I really believed, at some fundamental visceral level, in the idea that flying is possible. I even got to ‘fly’ the plane myself – fortunately all that was required of me was to hold the wheel & make sure the horizon stayed level
Best of all, in a small plane like that, choosing the route through the clouds reminded me of nothing so much as driving round the hills of the Peak District, than which hardly anything could be more reassuringly familiar
Even so, flying in one of those huge, rumbling, unwieldy machines alongside 400 other people seemed to be tempting Fate a step too far
When I finally did get round to it, it was a bit of a let down
From the comfort of your seat take off, if anything, seems easier & less laboured than in a smaller plane
But the tedium. The lack of leg room these days. The queues for the loo. The slowness of loading & unloading. The crowded departure lounges & endless walk to the departure gate. The fact that airlines no longer take full responsibility for your comfort if there are any delays
And that was before all the post-911 security checks
So I think my flying days are well & truly over
Unless somewhere somebody today is test flying a Beam me up Scotty! machine
