Scared of flying

[funkyrobot]

Right, i'll admit it, i'm bloody scared of flying. Well, when I say flying, I mean crashing!

I've been on long haul flights in the past to the USA, and more recently have been on flights to Spain and Mallorca. I'm also due to fly to Cape Verde in September for my honeymoon (5 odd hours on a short haul aircraft, oh dear).

My fear doesn't manifest itself in a mad outpouring of emotion, along with screaming and dribbling, but I really cannot settle when flying. My legs start to fidget (just like Christian Horner when Red Bull are racing) and I find it really hard to relax. The worst thing for me is turbulence and the 'dropping' motion of the aeroplane as it passes through the sky. I do start to worry leading up the flight too and various bodily functions go a little mad.

So, apart from 'manning up', is there anything I can try to do to get over my fear? I understand the basic concepts of how aeroplanes fly, but could probably read some more about the physics of flight etc? However much I understand though I think i'll still panic.

Anyone know of anything that can help with this?

Thanks all.

[itsnotarace]

Couple of small sherries before boarding? Have a few tokes on a joint?

[funkyrobot]

itsnotarace said:

Couple of small sherries before boarding? Have a few tokes on a joint?

I don't drink or smoke. So that sounds like a good idea!

[The Nur]

The weed will probably magnify the anxiety. Probably best to leave that until after the flight to enhance the feeling of relief upon landing

+1 on the drink before the flight. Have a couple.

[Tyre Tread]

It's complicated to explain but easy to fix.

Basically its your fight or flight mechanism being overriden by logic and the desire to be at your destintaion.

Booze and dope will not help (unless they render you unconscious )

The solution is to adapt your subconscoious (emotional) thought processes.

[eharding]

I think some airlines run courses - for a price - to help people get over various phobias and hang-ups related to flying.

For a rather bigger price, you could learn to fly yourself. At first, you'll be too busy to let you dwell on your anxieties, and after a while you'll wonder what you were worried about in the first place.

Booze and drugs aren't really the way to go if you want to be in any state to function when you get off at the far end.

[koolchris99]

i hate flying too.

Its the dropping and turbulance that does me, and the take off.

I would like to read a bit more about turbulance though

[The Nur]

eharding said:

Booze and drugs aren't really the way to go if you want to be in any state to function when you get off at the far end.

The above is a falsity. I have never had any difficulty.

[eharding]

The Nur said:

eharding said:

Booze and drugs aren't really the way to go if you want to be in any state to function when you get off at the far end.

The above is a falsity. I have never had any difficulty.

Yes, but in your case 'function' equates to 'continue to consume even more booze and drugs'.

Admit it.

[freecar]

I never used to have any issues with flying until recently.

I'd flown probably twenty times before but then I took a ten year break from holidays and the next flight I went on I was very anxious the whole way there.

I had a can or two of Grolsch and set minecraft on my laptop and started mining! The funny thing was it was only while right up in the air that the fear had me, as soon as I could identify cars (make, model) I was fine, even though the plane was rocking from side to side in a massive sidewind and we slammed down on one wheel so hard my laptop broke free from the pouch on the seat in front!

When it got really bad I just looked toward the stewardesses, they knew I wasn't feeling 100% so always had the look of a calm proffesial about them.

In short, drink will help take the edge off but don't overdo it. Alternatively talk to your doctor and get some sedatives to knock you right out!

[croyde]

I have flown for years but have always hated it and have watched far too many Air Crash Investigations but after having a trial lesson and aerobatic flight in a small Cessna, I realised that it is more about lack of being in control.

The car journey to the airport is far more dangerous yet I'm in the driving seat so the perceived risk seems small compared to being stuck in an aluminium tube with 300 hundred other people.

To be honest once I had flown 1st and business a few times I then realised that I did not have a fear of flying but had a fear of flying economy.

[S3_Graham]

I think learning more about how planes work will be better. If you understand the testing methods and how much redundancy is built into every component it may help put your fears at bay.

