# Would you fly on 9/11? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 8, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996 "2006-09-08T22:15:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/21 "2006-09-09T13:31:43Z")
I’ve always wondered why the attacks ever got the name “9/11”. Yes, we (the public, and the media) desperately needed a label for the most shocking event of our generation. But couldn’t somebody be a bit more creative? Pearl Harbor is not known as “7/12”-it’s a “Day that will live in infamy”. Kennedy’s assassination is not known as “23/11”, it’s “the end of Camelot” D-day is not called “4/6”–it’s called, well, D-day. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/22 "2006-09-09T16:24:37Z")
Well, first off, we would have called Pearl Harbor “12/7” what with our American way of writing the dates the other way. The reason we went with 9/11 is likely because it also coincides with 911, the emergency phone number in the US. It’s one of those nice coincidences where it matches up perfectly and also reminds us of the exact date it all went down. ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/23 "2006-09-09T18:35:24Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] Pearl Harbor is not known as “7/12”-it’s a “Day that will live in infamy”. [/QUOTE] Ahem… It’s “A date which will live in infamy.” I’d fly on 9/11. If I wouldn’t, the terrorists win. (That’s not sarcasm.) ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/24 "2006-09-09T18:58:51Z")
My son flew from New York City to Paris last 9/11 and said it was a great flight. I’d probably fly on that date, but would not go out of my way to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/25 "2006-09-09T22:22:24Z")
One of the random “Gee Whiz” info boxes in my psychology text book points out that, with everyone driving rather than flying after September 11th due to the percieved danger of flying, something like 300+ more people died on the roads in the last three months of 2001 than had in the last three months of 2000, compared to less than 250 airline passengers actually dying in the attacks. Hell, even on September 11th, 2001, flying on an airliner was safer than going to work. IF someone hijacks an airplane and wants to run it into something, they can get you anywhere (the sky covers a lot of ground). You can live in fear, or you can be reasonable about it and go on with your life. If I had somewhere I needed to get to that was more than 6 or so hours drive away? I’d fly. Even then, driving only becomes a preference for places “only” 6 hours away because airline tickets are expensive for me. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/26 "2006-09-10T00:44:05Z")
I had no problem flying into DC last year on 9/11. This year my girlfriend has an interview on 9/11, and the company offered to fly her (from Chicago to Detroit), but she opted to drive. She’s a squeamish flyer anyway, so she probably would’ve opted to drive regardless of the date. She did, however, make the comment that she really didn’t feel like getting on a plane on that date. ---
**Author:** ![jhinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@jhinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jhinman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/27 "2006-09-10T03:45:06Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] Pearl Harbor is not known as “7/12”-it’s a “Day that will live in infamy”. Kennedy’s assassination is not known as “23/11”, it’s “the end of Camelot” [/QUOTE] A nitpick but another reason the Kennedy assassination is not known as 23/11 is that it happened on the 22nd (sorry another thread on this board got me playing JFK reloaded). An I will be flying to Honolulu on 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/28 "2006-09-10T06:16:43Z")
Wouldn’t give it a second thought. I was also flying the night of 9/11 (private/charter flight). I was a little concerned about miscommunications back then. ATC was a tad edgy that night. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/29 "2006-09-10T06:54:49Z")
[QUOTE=AmbushBug] Heh, I’ll be leaving Los Angeles on the evening of the 10th and arriving in Sydney Australia on the morning of the 12th. So I’m not going to exist on the Earth on the 11th 😃 That’s not all, on the trip back I’m scheduled to land 45 minutes or so before departure from Sydney. [/QUOTE] That’s OK, I get to live it twice. 😃 I leave Guam at 6 AM on 9/11 leave Honolulu at 9PM 9/10 Arrive in LA at 5 AM 9/11 I think that they have flux capacators on 767s ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/30 "2006-09-10T13:16:52Z")
I’m in Boulder, and am flying home tomorrow. Not very happy about it, but that has less to do with flying than it does with my general feelings about this date. No fear of anything happening, however. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/31 "2006-09-10T14:48:42Z")
I could not get a flight out on Sunday evening, so I will be at the airport on Monday morning. I am more annoyed that I can not attend a couple meetings I had planned for Monday morning than anything. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/32 "2006-09-11T07:26:11Z")
