 |    |
|
You are here: Articles > Aviation articles > Young aviophobics
|
Aviation articles |
Movie reviews |
Flight stories | |||
Article overview Heavy critic of a biaised round-table discussion between teenagers, published in a German teenager magazine, and its contribution to the bad image of aviation in the media. Originally published in September 2000. |
 uten Tag! My trip to Germany in the summer of 2000 was a great vacation itself and overall, was outstanding. The only problem is that it brought not ONE but TWO enormous flaws... in the field of AVIATION. The first one, which I discussed in "Flughafen", was the Air Transat service. That situation improved in parts 3 and 4, though. The second one, possibly even worse than the first one, came from a friend showing me the insanities said by German teenagers in a magazine. Insanities about aviation. Now I'm starting to wish I didn't get the translation of the article.
 Whose opinion is it?BRAVO is a magazine for teenagers (particularly young girls) published in Germany. It's the typical zine with gossip, gory details on TV and soap opera stars, advice on love and... whatever is done in bed (which I STILL can't say without the risk of being banned from virtual babysitters). In the August 9, 2000 issue is featured an article titled: "Air disasters: are you afraid?" and is a round table discussion between six teenagers, ages 12 to 18, and an interviewer, Bernd Knill. I think this interviewer is one definite person to blame. Not only is it obvious he doesn't know much about aviation, but it is obvious he is not a good journalist. Why? Because his first question is not neutral. 
"Be honest, after all the air disasters in the last few weeks, would you still fly to Majorca on holidays this summer?". Notice the tone used, almost giving the right answer. A neutral question would have been perhaps: "Do the recent air disasters in the last few weeks make you afraid of flying?". And what does Majorca have to do with this? I should perhaps mention that Majorca is a very (if not TOO) popular destination among Germans. Majorca is becoming almost a German ghetto, like Cuba or Florida are to Quebecers.
Another very serious problem with this interviewer is that he asks the wrong questions... questions that have absolutely nothing to do with aviation. How interesting is it to find out where these teenagers are going on vacation (only one out of six is flying) or how much they will spend? Clear misinformationThese "cool" teenagers are avid fans of television, computer games, and sports. Don't ask them about aviation, they probably don't know a thing... but that "planes crash all the time". I think these should be the very last people to be able to give accurate opinions about air safety. All they can say is that "flying is unsafe". Well, actually, two of the six teenagers admitted that flying is the safest way to travel, but still are obviously afraid. This clear lack of information and facts gives its way to surprisingly stupid answers. One says he would never step on a plane again, and would instead travel around on a pedal boat! He adds that fares are getting lower and lower (very funny!) because no one wants to fly anymore after all the accidents! Another one talks about her "horrific" experience on a plane from Cyprus to Munich: turbulence. (The major horrific thing in that, she says, is that they stopped food service afterwards!) May I add that these two people are 17 and 18 years old? There is even one teenager who feels safer in his car than in a plane. May I add the following quotation from the movie Falling from the Sky: Flight 174: "It's the first time in my life I'd rather be on the ground than in the air"... Translation: the First Officer who said this usually feels safer in the air, because at least, there are experts at the controls, with a minor possibility of drunk or totally havoc pilots... or drivers! A 13-year-old boy compares pilots to computer freaks by saying that it is practice that improves the game. Very funny! Pilots already have a solid formation and know exactly what to do if something goes wrong. Sure, experience is important, but even a novice First Officer can prove himself just as reliable as an experienced Captain. A computer freak can only rely on practice alone since there is no such thing as formation for him, and is allowed to make mistakes because it's a game. A 12-year-old boy claims having as many air miles as a businessman, and flying is not a problem to him, even after ALL the accidents. Well... at least he is not afraid of flying. What is the message?The media is always looking for "interesting" things to talk about. More and more, you see special reports on television, documentaries, newspaper articles, and magazine specials about "the many" air disasters. Behind their conclusive hypocritical "flying is STILL the safest way to travel", the media is yelling: "Don't fly... drive instead! Make our highways more congested than they are already. Drive the airlines out of business by not flying. There is no such thing as dying because of other drivers. Avoid being in the air... it's dangerous!". Who, among the average public, would be interested in knowing that there haven't been any plane crashes for, say, three months? As soon as a plane crashes, it's showtime! In no moment am I saying aviation is flawless. It has its enormous flaws in certain precise issues, but there is no reason at all to generalize and start placing labels on all airlines and all aircraft types, or jumping to conclusions. It is that same kind of bad conclusions and lack of information that makes journalists do things as ridiculous as confusing a "C-check" with a "grade C", on a scale from A to F... or ask teenagers about a subject they hardly know, slap their opinion on a piece of glossy paper and show it to other teenagers saying: "It's okay to be afraid of flying. Who isn't?". No wonder these teenagers have that kind of opinion. I'm not blaming them. I'm blaming what they are watching or reading instead. Special thanks to my friend Laura S. for so kindly providing the translation of the original German-language article. | |||
|
|
|
| |
  |
 TV set: from Cathay Pacific, contents of the screen from the PowerUp Art Library and by Sergio Ortega. © 1998-2008, airodyssey.net. All rights reserved. Disclaimer, trademarks, privacy policy. | |||
