Nice landing tbh … didn’t seem much of a crosswind and looked like a smooth touchdown

😱😱

I took off from DCA once during a huge storm

Pilot must have taken us from the runway to cruising altitude in like 20 seconds

sounds scary

Sooooo glad I flew out on the 22nd, just a few bumps on take off

I randomly developed a fear of flying several years ago. It’s gotten a lot better, mostly I just don’t love taking off, but landing doesn’t bother me much these days. THIS, though? I would have been in hysterics 😂

>mostly I just don’t love taking off, but landing doesn’t bother me much these days

I would've guessed the opposite for most people with a fear of flying. What about taking off scares you?

Strong headwind means you don't need a very long runway!

I used to fear landing more as well, but then a pilot told me that taking off is actually far more dangerous! If there are any pilots on here can you confirm…and if so, why?

I’m the same way. Takeoff is scary to me because you get catapulted up into the air, the plane turns/banks hard out of DCA, and then the engine noises change and the angle of plane drops as you hit cruising altitude—it feels like falling or something going wrong. However, my fear is probably due to a bad helicopter flight where we had to do an autorotation (i.e., they cut the engine and the centrifugal force of the falling aircraft causes the rotors to keep spinning). …Maybe I have PTSD

Edit: if you have a severe fear of flying, maybe don't read the below!

Aerospace engineer and hobbyist pilot. So I agree with that pilot, but I just intuitively thought most people feared landings.

Landing, at least in good weather, is very simple. There's not a lot that can catastrophically go wrong. Once you're lined up with the runway and on glideslope in, you can glide in and control your lift and speed with flaps and air brakes even if your engines quit. You already have momentum, altitude, and energy to use to get you out of most situations.

Taking off, you have no altitude, no speed, etc to work with. If an engine quits, the other has to go full throttle just to keep you in the air let alone climb. Plus, you just left the runway, so there's usually no where to land in front of you and turning is where you lose most of your altitude and energy. On long haul flights, you're also usually too heavy to go back and land right away, as most commercial aircraft landing gear can handle significantly more weight on takeoff than landing. In general, there's just a lot more consequences when things go wrong on takeoff than landing.

On landing, if all else fails a pilot can "deadstick" glide it somewhere. On takeoff, if everything goes wrong, the plane turns into a brick.

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Lord. I’m sorry I asked for details. From now on I’ll be drinking heavily at the airport bars pre-flight.🤣🤣 Thank you for the explanation! That makes complete sense.

As I said in another comment, the fear is founded as takeoff is much more dangerous than landing. It just seems counterintuitive to me.

Taking off seems wrong. Landing seems normal. Things that go up have to come down!

Also, taking off means anticipating anxiety for the duration of the flight. Landing means things are over, one way or another!

Take off is when the majority of incidents occur, i believe. Like if something is going to go wrong during your flight it’s probably going to happen within the first few minutes of the flight. I do hate the one descent into DCA because of how sharp those turns are. The views of the monument are beautiful but man those turns are rough. But in general with landing my mind is like “well, we’re already going towards the ground so if something bad happens at least we’re already headed that direction” which is kinda dark lol

Keep in mind that crossing a street in DC is more dangerous than flying on a commercial airline. So "more dangerous" is relative and modern aircraft are generally amazingly safe.

Flew from DCA to Boston last night. Landing was fun to say the least.

We once were coming into National during a windy day. A pilot was hitching a ride and was across the aisle from us. When HE looked scared by the turbulence and landing, it made it a little more scary for us. Exiting the plane, the flight crew said we were the last plane they let land that evening, at least until the wind died down.

Yea when I’m getting anxious I look at the flight attendants and if they look calm I’m usually like ok it’s not bad. Idk what I would do if they were freaking out lol