Fear of Flying. Help on our website.

There are many ways to overcome a fear of flying, but the single most important ingredient is knowledge.
We hope that you'll find our 'visual help' page an easy way to answer some of your questions about flying. On this page there are a number of photographs, when you click on any of the images, the page will change to a larger view of the picture with some interesting and useful information about the picture. Every picture and explanation is geared towards helping you to address your fear of flying. I hope you not only enjoy the information but that it helps you to develop confidence in yourself and flying in general.

http://flyingwithoutfear.com/oyfof/fearofflyingvisualhelp.aspx

Keith and the flying without fear team.

Fear of flying. The best help available.

In our aim to offer you the best help available on the web, we are about to publish another 20 video 'Fear of flying help' clips on the site. Videos can help anyone with a fear of flying to make the things they fear seem more normal. Watching a take off, for instance, viewed from the window seat, but in the security of your home means that the sights and sounds can become familiar and normal to your senses. Flying without Fear .com is the biggest help site in the world for fearful flyers and we hope that the new videos add more value to our site. We don't have the brand power that our airline competitors have so we rely on you to tell everyone you know about this website. Over 10,000,000 people in the UK have a fear of flying. Over 40,000,000 people in the USA have a fear of flying...if you start telling your friends now...

Fear of flying. Getting help.

If you have a fear of flying one of the hardest things about it is knowing where you can find help. Anyone with a fear of flying feels isolated and vulnerable and that is why our forum is probably the quickest and easiest way to start addressing your fear.Unlike a chat room the forum has sensible messages sensible inputs and sticks to the subject of knowledge, help and support.. all of which will help you to overcome your fear of flying.

This picture shows the people on our DVD just after take off and getting used to their new found freedom. Apprehensive, yes of course successful, yes of course. See a clip from the DVD here.

Keith and the team.

Fear of flying. Safety in winter.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere airlines will just be preparing for winter operations. Pilots, engineers and ground handling staff will start to undergo their annual refresher training on winter operations.

Before taking off an aircraft will be cleared of all snow and ice on the important parts of its exterior. Very detailed procedures have to be complied with to ensure aircraft are free of contamination. Sometimes de-icing is done by a crew using a spray gun on a hydraulic lift while at other airports aircraft have to taxi through a giant archway which sprays it with de-icing fluid. Each type of fluid, according to the weather at the time has a period while it is effective...if a plane doesn't tale off within this time it has to be de-iced again. Safety is the only consideration.

Keith and the team.

Fear of flying. Overcoming a fear of flying.

"I've just returned from a holiday in Corfu, which I nearly cancelled due to fear of flying. By chance, I stumbled on this website two days before my departure and was so grateful that I did. Almost instantly I was reassured. ...When I boarded my recent flight, with my 9 year old twins and my partner, I was calm and relaxed. I kept going over all the dialogue from the video clips and reassuring myself that all the 'bing-bong' noises and dips in the air conditioning system were perfectly normal. That irrational fear was replaced by a better understanding of flight. ..For the first time, I didn't need to grip the armrests - instead I sat back and relaxed (something I've never previously been able to do)I had a great holiday and did not dread stepping back on the plane to return home. My sincere thanks Keith, and your wonderful team. Your website has made such a difference. It has already been recommended to my sister and some of my nervous friends."

Well done Lisa

Keith and the team.

Fear of flying. Hints and tips.

If you have a fear of flying one of the best things you can do when you have taken your seat is to make yourself as comfortable as you can. Firstly tighten your seatbelt as much as you can...and then every few minutes tighten it again so that you move with the aircraft. This will make your flight more comfortable. This picture shows a typical overhead panel. If you adjust the air vent or turn on the light...nothing will happen to the aircraft. Set the air vent so that you are refreshed. Use the light so that you can read your inflight entertainment that you have brought with you. Both these controls are adjustable so you set them to what you need. Being familiar with them will mean that even if you're still anxious about flying you can at least make yourself as comfortable as possible.

Keith and the team.

Fear of Flying. Navigation

The first navigation exercises that new pilots undergo are prepared with a map, a pencil and a clock. They know which way the wind is blowing from the forecasts and allow for this when they point their aircraft towards the destination.

Like a boat adjusts for the tide a plane does the same with the wind.

By comparison a modern navigation system, based on the inertial platforms used on moon missions, give a position accuracy of a few meters after a journey of thousands of miles.

Aircraft store their routes in a data base and with one action the route from say Sydney to Denver will be shown on the flight management display. Turn on the autopilot engage the navigation computer and the plane does the rest.

So... sit back relax and let go of the arm rests. Everything has been taken care of. Leave your fear of flying behind and enjoy being in the care of professionals.

Keith and the team

Fear of flying. Defying the laws of gravity?

The fascination of aeroplanes is such that enthusiasts around the world will sit for hours watching planes come and go while listening in to the chatter between pilots and controllers on their radios.

At Manchester there's a pub ...or used to be , where revellers and enthusiasts could be as close as 50 metres from the planes waiting to take off. I often opened my DVD window to give them a wave... and was always repaid with a flurry of waving arms. To those enthusiasts and to me flying is normal, it's not a miracle or magic.

Aircraft fly, not despite gravity, but because of it and because of all the other laws of physics and mathematics.

And so hanging on to the arm rests during the flight doesn't actually help the plane to fly... even though to someone with a fear of flying it may seem to.

Keith and the team.