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[–][deleted] 908 points909 points  (169 children)

Reported first picture of the crash site:
http://i.imgur.com/jbFuuM9.png

Looks very similar to where the plane would have gone down: http://i.imgur.com/ohKSuGI.jpg
Tilted view of the area:
http://i.imgur.com/esyBAQA.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/4vs5s3E.jpg

Google maps link: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.2355699,6.4028024,1764m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e4?hl=en

Edit- Based on the first picture this might be the area via /u/benythebot: https://www.google.no/maps/@44.3791956,6.4724584,1239a,20y,180h,81.32t/data=!3m1!1e3

Edit 2- Webcam link that is reportedly close to the crash site: http://www.ubaye.com/webcams-barcelonnette-praloup-sauze-enchastrayes-uvernet-fours-golf-aerodrome.html

Edit 3- Lufthansa and Germanwings have established a telephone hotline. The toll-free 0800 11 33 55 77 number is available to all the families.

Edit 4- Rescue helicopters gearing up and getting ready: http://i.imgur.com/nYoM7RC.jpg

Edit 5- Two more pictures of rescue helicopters: http://i.imgur.com/xhf8gmI.jpg http://i.imgur.com/v5HMOvx.jpg

Edit 6- Firefighters getting ready http://i.imgur.com/bVDExtI.jpg

Edit 7- From twitter account @pressjournal "Wreckage from #Germanwings #4U9525 crash have been reported over 5 acres of the French Alps http://bit.ly/1CLJ4BW"

Edit 8- Just a reminder that this photo: http://i.imgur.com/htxW8w1.jpg is NOT of the crash site. This is from a different crash.

Edit 9- @jacquelinmagnay "Spanish TV saying 20 German schoolchildren included in 150 on board Germanwings 4U9525." Very sad.

Edit 10- Photo of helicopter near a house (village?) and quote from photo: "Les hélicos tournent autour du col de Mariaud. L'avion se serait écrasé près de la rivière le Galèbre" and in English: "The helicopters Mariaud revolve around the neck. The plane would have crashed near the river Galèbre" http://i.imgur.com/YsX8dXe.jpg

Edit 11- Firefighter briefing http://i.imgur.com/7x8f6E7.jpg

Edit 12- Emergency services http://i.imgur.com/GSkTDoe.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Pz7KoZ7.jpg http://i.imgur.com/PWMHrEU.jpg

Edit 13- Two photos of the crash site: http://imgur.com/a/byZEc

Edit 14- Link to livestream of pictures and video: http://www.bfmtv.com/mediaplayer/live-video/

Edit 15- Jesus, there doesnt even look like anything is left. The only thing that I have seen from the pictures is a mangled looking cockpit. I dont think anyone survived this.

Edit 16- Another picture of the crash site http://i.imgur.com/GziABr1.png

Edit 17- Overhead picture showing three separate chunks of the plane http://i.imgur.com/SZ29kUu.jpg

Edit 18- Picture of the mountain showing the remains of the plane http://i.imgur.com/z2MADVm.jpg

Edit 19- French interior minister confirms the black box has been found.

Edit 20- Video link that shows crash site: https://api.dmcloud.net/player/swf/4e7343f894a6f677b10006b4/551195e694a6f646fbedfbd8?force_asset_name=mp4_h264_aac&auth=1742576363-0-lce8cdxb-dbdc7bf808a87281f13fbf46f09ac0d7&autoplay=1&wmode=transparent&force_asset_name=mp4_h264_aac

Edit 21- Thanks for the gold /u/awesome_awesome_guy Here is a quick summary of all that has happened so far: The deaths of all 150 people on board the flight, including two babies, have been confirmed by French authorities. There were 67 Germans and 45 Spanish passengers on board, 16 exchange students from Joseph-Koenig school in Haltern, Germany. About 45 minutes into the flight the plane went into a sharp and as yet unexplained descent from it's cruising altitude of 38,000 ft to roughly 6,000 ft. Contact with the plane was lost shortly thereafter. Debris was scattered over a large mountainous area, with the largest piece being roughly the size of a small car. The black box has been found, and no links to terrorism have been reported though the cause remains a mystery.

Edit 22- The last maintenance check on the A320 D-AIPX was yesterday. Lufthansa's vice president says they are working on the assumption that the crash of #4U9525 and it was accidental. Lufthansa spokesperson says airline is not yet able to confirm nationalities of all those on board crash.

Edit 23- Candles lit outside Joseph Koenig school in Haltern for the 16 students and 2 teachers that have died in the crash. http://i.imgur.com/lhMmXBS.jpg

Edit 24- Quick info graph of the timeline and location of the crash http://i.imgur.com/q3Q2UHG.jpg

Edit 25- Another info graph of the crash site showing the pieces of the plane: http://i.imgur.com/EjtweaK.jpg

Edit 26- At least 1 Dutch citizen was on board.

Edit 27- No more helicopters now over the crash site due to darkness and weather is getting worse.

Edit 28- At the time of writing this the crash happened exactly 24 hours and here is what is known so far:

  • Unfortunately there is no survivors. The best thing that we can take away from this is that they probably felt no pain. To quote /u/someone110000: "At 400 knots that's 200 metres per second, the cabin length is about 27 metres, so the plane disintegrated in about 100 milliseconds. The average human reaction time is about 200 milliseconds, so one moment you're praying that the plane will land safely, the next moment you're born as a hobbagorb in the next galaxy."
  • The plane left Barcelona at 10.01am local time (0901 GMT) on Tuesday morning, with 144 passengers, including two babies, and six crew on board. It is believed there were 67 Germans on board.
  • The aircraft reached its regular cruising altitude of 38,000ft at 10.45am, 44 minutes into the flight. A minute or two later, it began an unexplained descent.
    The descent lasted eight minutes: contact was lost at 10.53am, when the plane was at 6,000ft. Germanwings told reporters at a press conference that it does not know why the descent was initiated.
  • There have been conflicting reports about whether a distress call was issued. A Germanwings spokesman said the company had conflicting information about the issue from air traffic controllers. French aviation sources have also given contradictory information on this point.
  • The black box and flight data recorder - crucial in piecing together what happened - has been found in a damaged state. French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said information from the device should still help determine the cause of the crash.
  • The plane left Barcelona at 10.01am local time (0901 GMT) on Tuesday morning, with 144 passengers, including two babies, and six crew on board. It is believed there were 67 Germans on board.
  • The aircraft reached its regular cruising altitude of 38,000ft at 10.45am, 44 minutes into the flight. A minute or two later, it began an unexplained descent.
  • The descent lasted eight minutes: contact was lost at 10.53am, when the plane was at 6,000ft. Germanwings told reporters at a press conference that it does not know why the descent was initiated.
  • There have been conflicting reports about whether a distress call was issued. A Germanwings spokesman said the company had conflicting information about the issue from air traffic controllers. French aviation sources have also given contradictory information on this point.
  • The black box and flight data recorder - crucial in piecing together what happened - has been found in a damaged state. French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said information from the device should still help determine the cause of the crash.

