u/theawdacity

Going camping there next week. Is it common to see them? I have this (probably irrational) fear of them trying to get under/into my tent for warmth and then getting bit.

ETA: Love ya Reddit. Thank you to those that took the time to reply with a possible cause as I was genuinely curious and seeking knowledge from those more educated in this field. It was the first time something like this has happened and the screaming from the other passengers made me feel like maybe it wasn’t “normal”. At no point did I intend any hate or snark towards the pilots. We landed safely and they did their job. EVEN IF it was pilot error I’m not going to the evening news about it and said several times that nobody anywhere ever does their job perfectly at all times. I’m still grateful to the people who train so hard to fly these things which still seems to my nervous flyer brain as an impossibility of logic.

I recently landed at LGA and I know their runways are short and require a precise landing. I’ve landed there many times before and have only noticed the use of reverse thrust to slow down faster.

However this landing felt like we just dropped the last few feet and slammed onto the runway. It was hard enough to pop an overhead bin open and a couple people screamed. That, mixed with the reverse thrusters firing had people around me very nervous. I honest thought we had popped a tire.

I noticed that when we were getting off the plane, the captains were still behind a closed cockpit door when usually the door is open and they’re saying goodbye to the people de-planing. I’m wondering if there was some error that would have made that happen and maybe they were filling out reports in there?

Conditions were dry and sunny though it had stormed early that morning. Maybe wind was involved?

I’m so curious to know what might have happened!

I flew across the US yesterday on TWO different planes, both 737 Max 8’s. I had posted here about my fear of this recently and I’m here to say that the worst part of the whole thing was waiting forever at baggage claim and the little kids in front of us shaking the seats, making our devices fall.

Overall I felt that the takeoffs and landings were smoother than airbuses. I was shocked. According to my googling, this is a testament to pilot skill since they have to manually control this more than on an airbus-and that actually made me feel better. The pilots said we were beginning our descent and it felt slow. Like I didn’t feel the dropping/sinking feeling as much and then we were on the ground! (And for the second flight we were much higher up) I also felt the pilot kept us informed about “just a little chop” which made the very minor bumps we experienced easy to deal with.

On our first landing, the pilot used the reverse thrusters and I’m glad I knew about what that was when we heard the roaring and felt the shaking. If you experience that, it’s normal and doesn’t mean anything is wrong. They may need to get to a runway exit faster or it’s a shorter runway or they just do it to alleviate wear on the brakes. (All told to me by a pilot)

I also did the thing I always do before a flight where I just chat with the pilots beforehand. Just a quick “hey I’m a nervous flyer and I just like to meet the ‘driver’.” In my experience, they’ve always been wonderful and friendly and offer extra information which helps me feel more secure about the flight -that’s how I learned about reverse thrusters, possibility of a go-around at certain airports, areas of possible bumps “but it’s not dangerous at all just uncomfortable” and pre-flight checks “I would never fly a plane I wasn’t sure about” and “we would never fly you into a cumulus cloud”. To be clear, I’ve never asked anything directly, they’ve always offered information which shows me just how excited they are about their job and also how much of an expert they are in something so complicated.

I don’t think I will ever like flying, it makes me anxious, but I do love traveling and seeing new places. The fact that I flew across the US is insane and I’m proud of myself. If I can do it literally anyone can because until a few years ago, I had gone about 15 years without flying, had a crying panic attack at the airport only 3 years ago, and now I’ve flown 3x in 2026! I’m not saying I’m “cured”, only that I understand the fear we all share and that hearing good stories like this is comforting.

Cross posted to r/askapilot Nervous flying on AA 737Max

Please be kind. I’m a nervous flyer on the best of days but I have built up a comfort level with JetBlue and their airbuses which I fly a couple of times a year.

I have a trip coming up that requires me to fly AA four times (2 planes going and 2 planes coming home). I don’t “know” AA. I am leery of Boeing because of all the incidents they had and I am outright terrified of the 737 Max because of the crashes. I know the entire fleet was grounded and everything was supposedly fixed but I still have this irrational(?) fear.

To help my flying anxiety I like to meet the pilots and chat for a moment, it puts a face to the “driver” for me. All pilots have been nothing short of wonderful about it and a few were ever able to make me laugh which is hard for me in an airport.

If I get a chance to meet the pilots, I don’t want to ask about crashing and Boeing and make it all negative. Can anyone help work some logic into my brain about this?

Thanks in advance!

Please be kind. I’m a nervous flyer on the best of days but I have built up a comfort level with JetBlue and their airbuses which I fly a couple of times a year.

I have a trip coming up that requires me to fly AA four times (2 planes going and 2 planes coming home). I don’t “know” AA. I am leery of Boeing because of all the incidents they had and I am outright terrified of the 737 Max because of the crashes. I know the entire fleet was grounded and everything was supposedly fixed but I still have this irrational(?) fear.

To help my flying anxiety I like to meet the pilots and chat for a moment, it puts a face to the “driver” for me. All pilots have been nothing short of wonderful about it and a few were ever able to make me laugh which is hard for me in an airport.

If I get a chance to meet the pilots, I don’t want to ask about crashing and Boeing and make it all negative. Can anyone help work some logic into my brain about this?

Thanks in advance!