Fear of flying

[Cam54 84]

I have a massive fear of flying to the point it makes me sick and I spend weeks before the flight panicking about it, anyone here conquered their fear or have any tips? I fly tomorrow and my worst part is take off, I'm not too bad once I'm up there, unless there's turbulence ofcourse

[NickD 203]

I am a private pilot, can't for the life of me get my wife to fly with me. But okay with airline flights, she has this weird idea that these huge planes are safer when the only thing holding them up there is raw horsepower. Then you can also get nasty passengers aboard.

So I share the same fear you do, especially on takeoff. Use to build these major airports out in the sticks, then thousands of buildings built around them, no place to land. I avoid Airbus in particular, can't even build a turbine that is bird proof.

But then if you look a statistics, airlines are the safest means for travel. You should actually have a much greater fear of getting into a land vehicle. Airline pilots receive an incredible amount of training where an idiot can get a driver's license.

One example of this some idiot flew in must have been deaf, didn't drop his landing gear, made headlines in our local newspaper for over a week, no one was hurt, but the FAA and DOT came into town by the herds. At the same time, two sisters living a half a block away from me were killed in a car accident. That only made page eight.

[Ontarkie 14,958]

NickD, you might of just scared her even more

I don't like planes, so I can't fully relate to you but with my fears I try to build myself up with the end result it helps me. Maybe you can just build your excitement up and keep repeating it to yourself to help you get through it all.

[BethAnn and Omar 42]

I can totally relate. I have a massive fear of flying- mostly taking off and any type of turbulence. Before my husband arrived, I was flying to Jamaica every two to three months and had to take pills and drink massively just to calm myself down. My whole body would be shaking at times. I thought with flying so much I would get used to it but I never did. My husband just flew for the first time in December and was great! Go figure lol.

[christeen 966]

Xanax ... It helps calm the edges... Valium is ok too

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

I have a massive fear of flying to the point it makes me sick and I spend weeks before the flight panicking about it, anyone here conquered their fear or have any tips? I fly tomorrow and my worst part is take off, I'm not too bad once I'm up there, unless there's turbulence ofcourse

First off, let's get it right... you have a fear of crashing, not flying, correct? Flying is awesome.

I'm a pilot, not commercial though, I fly single engine planes, not jets. But flying is flying.

The reason why most poeple have a fear of flying (lets call it that since "crashing" sounds kind of harsh ), is that they don't understand the physics behind it. They look at a gigantic 500,000 lb plane and they can't imagine how it could take off and stay up in the air. I actually used to think this way. Now that I understand the simple physics behind it, I don't think twice. And the physics behind flying is quite simple. All you need to fly is a wingspan to support the lift and enough forward thrust to generate lift. That's it. Humans would be able to fly except our arms are not wide eneough (to handle our weight) and we are too slow. Birds can fly because they are relatively light, their wings are wide, and they can flap them generating forward thrust.

To the OP,

Flying really is not dangerous. Everybody will give you statistics about how it's safer tpo fly than drive. That is useless if you're the one person in a plane that goes down. However, think about this stat. Over 80% of passengers survive in a plane crash.

In order for a plane to crash, there must be a catastrophic mechanical failure, which doesn't happen anymore. The aviation industry has learned from every single past accident. Pilot error used to be and still is the major concern, but even that is way down due to computerized flight systems and redundancies and backup systems.

Like others have said, take a light sedative (like Valium) an hour before the flight. You will need a prescription from a doctor, it's a schedule II or III controlled sustance.

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

I am a private pilot, can't for the life of me get my wife to fly with me. But okay with airline flights, she has this weird idea that these huge planes are safer when the only thing holding them up there is raw horsepower

Then you should know that statistically speaking, airliners are much safer than general aviation (small planes).

Fatalities per million flight hours

Airliner (Scheduled and nonscheduled Part 121)

4.03

General Aviation (Private Part 91)

22.43

And BTW- an airliner can fly (glide) a little over 100 miles from 35,000 feet if it were to lose all engine power. So it's not just sheer horsepower that holds them up. They don't drop out of the sky like rocks.