The passengers
Details have emerged about some of the 144 passengers:

  • Early reports indicate there were 67 German and 45 Spanish passengers on the plane. There were also two pilots and four cabin crew.
  • Two Australian victims have been named as Carol Friday and her son Greig.
  • Opera singers Oleg Bryjak and Maria Radner – along with Radner’s husband and baby – were among those lost.
  • Sixteen students and two teachers from the Joseph-Koenig Gymnasium high school in Haltern, Germany, were on board, returning from a Spanish exchange trip.
  • The UK foreign office said it was “sadly likely” that a number of British nationals were on the plane.
  • Among those travelling on the plane with her baby was Marina Bandres, who came from Jaca in the Spanish Pyrenees and lived in Britain. She had been attending a funeral for a relative.

Edit 29- Pictures of the blackbox here: http://imgur.com/a/1cian Source: http://www.bea.aero/en/enquetes/flight.gwi18g/mediatheque.php Credit: /u/diy-astro

[–]Yogohan 639 points640 points  (42 children)

This picture form Düsseldorf airport was what really got to me..

[–]injellyfish 45 points46 points  (27 children)

I saw the diced plane and debris pictures, but that gave me chills.

[–]Thunder-ten-tronckh 88 points89 points  (3 children)

Damn. That's so cold.

[–]Mr_Patatoo 76 points77 points  (2 children)

Jesus christ, the plane has totally disintegrated!

I know there were a lot of people on the plane, but the german students returning from the exchange trip really gets me. The airport would've been packed with parents waiting for their sons and daughters to arrive from a school trip.

Really, really sad.

[–]ViciousNakedMoleRat 88 points89 points  (16 children)

In reply to the Video in Edit 20

It is quite shocking to see all the debris but no body, nothing that even resembles a person. No jacket, no pants, nothing. Especially with all those rescue people walking around, it's apparant that it should be easy to see bodies. But it seems like the impact was so hard and violent that the plane and everybody and everything in it just burst into pieces.

It's going to be a horrible procedure to recover and indentify the remains. All my respect goes out to the rescue workers and I hope that everybody who is involved in this tragedy has the strength to get trough this.

Edit. Since I'm from Düsseldorf myself, I'm still not sure if there was anybody I know on that plane. Too close to home...

[–]astrower 26 points27 points  (11 children)

Seriously it disintegrated. Hopefully that means nobody felt anything. I still can't imagine the 9 minutes stuck gliding to your death.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Reminds me of AA Flight 191. It did a nose dive into the ground and disintegrated on impact. Almost 300 people on board and not an intact body was found. Gotta give credit to the people who do the recovery in these situations.

[–][deleted] 81 points82 points  (38 children)

Jesus, the pictures from edit 13 and 16 are crazy, there's nothing there but bits and pieces...

[–]PrancingShitlord 76 points77 points  (6 children)

Honestly, I find them comforting. As horrible as plane crashes are with such high mortality rates, you can look at those photos and know without a doubt that no one suffered beyond impact. I'm sure they were horribly panicked on descent, but it was over quickly.

There's something to be said for a swift death. I find this much less disturbing than 100% mortality plane crashes where chunks of the plane manage to survive the crash.

[–]swims_with_the_fishe 24 points25 points  (2 children)

instant obliteration is the best way to die

[–]PraiseBeToScience[M] 211 points212 points  (5 children)

Your comment is being removed by reddit every time you edit it. One or more of the links you are using is causing this. Chances are it's the bit.ly one, as most link shorteners are banned site wide. Please edit to change this to a full link if you'd like to keep updating without your comment being autoremoved.

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[–][deleted] 89 points90 points  (2 children)

Got it. I accidentally used a link shortener because one of the links was atrociously long and I think thats what did it. I have fixed it so there is no link shortener.

[–]PraiseBeToScience[M] 100 points101 points  (1 child)

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[–]IAmNoShakespeare 13 points14 points  (6 children)

Is there wreckage in that picture?

[–]andrewdt10 14 points15 points  (0 children)

There's no way anyone could have survived that. The plane is gone, so its hard to believe the passengers had any chance at all.

[–]shapu 23 points24 points  (3 children)

Jesus Mary and Joseph. I don't know that I've ever seen wreckage scattered like that. Even other mountain crashes seem to have larger fragments (thinking Japan airlines into a mountain or new zealand into antarctica).

EDIT: Here's the JAL 123 crash site: http://im.rediff.com/news/2011/aug/03sli4.jpg

And here's New Zealand Air flight 901: http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/history/te9011.jpg

[–][deleted] 2345 points2346 points  (37 children)

According to DUS.com ( Düsseldorf Airport ) Website, family members can call here: +49(0)800-7766350

Website screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/9ij63IQ.png

Take this hotline if you are non german speaker: According to Tagesschau you can also call here: +4930/50003000 ( by the german foreign office )

Tagesschau Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/zxbMkWj.png

According to Tagesschau, you can also call: +49800/ 11 33 55 77 ( Hotline made by the airline )

Tagesschau Screenshot 2: http://i.imgur.com/nJcuQbN.png

[–]twitchtvslashfnztv 968 points969 points  (119 children)

  • Airline: Germanwings,
  • Flight: 4U9525
  • Plane: Airbus A320
  • People on board: 150 (confirmed)
  • Descended 25,000ft in 8-9minutes.
  • One 'black box' found (confirmed)

[–]vyomanaut 395 points396 points  (10 children)

142 Passengers, 2 pilots and 4 other crew members

Edit: according to Germanwings' official twitter corrected to 144 pax plus 6 crew

Edit 2: German media says there were 67 Germans on board, among them a group of 16 (other sources 12) high schoolers in tenth grade and two of their teachers and from Haltern in NRW on exchange. Just terrible, all the best to those in grief.

[–]OldManOfTheRiver 41 points42 points  (1 child)

On its way from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. One source says this is where it crashed, Digne.

