what i learned in class today.

i spent a lot of time obsessing about and then trying to get over my fear of flying last year when i had to fly to savannah over christmas, and i was successful enough that the thought of flying doesn't cause me to panic much anymore. two nights ago i watched a program on the history channel about aloha airlines' flight 243 without freaking out, and yesterday when this military plane crashed i was like, cool pictures (and bonus points for the lack of casualties). i was a bit dismayed that the cockpit can actually become separated from the fuselage, but apparently that's only the beginning of things i didn't know about the logistics of plane mishaps. and by mishaps i mean terrible, horrible fiery crashes that end in death. i have since been enlightened.

today in class we were discussing southwest airlines and the conversation turned (very, very bad) to plane crashes. the instructor explained how when a plane hits something--say, the ground--all the seats in the plane, starting in the back, crash to the front of the plane and if you don't burn to death then the impact of your seat crashing into all the others is what kills you.

while he was saying this i wondered whether it's safer to sit in the front or back of the plane (to squish or be squished, that is the question) and the girl next to me covered her ears with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. and everyone else was like, did you have to say that? thankfully it was a short-lived conversation, but this definitely falls under the category of things that will keep me from flying for the next 15 years, unless i'm drugged and dragged onto a plane against my will.