As i was seated on the isle seat of the B737 from LGK-KL yesterday, I inadvertently repositioned the dangling earphones of my Creative Zen mp3 player on my chest to my ear holes and powered the device. I totatlly pretermitted the initial announcement by the leading steward to switch off any source of magnetic devices and handphones. As the plane took off, coincidentally the song Plane by Jason Mraz started playing. Instantaneously I had a flashback.
My first memory of being in an aeroplane was way back when i was 4. To me it was like a magical ride on a flying carpet and i felt like Superman for once. I would always pick the window seat and watched in awe as the flaps of wings protrude in and out. The wonderment of flying in the clouds was really astounding. The view itself was simply breathtaking I couldnt take my eyes off of it. Flying was a
'special event' that I always look forward to every year *(my kampung's in Kelantan, so we go back almost every year for raya).
But my enthusiasm in flying changed abruptly into fear when I experienced a near death/crash experience in a flight to Kota Bharu. I was about 6-7 then, if I remembered correctly. All I could recall was there were 3 of us there, me, my dad and my eldest sister(who by the way is a flight attendant for MAS now) and the most terrifying tubulence Ive experienced in my life. I, as usual was sitting at the window seat whilst my dad was at the adjacent seat. It happened in a flash. Lights in the B737 was flickering and flight attendants were running around here and there trying to calm the passengers down. I had no clue what had happened but I knew for a fact that we were all gonna die that day. The fact that my dad was scared shitless made the whole experience even scarier for me. My sister, the tough cookie amongst the siblings, was already crying like a baby. So you could imagine how a 6 year old wud react upon seeing his sister weeping like a baby. But what baffles me more was that I was scared but at the same time calm as hell. I remembered how my dad told me to recite the Al-Fatihah (that was the only prayer i was familliar with at that time) and pray to god that we get there safely. So i closed my eyes and prayed. The plane landed safely on the runway and much to my amusement, everyone applaused like the end of a good play.
So I was afraid of flying ever since. Even the slightest of turbulence gives me the hibby-gibbies. I would close my eyes and pray every time the plane takes off and lands. So just imagine the amount of trauma i experienced during my 12 hour flight to London a couple of years back. And it wasnt only 1 trip, but 2 trips to visit my ex, 2 trips = 4 flights. You do the math...
Suddenly a strong series of turbulence startled my day dream. I could see the horror in the old man's face sitting across me. Instead of feeling anxious like i used to, I carved out a smirk. I know its mean of me to do so but in that instance it finally hit me that I'm not afraid anymore. I guess the stuff that i was taught in flying school slowly phased out my fear of flying. Probably what scares me the most is the fear of the unknown. But knowing what i know now, soothes me in many ways. And even if the plane goes down, hopefully it will be a fast one for me! But touch wood!
p/s: this cud be my last entry. sorry for wasting a coupla' minutes of ur daily lives. Enjoy the piece.