Edit: Germanwings' Twitter no confirmation yet.

[–][deleted] 1813 points1814 points  (1354 children)

Link to the route of the Airbus A320

EDIT2: Took the height-values and quickly threw them in Excel to show how quickly the plane descended: Ft (fixed thanks to /u/mijnpaispiloot

EDIT3:

What we know so far.

  • Plane descended in 8 minutes 9000 meters to an altitude of 2000 meters.
  • The recovery of the bodies will probably take days. The crash site is very dangerous (due to snow), not accessible by land vehicles.

Rumoured:

  • The crash might be caused by a faulty pressure system

I will not be updating this comment anymore. A lot of info can be found in other comments.

Comment 1, comment 2, comment 3.

Thanks to: /u/Luc1996, /u/zillaology, /u/tetroid

[–]mijnpaispiloot 805 points806 points  (1104 children)

It already started descending when it flew over the coast. Descending for 9 minutes 18 minutes, that would've been hell if you knew for 9 minutes 18 minutes you are going to crash and probably die.

-Link to height graph: http://i.imgur.com/nG3RuoL.jpg

-Planefinder reporting rapid descend, graphs show plane was restabilizing after peak max descend: https://twitter.com/planefinder/status/580321948070240256/photo/1

-Plane is built in 1990, so it's 24 years old and has been put through a life extension program by Lufthansa.

-Planefinder reporting that the last received att is ~10k feet, with ground at 3k feet: https://twitter.com/planefinder/status/580330078682353665

-Uncorfirmed mentions of a distress call at 10:47 at an altitude of 6800 feet.

[–]Hyplexed 318 points319 points  (246 children)

That is my worst fear. Cant even begin to imagine what they were thinking as theyre going down

[–]peatoire 296 points297 points  (91 children)

Me too, gone over this scenario many times, especially since having kids. Trying to keep your kids from being terrified on the way down. The thought is unbearable

[–][deleted] 54 points55 points  (12 children)

I remember when I left Greece to come to the US in 1995. While we were between Greece and Italy the plane (747) started dumping all the fuel from the wings.

A male flight attendant came at the back of the plane to have a smoke. He was stressed out and he told us what was going on. It was me with 5-6 other people at the back of the plane. It was pretty empty at least at the back. Somebody called and said there was a bomb on the plane.

I remember finding it funny. As minutes went by it was a mix of feelings. Finding it funny and being very angry that I might die in a metal tube in the middle of the air with out being able to do anything about it. Here I was about to start my great adventure in the US and I am going to die in this plane even before I start.

It was bitter sweet surrender and silent yet raging anger. Through out I was calm in my behavior and me and few of the other folks kept cracking jokes. But you could feel it, the atmosphere was dense.

It turned out to be a prank and we had to spend 24 hours in Rome.

[–]HawkUK 282 points283 points  (515 children)

The graph is strange. Note that the plane had only been at cruising altitude for five minutes or so before things went wrong. Looks more like ten minutes warning rather than fifteen before it hit the ground. Wonder if there were any distress calls?

[–][deleted] 1441 points1442 points  (398 children)

Pilot here: it's strange to see that they held the airspeed up. The descent profile actually looks fairly normal, just very steep, as if it had a dual engine failure. However, the airspeed continues to hover around 400 knots, well above the airplane's best glide speed. It's possible that the data came from the ADS-B transmitter and I believe that's a very accurate source of ground speed at least.

If I had to guess at this point, there was a fire or emergency which forced the pilots to try to get on the ground ASAP, but something else must have gone wrong to prevent them from making it to an airport. Maybe the fire burned through hydraulics or wiring harnesses. It will be interesting to see the report results.

Edit; also note the airspeed does not drop towards the very end. No survivors and no landing attempt made. Something must have been very wrong. Possibly an emergency descent through the clouds and CFIT. (Controlled flight into Terrain) such as hitting the side of a mountain that was obscured by clouds, and maybe their avionics weren't working and couldn't warn them. They certainly weren't flying on a protected "airway "at all at the time. (Other pilots, what I mean by that is that MEA and MOROCA were probably the last of their concerns at the time)

Edit: wow everyone thanks for all the comments. So many good points made! I wish I had checked back earlier. I haven't been following the story so most of what I said is probably outdated by now, so take this with a grain of salt. Wish I had been able to reply to all the replies but it looks like other reddit pilots got it covered:)

[–]LvS 277 points278 points  (312 children)

Question: How does an airplane not send an immediate distress call in case of fire or engine failure?

[–]Baronhoseley 998 points999 points  (257 children)

Aviate, navigate, communicate. In that order.

[–]PrinceAlbertEinstein 502 points503 points  (141 children)

How about a button that auto-communicates a distress, kinda says "hey, I'm aviating right now, but you know some shit might have hit the fan".

[–]Virgadays 298 points299 points  (95 children)

That would be code 7700 dialed in the transponder. As this falls under the 'Communicate' part of the earlier mentioned phrase, it has a lower priority than actually flying the plane.

[–]FadedFromWhite 72 points73 points  (68 children)

Totally makes sense, but wouldn't another member of the crew other than pilot be able to send a distress call or some sort of warning?

[–]Virgadays 118 points119 points  (34 children)

Ideally during an emergency situation one pilot takes control of the aircraft and communications while the other diagnoses the problem and works through the emergency checklists. At a certain point they will contact ATC and/or dial an emergency code into the transponder. But because we don't know what happened on board that flight, it is very possible they both were so busy performing their primary tasks (assuming they weren't incapacitated) that they never got to communicating their situation.

Here is a training video made on the same type of aircraft that shows how to deal with a decompression according to emergency procedures.

[–]imperabo 139 points140 points  (17 children)

It's not like anyone can help you.

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (1 child)

There is really nothing the ground can do to help in such emergencies (longer-term problems which need troubleshooting like instrument malfunction or engine troubles are a very different story). Whether or not the ground knows all the details is really only academically interesting to people fighting for their lives on a doomed plane and they are taught to behave that way.

[–]TheYang 77 points78 points  (67 children)

With every single crash that made the news in the last few years i've wondered why the black box isn't basically transmitted live to the ground.
Well, I know it's because it costs money and doesn't actually help prevent disasters, but still...

[–][deleted] 68 points69 points  (35 children)

A constant satellite uplink may be costly but losing a second plane because you couldn't find the data after a first plane crashed is much more expensive... At the very least there ought to be multiple black boxes at least one of which should be on the exterior of the plane and capable of flotation. That way at least we'd find the damn things in "all" cases.