[GandD 5,966]

Then you should know that statistically speaking, airliners are much safer than general aviation (small planes).

Fatalities per million flight hours

Airliner (Scheduled and nonscheduled Part 121)

4.03

General Aviation (Private Part 91)

22.43

And BTW- an airliner can fly (glide) a little over 100 miles from 35,000 feet if it were to lose all engine power. So it's not just sheer horsepower that holds them up. They don't drop out of the sky like rocks.

Anything to divert the attention can help but nothing will eliminate the problem. Sounds like you're already pretty educated on the risks so I doubt any more stats will do anything for you. Maybe try to shift focus. I use audio books on flights, but that's really more to help ignore the people on the plane. Maybe a doctor can prescribe some pills if you want to go that route. I usually have a couple drinks before I get on but sometimes that makes things worse cus you have to get up and hit the washroom. Anything to create a personal bubble would help. Good luck.

[NickD 203]

Yeah kind of worthless to talk about statistics if a person suffers from aviophobia or any other phobia.

Maybe this site may help the OP.

http://www.fearofflying.com/?gclid=CLiNw_uk7bsCFcxAMgodRUgAig

Leave it to the pros that deal with this kind of stuff.

My fear of flying is not really a fear at all, is walking into an air terminal and being treated like a criminal or a POW with super long lines. If I ever win the lottery, first thing I am going to do is buy a Gulfstream and get checked out in it.

One thing about flying, quickest way to see your sweetheart.

[Pooky 3,878]

If I ever win the lottery, first thing I am going to do is buy a Gulfstream and get checked out in it.

If I ever win the lottery, you can keep your Gulfstream, I want something with a 1650hp blender on the front.

On the fear of flying, I can't offer much, save to reiterate that you're far more likely to have a fatal accident in a car accident then you are in a plane crash.

Mind you, a month after 9/11, I was on a Delta Airlines DC10 out of LAX, bound for Hartford, Atlanta, when the flaps seized on climb-out. After an hour, circling and dumping fuel, we made a hot landing back at LAX, but that was nothing remarkable. Still, you could see a number of passengers were unduly scared after the pilot made the announcement that we had a problem.. What can you do?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Just liquor up and all will be fine.

Or simply realize that once you reached the airport, the most dangerous part of your trip is already done.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

The only thing I don't like about flying is being off the ground.

[markonline1 11]

Well, as you're up in the air now probably, this post is a little late. My mum is petrified. She was so nervous flying out to see me for the first time, the longest flight she had ever taken was about 3 hours to Greece. She went down the Valium route LOL.

For what it's worth, I used to work in airfield ops at Hesthrow back in the UK. We used to have about 1600 movements a day (take offs and landings). We used to deal with around 3 emergencies a week when you average it out. Most of these were simple hydraulic problems that were either false alarms or had no effect on the landing. So even if something does go wrong, and statistically if Heathrow is an example, you have a 11,200 to 3 chance of that happening, then the first you re likely to know about it is when you land, look out the window and see some fire trucks outside. Even when the BA 777 crashed a few years back at LHR, the worst injury was a broken leg. Fear of flying is an irrational fear, but then so is a fear of spiders LOL

[Darnell 8,479]

i vote valium and 2 glasses of red wine.

[NickD 203]

i vote valium and 2 glasses of red wine.

Would fear taking a tranquilizer with alcohol more than flying for blowing my brain. Won't even take a pain killer after a severe injury, want to know what my body is doing, if you don't, can even injure your body more.

Not only a fear of flying with the airlines, but also hating it, being treated like a criminal or a prisoner of war, super long lines, no privacy, flight delays, jammed in a seat made for a two year old, don't give you a parachute. It wasn't this way before 9/11, those terrorist did succeed after all, taking away our freedoms.

Pray there is a God, and put your trust in him.

Edited January 9, 2014 by NickD