Ok just booked my flight from PHILLY to Frankfurt for end of June with US Airways… i looked at the flight map of flight 700 that seems to go most part OVER the water… what will they do if there is an emergency on board? that freaks me out being maybe 4 hrs over water and not near land… any suggestions??? I am so scared
thanks Mandy
Welcome to FlightAware!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETOPS
If you’re scared of losing your life while flying… Stop driving. 
You’ll be on an A330. . . . . Uhhhh… You’ll be fine. 
no let me rephrase that then I am not scared that the airplane will just fall from the sky 
I guess I should say being closterphobic is one reason and the other is out of curiosity if lets say someone has a heart attack on the flight how can they get these people to a hospital are they always close to land? I am just wondering about these things and yes I take a much bigger chance riding my harley and getting crushed by old folks in florida then flying i know that
There should be a automatic defibrillator on board. The flight attendants are trained in their use.
Quite often there is a passenger on board who is a doctor.
The aircraft is almost always within about 3 hours flying time of an airport it can divert to in case of a medical emergency.
Many airlines have a doctor “on call.” They can connect to a doctor via radio.
They have well trained crews that are CPR/AED certified and the aircraft has some medical equipment. Yes the aircraft, at some point (the equal time point) will be 3-4 hours from an airport but as stated they are trained to take care of most issues that could arise and the odds of some thing happening beyond their training and equipment are very low. The key to a good trip is walking around a bit, hydration, a book and food. I personally would have booked on Luftansa for the free beer and great food service.
well thanks i thought it was always within 1 to 2 hrs of land and damn wish i had known about the free beer deal bummer lol
A true great circle route PHL-FRA is always within 2 hours of a diversion airport.
Deviating just a bit might add 18 minutes to that.
That’s true but on the trans-Atlantic routes you need to follow the North Atlantic Track System. Could an aircraft possibly be routed 3 hours from an alternate?
Yes, both the 767 and A330 (US700 is a 333) are certified ETOPS 180. The 757 is (I believe) limited to 120.
I am not scared that the airplane will just fall from the sky
I know that…
There was free beer on my Delta flight from DTW-EHAM in May. Also, if you have trouble sleeping on long flights (like me) the A330’s have a pretty fun entertainment system that can keep you busy. Took a 12 hour flight to HKG 3 weeks ago on KLM which had practically no IFE. THAT was a boring flight.
Also, just remember that there are hundreds of flights every day across the Atlantic. You will be perfectly fine. On my flight to Europe in May someone did have medical problems but there were 3 doctors on board that helped and everything was fine. Chances are there will be some on your flight too. Don’t worry and have a good trip!
You will be within 2 hours of Gander, Shannon or Keflavik for the vast majority of the flight. Remember that even domestically an immediate diversion would probably take 20 minutes or more.
Is there a word for fear of grammar and punctuation?
Stupid-phobia?