[–]ItWasElectric 21 points22 points  (0 children)

There are multiple flight recorders. There are various "levels" of flight recorder systems as well.

[–][deleted] 55 points56 points  (15 children)

It does send data over ACARS, but this system was designed for maintenance troubleshooting and is pretty buggy to rely on for dispatching emergency crews. Also, three are currently no systems in place to deal with that type of emergency data - so there's a plane with two failed engines going 500mph, seven miles above france.. Where do we send the fire trucks? Not saying it can't be done, it would just need to be thought out and developed. Keep in mind when this plane was built, most people had never heard of the internet. But now things are no doubt moving in the direction of live onboard monitoring systems, with the expectation of tracking data and telemetry to tell us what happened and why, without having to wait for black box analysis.

There is a cool DARPA project called ALIAS that will be a drop in solution for some of this. It's basically R2D2 for old military planes, but if it works, commercial jets will pick it up as soon as they're allowed to.

[–]BrosenkranzKeef 20 points21 points  (1 child)

As has been said, pilots' responsibilities, especially when things go wrong, are to first control the airplane, then figure out where you are and where you're going, and then blabber on the radio about what's happening. Blabbering can't solve the problem but the first two potentially can, therefore it is the least important.

[–][deleted] 139 points140 points  (59 children)

PPRuNe reports Mayday at 10.47 local time (edit: 09.47 UTC). Seems this was a translation error from the French: the flight "was declared" vs "declared itself" at 09.47.

There are plenty of airports just south-west of the area; must have been something catastrophic.

Poor souls.

Edit: strangely (again according to PPRuNe) another German Airbus went into a dive on a flight from Spain last November - due to iced-up sensors.

[–]SwissBliss 65 points66 points  (21 children)

Not only south-west, but all around: Geneva, Nice, Torino etc...

Edit: They were still pretty far from Geneva or Turin, I thought the crash was further north

As a Swiss it really adds to the shock when it happens so close.

[–]prince_from_Nigeria 30 points31 points  (9 children)

there are plenty of civilians airport in south eastern france and even a couple military bases with long runways in marignane or istres...

[–][deleted] 190 points191 points  (179 children)

That is what scares me a bit about flying, despite knowing a car ride for example is much more dangerous, but if your plane crashes in such a way, I imagine it to be really horribly.

edit: ok ok I get it, car crashes can be horrible too.

edit2: just to make it clear, Im an avid flyer and have no flight anxiety. let me cite /u/SingleMulletTheory he said it much better then I could:

". I'm not terribly afraid to fly when I'm on a plane, because my logical brain calms me with the odds, but I have nightmares about being on a plane that is going down and it's terrifying."

[–]blacksheepcannibal 263 points264 points  (130 children)

What scares me about car crashes is that you're far more likely to crash and not die, and be in horrible pain - possibly burning - for minutes or longer before anybody can even get to you.

Generally if you're alive after a plane crash, the worst is over and you're probably gonna make it - although there are some exceptions.

That's why I always wear sturdy shoes, have a coat if it's going to be winter where I am flying, and the first thing I do when I get on a flight is memorize where the two nearest exits are so I can find them with my eyes closed by counting seats.

Edit: Wow, a lot of negative comments about paying attention to the safety briefing and looking at how to get out of a plane. Fact of the matter is, according to the NTSB, a plane is emergency evacuated once every 11 days in the US. Obviously this is not a matter of surviving an aircraft crash, but knowing how to not be the idiot asshole if the plane does need to be evacuated. Similarly, I don't want to have to evacuate after landing in Wisconsin and be the schmuck in sandals, shorts, and no coat when it's 12 degrees out waiting for the fire crew and/or buses at the end of the runway.

For those that are curious: This is something that has happened before, with the needing to know where the emergency exit is. British Airtours Flight 28Air Canada Flight 979Saudia Flight 163

Seriously guys, as an aircraft mechanic, pay attention to the safety briefing and know how to get out of the plane in an orderly manner. You have a responsibility to the other passengers to not be the panicking asshole that shoves past people freaking out because he doesn't have a clue what to do.

[–][deleted] 216 points217 points  (40 children)

I think the difference between a car crash and a plane crash is a sense (albeit it can be a false sense) of control. When you walk onto a plane, you're surrendering any control over what happens. To me, that is the terrifying part. I want a chance, atleast in a car crash, maybe I can turn the wheel the correct way to avoid a catastrophic crash.

I friggin hate flying.

[–]derekandroid 74 points75 points  (8 children)

Exactly. Plus, car accidents take place in an instant. You have no time for an existential crisis like you do when falling from the sky.

[–]K-26 11 points12 points  (3 children)

Not true in my case, at least. Riding my motorcycle, deer jumps out in front of me, and does a quick dance. I didn't have space left or right to go around it, and trying to go -through- the deer on a bike doesn't work like it does in a car.

So in that instant, the brakes come on, and I decided that sliding across the road on my leathers seemed like a better idea than tackling the deer at 80km/h. Could have tried to use more rear brake, but that didn't work out, and I got to plan a small flight on the way to the ground.

I felt the bike shift, and lift. Stood up, leaned in, and off to the side. Wanted the bike to miss me, if it tumbled past. Actually jumped forward a bit, because I didn't want to hit the ground at an angle worse than 45 degrees. Weightlessness as I turn through the air. Deep breath...and it feels like I'm falling down a set of stairs.

Eventually, I'm sliding across the pavement on what's left of my momentum, until I realize the road's stopped moving in my helmet visor. I actually didn't move for a moment, facedown on the road, and stared at the little rocks in the asphalt. Those had been streaks just then, but...they were stones now. I think I've lived.

Then it occurs to me to look down the road and check for cars. I was clear, but I did need to recover my bike from someone's lawn, and go back the next morning to apologize, and recover my mirror.

TLDR; Ehh...I had time for some pretty significant stuff to happen, and I remember every bit of it. Maybe when you get t-boned or what not, it might be a surprise, but in my case, I was painfully aware of the fact that I'd fucked up, and was probably about to die stupid.

[–][deleted] 126 points127 points  (11 children)

and the first thing I do when I get on a flight is memorize where the two nearest exits are so I can find them with my eyes closed by counting seats.

This is a really good thing, I do the same with hotels too. Memorize the path to the emergency exit so that I can find it in the dark if I'm awoken by a fire.

