dlish

Im writing a fear of flying article for an airline magazine and thought TFP would be able to help me contribute to the article. I could then post it here on TFP to help drive some traffic our way for people looking to information on how to overcome their fear of flying

what tips or methods do you or someone you know have to overcome the fear of flying?

all answers welcome

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Baraka_Guru

Before the trip, avoid drinking coffee. Try drinking chamomile or passionflower tea instead. Caffeine stimulates the fight-or-flight response (via adrenaline), which will only add to your stress/anxiety.

Read Ask the Pilot by Patrick Smith, a former airliner pilot. The root of many fears may be found in an ignorance of how flight works and how airliners operate. (e.g. No the plane cannot simply fall out of the sky. And turbulence is actually quite harmless.)

Just do it: in my case, the more I fly, the easier it gets. Feel the fear and do it anyway. With most fears, multiple exposures to it makes it easier to overcome it.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

nomcat

While I have absolutely no fear of flying, I don't exactly enjoy it either. I avoid consuming caffeine and sugar 6 - 8 hours before a long flight as I find it makes it much easier for me to relax and sleep. As well as passionflower, valerian and hops are really good herbal relaxants.

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ratbastid

lurkette took a flying lesson. A couple hours tooling around in a two-seater and doing touch-and-gos at small regional airports, and her fears about commercial aviation were a thing of the past.

Want me to get her here to talk more about it, dlish?

ring

Good advice above, and I look forward to hearing more,
since

I haven't been in an airplane since 1974.
(bad bad thunderstorm)

My sister flies frequently half way across the world,
and she's a very nervous passenger.
She relies on Xanax. (Which is probably for the best, for her,
and the poor people having to sit next to her.)
& since she has so many flier miles,
she gets upgraded to first class seats where she can zonk out.

dlish

ratbastid, thanks dude that'd be great. it'd be good to hear lurkette's story on what she did and how she overcame the fear. plus the fact that we havent seen her here for soooo long

The article is going to be in a lifestyle type of air magazine - the type they stash behind every seat, so the more responses i get the better. But ideally it'd be an intro, 10-12 tips, and then a conclusion. maximum of 1000 words.

some solid tips so far. thanks!

BG are you doing pro bonos'?

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

Baraka_Guru

Mayyyyyybe.....

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

lurkette

Hi all! Good to be back!

I was terrified of flying - every little noise or bump made me shake. I would agonize over whether to mention funny smells that might could possibly maybe be electrical fires. I would track the flight attendants - I figured if they weren't nervous, the plane was probably okay, but I was still on the verge of tears during turbulence, and I would literally count after takeoff for 120 seconds because I read somewhere that most accidents happen within the first 2 minutes of a flight.

Anyhoo.

Three things helped:

1. As Ratbastid mentions, I took a flying lesson. I learned what all those noises were. The thump after you've taken off? That's the landing gear retracting. The whining when you're descending? The ailerons. It helped me to learn what was normal, what to expect, all that. For a control freak, knowing what's going on is the next best thing to actually being at the controls.

The second thing was talking to a friend of the family who is a pilot. He told me how much tolerance a plane has for turbulence, how flying through storms was no big deal, all the redundancies that are in place. I told him all the stuff that made my heart pound, he told me what it was so I could stop imagining worst-case scenarios.

Lastly, I learned some progressive relaxation techniques. Mostly breathing and muscle control. For many people who have anxiety, your body creates a feedback loop. The more anxious you are, the more your brain freaks out and the more it triggers the anxiety response. Your brain sees your body being anxious and continues to freak out looking for the threat, and away we go. Stopping the physiological response short-circuits that feedback loop and lets you bring a bit more reasoned response to bear on the situation.

So that's it! It wasn't instantaneous, but I'm now a seasoned flyer who sleeps through turbulence. I actually enjoy it now. I never took another flying lesson, but I never really felt the need.

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- Anatole France

amonkie

Dlish, I studied/researched fear of flying as part of my undergrad thesis, including surveys of roughly 100 people.

Let me see if I can't find the research in one of my boxes and find anything useful for you

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Charlatan

I can't say that I've ever had a fear of flying but there are times that the turbulence has gotten to the point where I get a little freaked out (turbulence plus a sudden though of just how high we are and an image breaking up like the space shuttle over Texas comes to mind).

Thankfully this happens rarely.

When it does, I just try all that I can do to relax. Deep breathing. Concentrating on my book, movie, etc. If it comes to it... I just have another drink.

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Sue

I have a fear of turbulence also. I've flown my whole life, but something happened after I had to fly by myself. I don't know where the turbulence fear came in to play. Maybe because I wasn't little and had my parents to hold my hands? I did have one scary experience, flying from Florida to CT, after going to my dad's funeral. The plane didn't start descending soon enough, so the pilot(s) had us in a VERY steep descent, and fast. It freaked me out to the point I had tears in my eyes and had to hold the hand of a stranger sitting next to me, who very kindly offered me their hand.

I've tried xanax on planes, I've tried ativan, and it did nothing for me. My doc gave me valium on the last plane trip I had, and that made it MUCH easier for me. I don't fly often, with not having enough money and being in nursing school (along with working), so I'm fine with just having an Rx for the flight.

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Lady Bear Cub

I am so afraid of flying that I am convince that if I get on a plane, it will go down simply because I am on it. I really believe that if I fly it will mean the end of mine and all my fellow passengers lives. I can't get over it. I might be flying somewhere this summer and I'm having nightmares about it. The thought of it almost sets off a panic attack. I don't know how I will get over it because I really want to travel.

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But I very seldom follow it,
Will I ever learn to do the things I should?"

Baraka_Guru

The most basic struggle over this fear is truly realizing the irrationality of it. That's what I did to overcome the worst of it. The remaining fears/anxiety are virtually uncontrollable. But at least I know it's not very likely something will go wrong, and that I took the unlucky draw of being on the plane for the first major airliner travel accident in Canada for a very long time.

Statistically speaking (and according to an article I read this morning), I'm far more likely to be killed as a pedestrian on the streets of the Greater Toronto Area.

I highly recommend reading Ask the Pilot.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Tex

Hello all.

I am terrified of flying. I haven't flown in 12 years (I'm 24 now). I've passed up opportunity after opportunity to take incredible vacations. Last month, my two best friends alerted me that they are booking a trip to Europe, and they asked if I was interested in going. Of course, I immediately declined. However, over the past month, I've really thought about how I am not living my life, and I have decided to book the flight with them (we're actually meeting up and booking it tonight). The itinerary is London > Paris > Brussels > Amsterdam > Rome.

Although I've finally convinced myself to the book the flight, I am still incredibly anxious/nervous. My fear is deep and I'm sure it won't go away easily. I literally have a recurring nightmare about flying which I get about once a month. Like I said though, I'm determined to finally do this. I have a very personal reason for needing to go to Rome/Vatican City, and as somehow it brings me a lot of peace to know that I will be flying for a very specific purpose.

I will keep you guys updated.

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