This woman was so nervous about flying, so the flight attendant explained every sound and bump and even sat here holding her hand when it still got to be too much for her
Interestingly, that's not always true. Supposedly there are things you can do to improve your chances of surviving a fall without a parachute, like spreading your shirt to increase drag, orienting yourself to land feet-first, knees bent, or aiming for bushes. Luck is a large part of it though.
I've literally met someone who survived a parachute failure. She mentioned something vague about a skydiving incident, so I looked her up. Turns out she literally survived hitting the ground after her parachute didn't open. Lots of nasty injuries, some permanent, but nothing obviously debilitating.
Falling out of a plane is literally safer than falling off of a skyscraper. Because at least with skydiving, you have a chance to direct your landing and pick something that isn’t solid concrete.
I wonder if you could make a makeshift parachute by taking off your shirt. What's unclear to me though is just how rapidly you'd decelerate, and if the force associated with that would be manageable...or rip your arms off.
That's a rational take on something that isn't rational. Worry is fun in that it doesn't care about your logic.
Example: My friend was ditched in a round of layoffs a ways back with terrible timing. He's just moved back to the country, with a mortgage and other costs, taken in his dad to care for, and it's close to 10k/mo of run-rate with cars and dual taxes and just family costs. I bet he still worries, even though it's no help.
The most apt description of worry that I've found is that worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but ultimately, it doesn't get you anywhere.
IMO, if the flight attendants look worried, I'm preparing myself to jump into action if required. Putting things away and getting ready to move at a moment's notice if it's needed. Beyond that, I'm not going to take charge and start delegating or anything. I don't have that much of an ego. I'm just ready and willing to help, and if I have a few minutes to prepare myself, then I can do that much more quickly.
As for worrying, I handle worry and stress with action. So until there's something to do, worry isn't a helpful emotion to me, so I'll do everything in my power to ignore or eliminate it until I can take action.