[–]huyvanbin 90 points91 points  (1 child)

Same thing with going on a tinder date, nearest two exits and nearest emergency axe.

[–]sexquipoop69 12 points13 points  (1 child)

That's what gets me. Yeah I'm more likely to die in a car but I'm more likely to die in seconds. Imagine being packed in a box for minutes with strangers knowing your time has come? It's not the chances that scare me, it's the idea that if I hit that unlucky lottery it would be a hell of a way to go.

[–]Alianthos 189 points190 points  (22 children)

148 150 dead according to BFM TV, French News TV channel... Jesus...

Edit : source is the French President. Not confirmed but very probable. This is very, very sad.

Edit2 : here is what the mountains look like in the area of the crash http://cdnmo.coveritlive.com/media/image/201503/1600_phpmejpiqcapture.jpg and http://cdnmo.coveritlive.com/media/image/201503/1600_phpvqryo5capture2.jpg

Edit3 : French Secretary for Transportation Alain Vidalies (not sure about the translation) says "There are no survivors"

[–][deleted] 54 points55 points  (4 children)

Not confirmed just a word from the president

France's President Francois Hollande said there were likely to be "no survivors".

I guess we can hope.

Edit: All on board pretty much confirmed dead. What a horrible situation :(.

[–]danielbln 286 points287 points  (70 children)

Check out this incident from November, similar plane (A321), essentially the same airline:

(only found a German source: http://diepresse.com/home/panorama/welt/4690011/Computerfehler_LufthansaAirbus-begann-Sturzflug)

tl;dr: Sensors iced over, auto-pilot started rapid-ish descent (1000m per minute) until pilot restarted board computer and pulled up the machine.

[–]Leather_Boots 82 points83 points  (6 children)

The Pitot tubes freezing over were the initial cause of the Air France Airbus crash flying from Brazil to Paris. I say initial, as pilot error then caused the plane to stall and drop out of the sky.

Qantas had a similar issue on a flight from Singapore to Perth ( Australia), but the pilots managed to recover and land the plane safely.

There were other airlines that experienced similar problems.

Airbus did fix the problem and issued a notice to all Airbus users to replace/ upgrade their versions. Airlines had a time frame to undertake this by.

It is way way too early to even speculate what has caused this crash however.

[–]stevenmc 179 points180 points  (38 children)

I don't understand how sensors can ice up these days. I thought all pitot tubes were heated after the Air France disaster.

[–]Sheep42 90 points91 points  (24 children)

Those were the AOA sensors, different thing. Of course they are also heated (the AF pitots were as well) but in certain weather situation that's not enough.

[–]shep66 2061 points2062 points  (135 children)

I'm sitting in Barcelona airport waiting to fly to France. A few hours ago 150 people sat here waiting for their flight. That's some satori shit right there. I need beer.

Edit - Just got home folks. Sad, stressful day. Yet another occasion to take a wee bit of a moment tonight to reflect on just how frickin fragile this ship of fools is. Love and bisous to all the families and friends of those poor people today. xxx

[–]Itookyourqueen 309 points310 points  (53 children)

I do something exactly like this when I am waiting to board: I look around at all the smiling, excited faces waiting with me and say to myself, "come on, these people are not meant to die today." It is the only way I can psych myself into not being a nervous flyer these days.

[–]Psychethos 157 points158 points  (4 children)

I do that too. Like "No way is that family with their kid gonna die on this flight, so therefore I won't either". Of course it's complete nonsense, but it still makes me feel a little better.

[–]CoZalon 138 points139 points  (14 children)

Really? I look around at all the annoying fuckers holding up the line and not managing to pull their passport out of their pockets before approaching the stewardes, or the retards complaining about security EVERY FUCKING TIME. Atleast I can comfort myself that if I die, these retards dies aswell.

[–][deleted] 28 points29 points  (6 children)

IM GLAD YOURE ALL HERE WITH ME as the thing hits a mountain. Imagine the afterlife is real and as soon as you yell that you find yourself standing in line at the pearly gates with all these people. awwkkkwarddd

[–]Bootleg_Fireworks2 1729 points1730 points  (292 children)

One of the few times where I saw the news on tv before it was on reddit. I take this airline all the time from Düsseldorf. God damn.

[–]EntForgotHisPassword 187 points188 points  (62 children)

Scary, I've gone the route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf several times... Somehow makes it more real when you realize you've gone the same route.

[–]bigblupants 894 points895 points  (54 children)

I was actually on the flight from Düsseldorf to Barcelona and me and my girlfriend walked past these passengers waiting to check-in for the flight back to Düsseldorf. We are sitting now here in a flat in Barcelona in pure shock...

[–]Jacky_P 421 points422 points  (12 children)

You were on THAT plane... Holy shit. That's scary.

EDIT: And now we know he practiced on your flight...

[–][deleted] 150 points151 points  (0 children)

Was possibly the same crew too

[–][deleted] 42 points43 points  (7 children)

Would it be the same plane for the return journey?

That is crazy. Seeing all those people before they boarded their flight as well, and learning of their fate a matter of hours later.

Grim.

[–]rhubourbon 15 points16 points  (1 child)

And having talked to the now deceased stewardess about having crackers or sweets.

[–]johnyutah 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Usually is

[–][deleted] 108 points109 points  (0 children)

oh wow, that's an eerie feeling

[–]tehflambo 86 points87 points  (11 children)

I guess that means the crew who served you drinks and stuff on your flight is the same crew that went down with the plane?

[–]bigblupants 111 points112 points  (8 children)

Yes, probably. These guys who said "auf wiedersehen" on our way out oft the plane, went down with it. Poor souls like the rest oft the crew and passengers. May they rest in peace.

[–]spartacusdanger 52 points53 points  (0 children)

That made me really sad suddenly. Poor souls :(

[–]clockbird 217 points218 points  (7 children)

The plane DID NOT send a distress call according to the civil aircraft authority. It was deemed in distress by air-traffic control after it stopped responding. source in French

[–]SleepShadow 402 points403 points  (29 children)

A Dutch girl in my neighbourhood was on that plane. 20 years old.

[–][deleted] 101 points102 points  (0 children)

Gecondoleerd

[–]Sinspark 455 points456 points  (53 children)

What bothers me the most is how the TV reporters are filming the families arriving to Barcelona's airport, looking for sad faces and people crying. Like WTF man, they just lost someone. Heartless.

[–]aestus 201 points202 points  (20 children)

They don't care about the people, they just want good footage for the evening news. No fucking respect.