[QUOTE=Antigen] You’re not flying Oceanic, are you? Wouldn’t want you to get **lost** … [/QUOTE] Ahh, Oceanic, most mishap-prone airline in the history of mankind. > **[Oceanic Airlines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_Airlines)** > > Oceanic Airlines, and less frequently, Oceanic Airways, is the name of a fictional airline used in several films and television programs—typically works that feature plane crashes and other aviation disasters, with which a real airline would prefer not to be associated. Columnist Daryna Tobey compared its prevalence to that of 555 telephone numbers on television. Oceanic Airlines first appeared in the 1965 two-part episode "The Ditching" of the television series Flipper. It later appeared in the... “Getting halfway there is all the fun!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/33 "2006-09-11T10:35:53Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] D-day is not called “4/6”–it’s called, well, D-day. [/QUOTE] Not sure if you meant April 6th or June 4th, but it’s June 6th anyway. I always thought D-day was a funny name for that particular event. Every operation’s starting day was a “D-day”. The hour they started was their H-hour, etc. This is so you can say “We need to reach that bridge by D+2” in a relative sense. There’s nothing unique about “D-day” and the landings at Normandy. Anyway, I remember a bunch of people saying “I’m too scared to ever fly again” the week after 9/11 happened. I wanted to stab all of those hysterical retards in the head with a fork. I mean - it’s unlikely terrorists will use the same route again, but even if they did, you’d have, what, one chance in several hundred thousand (million?) per year of being affected? Even if you knew the _day_ a hijacking were to occur, you’d have a one in thousands chance of being involved. But that’s typical of irrational, emotionally motivated people - one highly publicized/striking/anomolous event skews their entire perspective on life. ---
**Author:** ![934spe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/90db22/32.png) [@934spe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/934spe)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/34 "2006-09-11T12:40:21Z")
My flight leaves today at 12:45pm. So, I guess I go in the “I would fly on 9-11” group… ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/35 "2006-09-11T14:36:18Z")
Well, I survived both flights. Planes were maybe 75% full (both were 767s) I was lucky enough to have an empty next to me on both legs of the trip. Nice flights just way long. (about 13 hrs total) ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/36 "2006-09-11T14:58:48Z")
Fly on 9-11…? _flaps arms harder_ Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/37 "2006-09-11T16:52:04Z")
Yep. I even made a thread about it last week. I’m flying out of Boston later today, AA flight 611. How’s that read on the old coincidence-o-meter? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/38 "2006-09-12T06:44:00Z")
[QUOTE=SenorBeef] Not sure if you meant April 6th or June 4th, but it’s June 6th anyway. I always thought D-day was a funny name for that particular event. Every operation’s starting day was a “D-day”. The hour they started was their H-hour, etc. This is so you can say “We need to reach that bridge by D+2” in a relative sense. There’s nothing unique about “D-day” and the landings at Normandy. [/QUOTE] To be fair, I have heard lots and lots of folks refer to the Normandy Landings as “The Normandy Landings” or just “Normandy.” It’s occasionally fun to refer to it as “The day the US invaded France” though. > [@](#): > > I mean - it’s unlikely terrorists will use the same route again, but even if they did, you’d have, what, one chance in several hundred thousand (million?) per year of being affected? Even if you knew the _day_ a hijacking were to occur, you’d have a one in thousands chance of being involved. > > But that’s typical of irrational, emotionally motivated people - one highly publicized/striking/anomolous event skews their entire perspective on life. You’re far more likely to die from a car accident than a plane crash (yay for thousands of people rolling around in vehicles made out of metal and fiberglass with large quantities of highly flammable liquid at unsafe distance and speeds while listening ot the radio, having conversations, etc.). One of the big things is that while you have to go through quite a bit of training and testing before you can fly a plane, you don’t have to do nearly as much to get to drive a car. With PEOPLE in the car, no less! And trust me, if a terrorist wanted to hijack your car and plow it into an office building, it would be SO much easier for him to just smash your window with a brick and hop in at a stoplight than it would be for him to get onto an airliner. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/39 "2006-09-12T09:17:10Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] You’re far more likely to die from a car accident than a plane crash (yay for thousands of people rolling around in vehicles made out of metal and fiberglass with large quantities of highly flammable liquid at unsafe distance and speeds while listening ot the radio, having conversations, etc.). One of the big things is that while you have to go through quite a bit of training and testing before you can fly a plane, you don’t have to do nearly as much to get to drive a car. With PEOPLE in the car, no less! . [/QUOTE] Oh, I agree entirely. I simply hate when people have no sense of perspective whatsoever when it comes to their perspective of danger. Take Columbine for another instance. One incident in one school out of tens (hundreds?) of thousands of schools. But people after it were “OMG! I’m not sending my kid to school anymore! Ban guns! Spend 80 billion putting medical detectors in school! Start searching through every kid’s backpot!!!” when they ignore the very real, very common dangers in their lives because they’re not as dramatic. Like me stabbing them in the head with a fork for being so hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996/40 "2006-09-12T09:18:26Z")
Er… medical detectors… and backpacks. I just woke up and I’m sick (OMG IT MUST BE EBOLA I SAW THAT ON THE NEWS ONCE) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-fly-on-9-11/371996.md?page=3)