Flying bores me at best. But it is the fastest way to get anywhere.

The only really scary flying incidident would be having a rocket acting as wingman as we landed in Kabul. Fortunately I was looking out the other side window at the time, and didn't find out until after the landing.

I'm right there with you. Yes, flying is statistically safer than driving - but if you have a mechanical problem with your car, you can stop and get out. That kinda doesn't work in a plane :-\

Being a commercial jet pilot for many years, i find that driving my car or riding my motorcycle on our roads scares me more then flying ever could. In the air I feel free of all the problems and hassles back on earth. Driving on New Zealand roads is another matter.

I just think of them as being a bus with wings. To much time on planes around the country for work means I approach flights with intense boredom, music to listen to, and a book to read.

I used to be fine flying, with no qualms about it. That was until I was talked into doing a parachute jump with a couple of girl friends. They were really keen, but as I suffer from vertigo, and have an aversion to scary things (rollercoasters, horror movies, spiders, generally being out of control), I knew this wasn't going to go well. Short version: I completed the jump, didn't die, but have hated flying ever since. Sheer irrational terror.

Lifelong aviation enthusiast, so naturally love flying, and have been known to enjoy a bouncy approach into Wellington on occasion. Having a slightly increased awareness of whats normal and what isn't compared to many passengers probably helps. Worst flying experience I have ever had was over Lake Wanaka a few years back, circling in turbulence while waiting for a slot to land at the airshow. Smoothest landing I have ever had was in Wellington. Flew up from Christchurch, fine and clear day, no turbulence whatsoever, and noted a woman using a sick bag as we touched down :)

While I think your friends comment about 'Metal coffins' isn't particularly accurate or helpful (a lot of people die in survivable aircraft accidents because they assume they are going to and don't take the actions that would have ensured their survival), wrapping ourselves in an aluminium, steel and fibreglass tube and hurtling through the sky at close to 1000kph isn't that natural when you think about it, so it is understandable that not everyone enjoys it as much as others. For all its drawbacks though, it is a wonder of our age that it is so common as to be taken for granted.

I absolutely HATE flying with a passion. I remember as a kid loving the turbulence, but these days there's nothing that scares me more. I suck up the domestic flights, however these days even those bring on panic. Needless to say I'm not very thrilled about going to Canada in a few weeks. Medication is the only saving grace, otherwise I'd never even consider stepping foot onto the plane. It makes me very aware of the different airlines and I'm very particular about who I fly with!

Flying itself is fairly boring. I enjoy the takeoff as the intense acceleration is quite a thrill. The landing is generally interesting if it's daylight. In between are long periods of having little to do and nowhere to go.

Spent a recent flight to Sydney with music queued up on a playlist until the in flight system at my seat reset itself. Nothing compared to my 11 year old daughter who managed to lock hers up solid such that it couldn't be reset at all. :-)

Pedestrianism is vastly more dangerous than flying. (So is psychling but I didn't want to go there....oops).

I've been flying since I was about 5 months old - with all my parents' family in the UK I was a long-haul veteran from a very young age. I never had a bad experience as a kid, so was a very relaxed flier for a long time.

Until I moved to Wellington.

I'm fine about the middle portion of the flight (except turbulence, which I started to find scary after a flight in which we hit three air pockets in a row and dropped fast enough to have people screaming in the cabin) but these days take-off and landing always have me white-knuckled. When my partner is with me it's very like the end of the episode of the Simpsons where Marge conquers her fear of flying ("that's just the engine powering up...that's just the engine struggling...that's just a carp swimming around your ankles.").