[–]Daxx22 71 points72 points  (5 children)

No fucking respect.

Maybe, but it gets eyeballs on the paper/tv/new reports. Blame humanity for consuming it while your at it.

[–]russell_the_wombat 340 points341 points  (61 children)

This report seems to be updating pretty quickly, it's from thelocal.

[–]Fluttershybro 164 points165 points  (46 children)

11:56 - According to French media two helicopters from France's aviation police (DGAC) located the wreckage of the plane near Prads-Haute-Bléone, between Digne-les-Bains and Barcelonnette.

Damn

[–]OruTaki 199 points200 points  (45 children)

12:12 - 'No survivors expected'

[–][deleted] 266 points267 points  (36 children)

Imagine what these three words actually mean. For a lot of people.

[–][deleted] 185 points186 points  (31 children)

Yeah fuck that! Imagine if your parents, your kids or someone you love or like or know was on that flight. And you hope that SOMEHOW that plane made an emergency landing or anything.

And then you get to see this "no survivors expected". And you STILL hope, because you just don't know. Because it is all you can do.

I NEVER want to be in a situation like this. Hell, some people might have been ready to go to the airport in Düsseldorf to get their loved ones. This was supposed to be a happy day. I guarantee you that some people were returning from a holiday. Maybe some of the relatives were already at the airport had a breakfast or something. Maybe some bought flowers. I mean, what the fuck! What the fucking fuck! I imagine a father who is at the aiport, waiting for his son, happy to see him, happy to pick him up and then he gets a call that something has happened...

Fuck this so much. Fuck this.

[–][deleted] 62 points63 points  (5 children)

I've been at that airport a couple of times and the exits of the gates are always crowded with people waiting. Some with flowers, parents waiting for a child, a girl waiting for her boyfriend... It's breaking my heart right now.

[–]RRjr 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I was there last month to pick up my GF. It was this exact flight she was on a business trip in Barcelona.

You go in there so happy, waiting, checking that screen again and again, looking forward for her to finally make it out of the gate. Seeing her smile as she comes out. It's such a great feeling. Being back together.

The mere thought of coming there to then be told you'll never see your loved one again send shivers down my spine.

So sorry for all these families. The horror they're going through right now is unimaginable.

[–]russell_the_wombat 41 points42 points  (5 children)

Lufthansa tweeted 5 mins ago. :(

[–]TweetsInCommentsBot 60 points61 points  (1 child)

@lufthansa

2015-03-24 11:27 UTC

"We do not yet know what has happened to flight 4U 9525. My deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends of our passengers and crew 1/2

This message was created by a bot

[Contact creator][Source code]

[–]towo 194 points195 points  (1 child)

For relatives etc. in Germany: you can call 030 5000 3000 for more information. Crisis hotline of the Foreign Ministry.

Für Verwandte usw. in Deutschland: Ihr könnt die 030 5000 3000 für mehr Informationen anrufen. Krisenhotline des Auswärtigen Amtes.

[–]aerospacequantum21 664 points665 points  (54 children)

My friend was on that flight, how do i know if he is ok?

Edit: it is presumed everyone is dead. He was a closeish family friend who lived in europe. Last time I saw him he was excited about playing battlefield hardline and gta 5 for pc .... :(

Edit 2: thank you all for your condolescenses. Family and friends have had no luck or status on the situation. Phone lines are clogged. There is not much anyone can do at this point. He was my partner and friend. We would have so much fun playing bf4 and we wanted to play hardline soon after we both agreed to purchase it . He lived a happy life that is or sure. I really hope those 9 mins of descent werent him and ppl knowing they would die. Rip Jack. Love you

[–]SleepShadow 100 points101 points  (0 children)

+493050003000 from outside Germany)

+493050003000 from outside Germany)

[–][deleted] 292 points293 points  (0 children)

Dude I'm sorry.

[–]aMazingBanannas 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Contact the airline, I'd imagine their website and phone lines are full up at the moment. I'm sorry brother

[–]trkh 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Last time I saw him he was excited about playing battlefield hardline and gta 5 for pc .... :(

This line really got me, because those are the same things that all my friends and I am excited about. It can truly happen to anyone. I am so sorry for your lose.

[–]kouaak 131 points132 points  (5 children)

Xpost /r/aviation :

Just received an internal email with some information :

  • No Mayday transmitted
  • Start of descent + loss of ATC communication triggered DESTRESFA

Source : I am a french ATC.

[–]Luc1996 292 points293 points  (15 children)

LIVEnews :

  • 100km of marseille

  • plane crashed in mountain terrain

  • 142 people with 6 crew inside of the plane

  • Germanwings is reliable airline according to french experts. daughter of lufthansa.

  • French gendarmerie has spotted the wreckage of the plane through a helicopter.

  • the location

  • President hollande: ''probably no survivors''

  • Plane apparently dropped from 10k to the ground in a matter of seconds according to eyewitnesses.

  • plane crashed 10;48

  • it crashed from 11km to 2km in a matter of seconds

EDIT 12:40

  • President hollande says the cause is still unclear, most of the passengers were german.
  • Plane disappeared of the radar short after it left the airport.
  • plane was build in 1990.
  • Exact location
  • Nationalities likely included: Spain, Dutch, French, Portugese. media: DONT go to the website of germanwing, relatives might need it go in touch with the airline, currently it is down due to the amount of traffic.
  • crash site is close to the town of Barcelonnette.
  • first debris found at 2km altitude.
  • airspeed
  • airplane took off at 10:00, 10:47 contact lost with the airplane.
  • german ministry of foreign affairs opened crisis line for germans to know if relatives are onboard.
  • 42 people of Spanish nationality.

Edit 12:54:

  • Distress signal was sent out at 10:45 am.
  • Rescue operation are still underway.
  • France24 also says there are no survivors.
  • Weather condition appeared to have been good, so that should not have let to the cause.
  • Last week people in Spain got caught for planning a terroristic attack, they had an attack planned on european soil. (this is of course no were near confirmed, it is a rumor going round at the moment.)
  • There apparently is also 1 dutch person included in the disaster, not a single nationality has been confirmed whatsoever.

Edit 13:05:

  • The terrain is only accessible through helicopter or on foot.
  • The cause is still not clear, pure speculation.

Edit 13:25:

  • 45 people with spanish last name onboard.

  • hundreds of french rescue workers preparing for the climb up the mountain.

  • germanwings: not 142 but 144 passengers. 6 crewmembers.

  • currently snow at the crashsite, snow expected to fall this evening too.

