"If God had meant man to fly, He would have given him wings"
Many people in this world have a fear of flying.
During their flights, some experienced discomfort, turbulence, severe shaking and collapse of the plane, malfunctions, fires, kidnappings...
While some developed fear for no reason, reading or watching various documentaries about plane accidents and being afraid in advance.
Some of them never decided on new flights, and some never even took off...
Such people often know how to quote the above thought.
I'm not one of those people.
It's true that I didn't have any major inconveniences on the flights I flew on, but since I'm not afraid of turbulence and shaking, I think I'd be OK.
It may seem crazy, but my thinking is like this:* "When I bought the ticket and decided to get on the plane at the airport, I put an end to my thinking. From that moment, nothing is in my hands and after the engine starts and the plane takes off, it will land and put me on the ground, one way or another."*
"It's easy for you to fly and not be afraid, when you're often on a plane," a friend told me.
"Well, my friend, every new flight can bring a new inconvenience, which will perhaps drive fear into my bones, for now I am without fear. You who have never flown and have no intention of flying in the near future, have no reason to worry. The only worry you can have is that the plane that is always flying above you, in the sky, does not fall on your head."
And so, without the fear of flying, without the deafening noise of the engine during take-off causing me restlessness, I accepted the group therapy "relieving the fear of planes".
With my friends, I went to the cafe Pista 011(Runway 011) in the immediate vicinity of the Nikola Tesla airport runway in Belgrade.
I went there to have a coffee, but also had a look at the airport and the runway from a different angle.
The airport fence is located in the immediate vicinity of this cafe, which was actually designed as a lookout point, and has a terrace on the first floor with a nice view of the runway.
That's probably why it's called "Pista(Runway)".
At this moment, a friend of ours was in the control tower and told us that in the next two hours a large number of departures are expected and that we will see a lot of takeoffs.
AirSerbia, WizzAir, KLM, Bulgarian Air Company, Air Dubai planes took off and landed.
Small private jets landed and took off, jet planes, but also propeller planes, the famous ATR72.
(a picture from before boarding the ATR72)
One such ATR72 is located in the courtyard of the cafe where we were.
They are preparing ATR72 for a new purpose on earth. There will be an attraction, an airplane converted into a restaurant.
For now, it is still in the construction phase, and the parts for it are taken from several scrapped planes that are in the same yard.
My friends, those who are afraid of flying, did not take a detailed look at those grounded and disassembled planes like I did, and I was fascinated by the construction of the plane's wall.
The aluminum construction, with a total thickness of several cm, does not inspire some confidence, but I know that the engineers who designed these planes had enough knowledge to make them safe and safe to fly.
I know this because I have been a passenger on several ATR72 aircraft in the last couple of months.
"Pista(Runway) 011" is not a classic cafe, it's more of a club for plane lovers.
This can be seen in the interior of the building, where various exhibits, former parts of the aircraft, are on display.
First class seats, airplane doors, regular seats, part of the fuselage, cabinets and cassettes for storing small items, for food, pilot and stewardess uniforms...
Everything you can touch when you are close to or on the same plane.
And what you can't touch so easily is this airplane wheel 🙂
We sat like that on the terrace, I studied the signs and message posters mounted there, we followed the work on the grounded plane and tried what they were planning to do with the dismantled wing.
And we watched planes taxiing on the runway and taking off, or those landing.
Excellent therapy for those who are afraid, who worry and are afraid of airplanes - all those take-offs and landings without a single mistake, wrong maneuver or any unnatural sound, except for the sound of the engines ripping the air.
"Well, now everything went OK, everyone landed and took off nicely, but you know that plane accidents happen," they insisted.
"Of course I know, but I also know that the probability of being injured in a plane crash is much smaller than the probability of being injured in another form of transport, such as in car traffic. Now you have scared me and I don't know how I will bring the car home, I'm afraid to drive on the highway", I smiled, drank my coffee and with a smile I went on with my day without fear.