You mention the dropping scares you? Well research into why it does that, also you could go on YouTube and find videos on wing testing. They will show you just how much punishment they can take and make you realise how little you 'drop' is actually testing the aircraft.

[The Nur]

eharding said:

Yes, but in your case 'function' equates to 'continue to consume even more booze and drugs'.

Admit it.

No, this presumption that I am a whirling drugs vacuum when travelling is certainly a falsity.

In short and to prevent this thread from de-railing any further, I can have a couple of beers and a cheeky Jifta or two before flying and still function perfectly normally once the flight has been completed. Hell, I never even get the pokey bum search at customs, which, now I think about it, is a miracle.

[Simpo Two]

I pretend I'm flying it and that puts me in control. Works for roller coasters too!

Also remember that the other 300 passengers are hardly likely to fly knowingly to their doom, and that if it does end up in a smoking hole it will be quick.

[Hard-Drive]

Just have a beer or two and settle down with a good book...







HTH.

[tmcgurk]

Hard-Drive said:

Just have a beer or two and settle down with a good book...







HTH.

[The Black Flash]

I used to love flying, then a few years back went through a phase where it really made me nervous, to the point of actual fear. The dropping feeling as they started the approach was the worst bit for me.
I think what helped, and you may well laugh, was spending some time playing a flight sim on the PC. That, and, bizzarly, a flight where one of the flaps stuck. We flew back at a rather odd angle, half the normal height, and landed on a very shallow, very fast trajectory with all the fire engines following us down the runway. I think because the pilot explained what was happening at each stage, and had a bit of a clue what he was on about, I was completely relaxed. And have been ever since.

[SeeFive]

I once spoke to a commercial pilot about this with a friend of mine who had a fear of flying. He was explaining the inherent safety of aircraft and meticulous maintenance of the fleets owned by major airlines - all was going quite well.

Well, it was going ok up to the point when my friend asked "how often do those things crash?", to which the pilot replied "Only once!".

He didn't have a very relaxed flight back to Boston that afternoon.

[Geneve]

I'm not keen on air travel - and I'm a pilot

The whole process seems designed to create a heightened sense of anxiety. By the time you sit in your seat you've lost all your dignity and you're a quivering wreck:

- All the packing and preparing to go away is stressful enough
- As is the, gridlocked, rush to the airport
- Then, having parked several miles away, lugging suitcases around the airport whilst trying to find check-in
- Once there, join the first of many 'push and shove' queues to 'check-in'
- Discover there is some trivial (revenue generating) irregularity with your booking and have to go to another desk to pay some more money before re-joining the back of the original queue
- Queue, again, to be treated like a terrorist at security, stripped to your underwear to stop the sensors bleeping
- Check how long your flight has been delayed, then queue again for coffee (the worst thing for anxiety)
- Eventually queue, yet again, at the departure gate to be told 'only one bag', so everything has to be thrown out or crushed into one tiny case - which promptly bursts
- Then get squeezed into a hot, clammy bus, which pulls up next to the aircraft and waits 30 minutes, giving everyone claustophobia and poisonous diesel fumes.
- Another queue on the aircraft steps, usually during a passing thunderstorm, whilst the aisle is occupied by people trying to force their ONE case into the overhead locker, that will clearly never fit
- Then, at last, finding a seat next to Giant Haystacks, who should really have bought two tickets, and infront of a screaming kid doing football practice on the back of your seat
- Finally, being told off by some spotty adolescent cabin attendant for some minor miscreance - such as having a phone - before being told you'll probably crash so please listen to the safety briefing.

And I haven't even mentioned Ryanair

[Simpo Two]

A true phobia is an unreasonable fear, a fear that is out of control and inhibits normal life. Telling phobics that something is safe won't work, it needs a psychological approach.

There was a series a while back about phobias. Fascinating. One guy was so terrified of baked beans that he couldn't walk past them in a supermarket, yet as a chef he could cook them quite happily. Once dismantled the problem turned out to be the turquoise colour that Heinz used. Weird but true.