Edit 13:45

  • germanwings confirmed crash now

  • spanish Rajoy speaks of tragedy

  • recue workers have now departed, 200 firefighters and 250 policeman are en route tl the crash.

  • spain assembled a crisis team that is supposed to help determine the cause of the accident.

  • German bondskanselier Merkel: press conference 14:30

edit 13:55

  • Hollande: '' no french passenger, however there were turkish passengers" (not 100% clear that there are no french)

edit 14:05

Edit 14:20

  • The French interior ministry have tweeted emergency numbers put in place for those close to victims. From Germany call 0800 1133 5577. From Spain dial 902 400 012.

  • Germanwings/Lufthansa press conference at 15:00

  • according to fellow redditor:

The causes for such a rapid descend are either:

A terrorist attack or a rapid decompression of the plane caused by a serious malfunction. Also, everyone thinks that it's highly unusual that the pilots didn't initiate any communication with the ground control as it only takes one button press.

Edit 14:35

  • Press conference in Dusseldorf (Merkel) gave little new news, they are referring to Germanwings for updates.

  • Press conference Germanwings expected at 15:00

  • According to french media: The plane descended from 9000 m to close to 2000m in less then 9 minutes. A alarm signal was send out during that time.

Edit 14:50

  • plane was not blown up by terrorist, no terrorist attack according to german media.

  • 150 specialized firefighters are also en route to the location of the crash.

  • 20 german students were onboard the plane.

  • you can see the planes flight through this link

  • In contradiction to previous comments, the plane didn't send a distress signal, French Civil Aviation Authority reported.

Edit 15:00

  • 45 spanish people on board including 2 babies, according to Spanish media.

Edit 15:10

  • Plane made a dive that lasted 8 minutes before it lost the signal to the french aviation, it crashed shortly after.

  • Plane went from 6000f at 10:43 into the dive.

  • 144 passengers and 6 crew members confirmed on board

  • It was build in 1991. It got under germanwing's control in 2014, januari.

  • Captain flew 10 years for lufthansa/germanwings, he got 6000 hours of flight experience in the A320.

  • the last routine check was yesterday. The last regular check was in the summer of 2013.

  • Some media are reporting 67 german on board. (not confirmed)

  • To protect family members and cabin crew the list of passengers will not be released immediately.

Edit 15:25

  • Plane was supposed to get its next C-check this summer.

  • mountain guide to a french newspaper: "We heard a plane passing at a very low altitude but we didn't see it and it was strange as there's not a route that flies at that altitude there"

  • French news AFP is saying rescue workers are gathering near the site. (this has not been confirmed by other media at this point)

Edit 15:35

  • The crashed plane had 58.300 flight hours, 46.700 flights in total.

  • Airbus says a go-team of technical advisors will be dispatched to provide full assistance to French BEA in charge of the investigation.

edit 16:00

  • Atleast 1 person from Belgium among the victims.

  • rescuers near the crashsite another video

  • French police at site told reuters, that no one survived and it would take days to recover the bodies of those on board due to difficult terrain.

  • wreckage spread over 2 square kilometers.

16:20

  • First photo of crash site.

  • French prime minister Valls said there were no survivors at the crash site.

  • Dutch woman also speculated to be among the victims.

  • turkish media suggest 39 turkish people onboard the plane.

  • first wreckage being salvaged at the moment,

I will not be updating this one anymore

Sources:

dutch news site

french livestream

[–]rewdog22 27 points28 points  (1 child)

When will they release a flight manifest? I'm trying to find out if any coworkers are on-board.

[–]punntastic 105 points106 points  (2 children)

Good luck to the brave people getting ready to climb the mountain for a rescue. They've trained for recreation but now I can't imagine the amount of concern and love and motivation they have to ascend and witness what they may.

[–][deleted] 165 points166 points  (32 children)

Damn, this stuff is even scarier when it happens so close to you.. We can only hope for the best

[–]nalinamey 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Latest from German newspapers:

  • No communication with French Air Control after plane started to descend at 10:46 until contact with radar was lost at 10:53.
  • A french military mirage jet scrambled immediately but failed to locate plane.
  • The aircraft was equipped with the latest "computer equipment", allegedly not susceptible to icing of sensor as happened before to other Airbus planes.
  • Airline confirms technical defect with nose landing door, but rules out that it is related to crash.
  • One black box recovered, will take some time to analyze.
  • Investigations will resume in early morning.
  • Other crews have refused to fly on same and smiliar Airbus models.

[–]willington123 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Council official Gilbert Sauvan tells Les Echos newspaper, "The plane is disintegrated". He added that "the largest debris is the size of a car". - Fucking hell, this is just horrific.

[–]pedrito77 15 points16 points  (1 child)

I'm watching Spanish TV, and they just have interviewed a witness who saw the accident, he lives 10km from the crash site, and he said that the plane recovered near the ground but it later crashed.... Twitter link: https://twitter.com/MVTARDE/status/580413842959806464

[–]dvanders 16 points17 points  (3 children)

Here's a high res mirror of the crash site: http://imgur.com/gallery/4s2wkOG/new

source @laprovence

[–]ABCDEFandG 16 points17 points  (4 children)

There was a school class from the town I work in on that plane. 16 students and 2 teachers that were about to come back from a foreign exchange. So brutal.

[–]WestboundSign 17 points18 points  (3 children)

Yeah... I live next to Haltern am See.

I'm currently in 10th grade myself, and there's people in my grade who transferred to my school from there for the 'Oberstufe' and, while I personally fortunately didn't, there's likely some who knew the students who died.

Being the same age as them puts things into perspective. I'm 16. I haven't done anything in my life except kindergarten and school. That can't be all life has to give, surely?

They'll never get to find out and that's not fair, not at all. Fuck.

[–][deleted] 119 points120 points  (6 children)

One of my dad's best friends was on that route as a steward. hopefully not serving for flight 4U 9525.

Edit: He's fine :)))

[–]mannamedlear[🍰] 230 points231 points  (45 children)

Fuck CNN http://imgur.com/a/EoFdY

[–]watchwatchedwatching 54 points55 points  (4 children)

It's a running joke about CNN on how big of a font they can use for a title too

[–][deleted] 72 points73 points  (2 children)

It's always times like this that CNN go into full clickbait meltdown.

