Another reason for Pegs to hate flying

If you've ever had the good fortune to sit next to Panagiota on a flight, then you'll know the joy that is having your hand mangled into silly putty while she channels all of her anxiety and fear of flying into your once useful appendage. To say that Pegs is scared of flying is sort of like saying that "Dumbya" is a bad president; both statements are true, but neither fully conveys the extremity of the situation.

As if Pegs needed another reason to be worried about getting on a plane, the official report has revealed the cause of the Helios Airways crash in Greece back in August that claimed the lives of all 121 passengers and crew, and it isn't comforting. The report states that everyone on board was knocked unconscious due to hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, and that the plane subsequently crashed when it ran out of fuel. According to CNN, the report stated that:

the direct causes of the crash were the crew's failure to recognize that the plane's pressurization switch was in the "manual position" before takeoff and not set to automatic -- which would have allowed the cabin to pressurize by itself.

I'm sure that there's a valid reason why you might want to set the cabin pressure manually, but I'll be damned if I can think of it right now. It seems to me that cabin pressure is kind of like wings: you definitely want to be flying on an airplane with both of them on all of the time.

I remember once when I was younger we took a flight from Dallas to Monroe, and I got a chance to visit the cockpit. I greatly exasperated the pilot with all of my childish questions about the plane and all the gizmos on the control panel, until I eventually pointed to a big red button. I was reaching towards it when the pilot shrieked, "Good Lord, don't touch THAT button! That's the button that makes the wings fall off!" I'm sure he thought it was really funny that I peed my pants and started crying like a little girl, but take it from me that there is nothing funny about a grown man sucking his thumb while standing in a puddle of his own wee-wee.