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To mitigate such primal fears, the aeronautics industry's main recourse is to talk about the odds—the serendipitous death tombola. You're more likely to be stabbed in the face by a random kitchen utensil than you are to be thrown into a mountain in a jumbo-jet. You're certainly more likely to die on the roads—2,000 times more likely, according to a cursory internet search. Thing is, peril feels more easily dodged when your feet are stuck to the ground. If your car is about to smash into a jack-knifing 18-wheeler on the highway, you could hurriedly fling open the door and commando-roll onto the grass median, like in a film.The idea of the plane crash is so uniquely terrifying because all human agency (however illusory) is eradicated. Psychologists like Iljon Foreman will tell you that it's all about control. "It's often the fear of something terrible happening to the plane, and knowing there's nothing you can do about it," she explains. "Think of all the things like structural failure, pilot error, air traffic control issues, extreme weather—all of the potential catastrophes that can befall a plane." (And I am thinking about those Elaine; I really am.) "They're all to do with a loss of external control."READ: Pilots Explain Why We Shouldn't Worry About Turbulence
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