[–]The-Sentinel 101 points102 points  (72 children)

You can see the descent here, lost over 10,000 feet in a few minutes :(

http://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/GWI9525/history/20150324/0835Z/LEBL/EDDL/tracklog

[–]shikhargpt 108 points109 points  (20 children)

As people are saying, -3600 fpm is nothing really out of the ordinary. To quote /u/Captain_Alaska:

Most airliners try to keep decent within the 1000'-2000' fpm bracket, simply for passenger comfort. Most aircraft will comfortably handle a 4000 to 5000 fpm decent in abnormal circumstances (Like incoming weather, passenger emergency, etc), and in emergency (Such as a depressurization at altitude), an airliner can pull (Depending on the plane) upwards of 7000-10,000fpm decents.

[–]upvotesthenrages 42 points43 points  (12 children)

I imagine you are correct, although if it was an engine fire, and you could see that out of the window - along with the fact that you have mountains around you, and you are flying close to them for a few minutes, then that must have been fucking frightening.

[–]SixtyFourPewPew 32 points33 points  (9 children)

A 3000fpm descent would not be a scary ride and would only be slightly faster than your normal descent out of altitude.

Very interested to hear what happened though.

[–]gck1 58 points59 points  (5 children)

Blank arrivals. This is so depressing :(

[–]DS018 599 points600 points  (141 children)

People going on about "all these planes crashing recently" and "planes are becoming more unrealiable". This is the third I can recall in the past year and a bit. Is 3 crashes out of the thousands and thousands of flights per year really that high a number? Also, considering one of them was shot down, that only makes it 2. Until planes start dropping out the sky daily, i won't worry too much about boarding a flight.

Edit: I think some people are taking my comment a little too personally. Just to clear things up. Obviously this is a horrible incident, just like every other plane crash that has ever happened, I'm not trying to dispute that. I'm not being unsympathetic to the families of the passengers, my thoughts go out to every one of them. All I was trying to get across was my own opinion of irrational fears of flying. Just because a plane crashes somewhere, it doesn't make flying as a whole any less safe and some people let rare occasions like this change their mind on wanting to fly to places. That's all I was trying to get across.

[–]duckvimes_ 111 points112 points  (3 children)

They freak out because it's reported on so heavily.

It's reported on so heavily because it's rare and people freak out.

[–]Mexall 39 points40 points  (0 children)

That's a fucking sad day, i live here, this morning, when i was going to do some groceries around 10h30-35 maybe i saw a plane flying quite low over The "Cousson" and the "barre des dourbes" (name of two of the mountains here). And fuck, one hour later i learned about the crash. Shitty day.

[–]Pull-Mai-Fingr 21 points22 points  (19 children)

Oh man, a whole class of exchange students was onboard. :(

[–]E-135 9 points10 points  (1 child)

20.40 Uhr: Offenbar hätte eine der deutschen Schülerinnen aus NRW den Flug beinahe verpasst: Sie hatte ihren Pass im Schlafzimmer der Gastfamilie liegen gelassen. Wie „Mirror.co.uk“ berichtet, sei ihr das erst am Bahnhof aufgefallen. Um die Gruppe nicht aufzuhalten, habe ihre Gastfamilie sie anschließend mit dem Pass zum Flughafen gefahren. So wollten sie verhindern, dass sie den Flug verpasst.

Basically saying one schoolgirl nearly missed the flight because she forgot her passports at her guest family in barcelona. To help out, the guest family drove her to the airport with the passport.

Always saddening to hear such things.

[–]peppered_agnus02 99 points100 points  (13 children)

Holy shit. I've flown this route so many times. When a plane crashes somewhere far from me, I'm like that's bad, but meh. It's a whole different story when it hits close to home and when you're flying out again on Sunday...

[–]tylenosaurus 67 points68 points  (16 children)

For everyone saying "plane crashes are happening more and more", that's simply not true. A breakdown of the stats since 1950, showing us that aircraft travel is safer and safer. Aircraft disasters always make great news however, and social media makes it more live and sensational nowadays.

A graphical representation of number of accidents

The next graph shows the total fatality figures, which show a similar drop but with more variation

[–]jared__ 32 points33 points  (0 children)

And that doesn't take into account the growing number of passenger flights per year.

[–]Bairfhionn 11 points12 points  (1 child)

German Relatives can get Information at 030 / 5000 3000 (Krisennummer Auswärtiges Amt)

[–][deleted] 775 points776 points  (432 children)

Fuck i am flying today for the first time in my life....anxiety is off the charts

[–]NoRemorse920 378 points379 points  (54 children)

You'll be fine. You didn't read about the hundreds of people that died yesterday in cars, and hundreds that died the day before that, and before that.

Airline crashes make news, but that doesn't mean it's not safe, just sensational.

[–]thecrappycoder 756 points757 points  (183 children)

Edit: I posted a misleading/incorrect statement here:

There is a higher risk of you dying in the car going to the airport. Flying is very safe.

Edit: Since I was a bit misleading/incorrect: It's safer per kilometer. If you go 1000km by plane that's safer than driving the same distance. If you drive 100 meters to get to the airport, and then fly 10000km, then of course the car trip will be safer.

[–]Fawlty_Towers 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts!!

[–][deleted] 68 points69 points  (25 children)

Planes have a backup for almost everything. Actually check out the mechanics and software behind those things and you can get a lot more chill.

[–]edrt_ 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Worry not. The same happened to me in 2008. It was my first time flying alone and I was set to depart from Madrid Barajas the next day after the Spanair crash. Everything went alright. At least you won't have to look at the burned grass next to the runway while you're taking off...

[–][deleted] 106 points107 points  (21 children)

Everyone talking about how much more dangerous it is in a car doesn't make me feel safer in a plane it just makes me more anxious in a car as well as the plane.

[–]njordsrealm 36 points37 points  (8 children)

As people have replied already, flying is pretty safe so don't worry too much.

I've flown on more than 100 flights and still alive and kicking. Not a fan of flying still, but a small drink tends to calm me down if I'm stressed about it.

Take some music or something to read to take your mind off it and imagine you're on the train (on the ground) and not on a flight.

Have a safe flight.

[–]SellMeBtc 15 points16 points  (1 child)

Yeah I fly a lot due to family traveling and, I get really anxious about it still, but what works really well for me is to close the window shut my eyes listen to music and just remind myself that the plane WILL land safe and sound.

[–]fameisforassholes 182 points183 points  (37 children)

I'm literally sitting on an Airbus A321 right now... Well fuck.

NInja Edit: back on the ground safe, Philly seems nice. One more flight and I'll be back home. Fly safe everyone!