Crash!

I have to pause once more to talk about something we've all probably encountered in one form or another: the fear of flying. Why? Because I traveled recently with a friend who is absolutely terrified of planes, and I made a unique discovery: the fear of flying is contagious.

Seriously. I'm a bit of a freak in that I actually love to fly. I love the rush of the plane cruising down the runway. When I flew from Osaka to Tokyo, the airline had a camera fixed to the front of the plane, and they channeled that picture to the screen in the cabin. Because Osaka is on the coast, the runway extends over the water. So what you saw on the screen looked like the ground vanishing, probably leading straight to a crash. The friend I was flying with absolutely hated it. I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen.

But on this recent flight, we encountered some pretty heavy turbulence, and my flying partner was clearly convinced we were headed for a horrible death. To my surprise, I found myself getting kind of nervous myself. I don't know if his nervousness leaped over the armrest or my own latent nerves sprang to life or what, but I was really surprised how much the turbulence on this flight bothered me. I never LIKE turbulence -- who does? -- but it's never frightened me before.

So my theory is this: if fear of flying really is contagious, those people need to be sedated or something before they get near a plane. Think about it. If you get enough people really freaked out, their fear might travel to the cockpit and infect the pilot, and the last thing we need is a terrified pilot guiding us through basic turbulence!

And just in case you think I'm being nasty, I mentioned this idea to my friend and he was all for it. Sedation, heavy doses of alcohol or drugs -- anything to keep him from thinking about his impending doom.