doctall41

Throughout my adult life, the one recurring dream I have had is jet/airplane crashes. Sometimes, I see them from the ground, sometimes, like last night, I am in the plane when it crashes. Last night, I was in a passenger jet that nose-dived into the ground.
It is worth noting that I work in the aerospace manufacturing industry, and I also fly fairly frequently.
Is this type of dream common among travelers?

VivoPerLei

Not sure about the crashing bit, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that most of the frequent fliers on this board have recurring dreams about travel. Mine are:

1. I'm late for my flight, it's getting close to boarding time and I just can't make it for one reason or another
2. I can't remember why I'm on the plane and I conduct an internal monologue like William Shatner. "I'm on a plane, heading to Chicago, but why, damn it? Why can't I remember? Think"
3. I'm in the Seychelles. Why is that my recurring dream spot? Who knows. Could be worse I suppose. I was once in Albany in January

gobluetwo

I am not a psychologist.

I'm guessing you don't have a fear of flying. My completely uneducated (in this area) SWAG is that you're a perfectionist and have very high standards for yourself, and that your fear is less to do with flying itself, but making some sort of mistake that will have tragic repercussions on the airframes that you (or downstream entities) are manufacturing and putting into service. How has work been? Stressful lately?

How did I do? Do I win a cookie?

javabytes

I have them from time to time. I always survive the crash in the dream, though, so...

pinniped

I don't have crash dreams. My recurring flying dream is that I'm on a JFK-LHR flight that is cruising at an altitude of 50 feet. My seat is conveniently on top of the fuselage (by the tail), and I'm controlling the airplane with an Atari-style joystick. It's always a 747. There are always lots of tall ships, icebergs, and other visible aircraft in this dream.

radiowell

Watch a movie to calm down.

"Ooh! Here are some upbeat titles: 'Hero', 'Fearless', 'Alive' "

84fiero

Lots of theories about dreams and some folks who study them. I'm not an expert but it seems there is usually some tie to real life things, just twisted around.

I have a fairly frequent recurring dream of being in a plane crash - sometimes the dream ends before the actual crash and sometimes not. I'm a pilot myself and definitely not scared of flying. The dream details are often random but sometimes it does center around flying to/from some location, or flying with other people, that are part of some situation I'm dealing with in real life at the moment, so that's likely the meaning behind it, to the extent there is any meaning.

I also have a recurring dream of driving a car up a long, steep bridge (e.g., the Sunshine Skyway in Tampa), only to find the bridge is broken up and I can't stop in time, so I drive off into the water and drown. As a child I recall being freaked out after seeing some movie where something similar happened, and since then have had a vague fear of being in that situation so I'm guessing that's the cause of the dreams.

As a child we lived a few blocks from a fairly busy freight rail line and I very often had nightmares where a train was about to crash into the house, and I couldn't move in time. Once in awhile I still have that dream.

tentseller

Ummm!
I am also not a Psychiatrist.

Your statement of working in the aerospace industry and having these dreams is upsetting to me.

j_the_p

I also have frequent airplane crash dreams, but I'm never in the plane, I always witness it from the ground.

jrl767

I didn't actually dream about an aircraft accident, but on 30 Dec 1972 I woke up at around 0200EST with the complete and absolute certainty that one had occurred, and with the equally clear realization that I was going to work in aviation safety

the morning news was filled with the story of EA401, which had crashed in the Everglades shortly before midnight

I spent three years in Boeing Commercial Flight Test, and about 12 years on the military side of the company as a subject matter expert for safety-of-flight certification (mainly planning and preparing for First Flight Readiness Reviews for YF-22, F-22, 767 AWACS, and X-32); in my Air Force Reserve career I assisted with test program planning -- including flight readiness reviews for major aircraft modifications -- for the C-17 and the EC-18B

doctall41

You might be on to something. I am a Quality Director (Final word on all things quality) for a company that manufactures airframe parts for commercial and military aircraft. The potential repercussions of a mistake on my part may be haunting me. I've been doing this job for 30+ years, and have been having these dreams for 20+. Not afraid of flying at all, I love it!

Are you sure you're not a shrink?

Fraser

I have recurring dreams about missing flights, happens at least a few times per month. I am sitting in the lounge and then have to rush to get to the plane before it departs and then get snarled up by just missing transit trains to get to the gate or other random issues. Strangely the Heathrow I'm travelling from is nothing like the real Heathrow but it's always the same one (with the same lounge setup etc.) in my dreams.

For unknown reasons it is almost exclusively on BA but more lately on CX too.

Strangely, I have never missed a flight in real life (other than missed connections/IRROPS), and normally arrive way ahead of time.

Dave510

Perhaps your subconscious fear of missing a flight (reflected by your dream) is why you choose to arrive much earlier for your flights.

aquamarinesteph

This thread just made me realize that I have never had a dream involving an airplane. I think there must be some travel aspect involved, though. My waking self never knows where I was in most of my dreams...

Out of my Element

30 years ago I worked at an airport (retail). Ever since then, once or twice a year I have a dream that I'm watching the runways (used to do that all the time) and there's a plane coming in a bit too quickly and in the dream it crashes into the terminal. No fires or huge destruction, more like in the movie "Airplane", but the dream predates that movie