[Mr Ramsbotham]

I remember when an Allegheny Airlines DC-9 collided with a small plane in Shelby County, Indiana. I was about 6 years old....and we were driving down I74 a few hours afterward and there were bodies in trees, luggage, debris everywhere....I will never forget it....

I too have seen firsthand the devastation caused by a massive airplane crash. It took quite some time before I could stop thinking about what I'd seen. You never really appreciate how vulnerable you are as a human being until you see the kinds of things that can happen to flesh and bone.

[Talisker]

...suffer the torment of an uncontrollable descent. ...said all the victims’ necks were broken. ...can’t the thought out of my head... how terrible it would be... just descending in an uncontrollable manner, knowing full well that at the end of the plummet I was going to be dismembered, crushed and probably burned. ...the flight crew were horsing around during a landing and not paying attention to what they were doing. ...Speaking of screaming passengers ...absolutely chilled me ...a man flying through the air... who emitted a high-pitched screaming noise... They found his body embedded in the car with his legs protruding from the rear window and his brains splattered all over the interior. ...screaming on the way down and the scream carried over after his ejection. ...quite some time before I could stop thinking about what I'd seen. ...how vulnerable you are as a human being... the kinds of things that can happen to flesh and bone.

Having fun?

[oprahstheantichrist]

Okay, I just have to ask,

Which crash was it?

I share your trepidation. Was not at the site itself, but I was about five miles from O'Hare when AA 191 went down Memorial Day Friday 1979. It was the horrible, hideous, pitch black smoke engulfing the sky that made it suddenly very real.

I know all the statistics about how commercial flying is the absolute safest method of transport between points A and B. I have reasoned through the data regarding persons vs. miles traveled vs. incident free days-weeks-months-years. I know it. I know all about it.

Bottom line, that is just NOT how I want to leave this earth. Whether it'd be five seconds, forty seconds, or five minutes, I can't imagine what would go though a person's mind.

I know where I'm going afterward too, but the potential of "that descent" is one of the most sobering risks of the human or mechanical fallability of our high-tech culture.