Popular Fears!

There is a lot of help available from our shop and all of our products will help you to deal with your particular worries and to overcome your fear of flying.

Turbulence

Always at the top of a list of fears is, turbulence. The key message that we have for anyone who is anxious about turbulence is to remember that “Turbulence may be uncomfortable but that’s not the same as dangerous.” and we encourage you to say that to yourself whenever you are flying through turbulence if you are feeling anxious. In the weather section you will findsome  information about the causes of turbulence. There is a section on thunderstorms that you may find interesting. The main fact about turbulence is the one I have already mentioned that if you’re securely in your seat with your seat belt tight then you’ll be fine. You will move with the plane which will give you a feeling of security rather than moving a moment after a bump which is an uncomfortable feeling. Remember thast you will be more sensitive to the feeling of falling rather than the one of rising and so you will get the impression that the plane is always goiung down where as in fact not changing height more than a few feet.

Another worry for fearful flyers is that the plane might break or be damaged, whatever you think and whatever it feels like the plane is more than strong enough to deal with the forces of turbulence, which seem so bad because you’re being thrown around while travelling at at 600 miles an hour.

Imagine doing that speed over a bumpy road. Finally fearful flyers worry that the pilot may lose control because they think it’s hard to fly a plane in turbulence, well it’s not it’s just as easy as when it’s smooth.

Watch this video of a chap who had a 30 year fear of flying and got into the simulator and was able to fly it in severe turbulence without any effort.
Find more videos like this on LogBook 24/7 The Fearful Flyers’ network

Taking-off

Second place in the list of fears in taking off, once again there are pages about the take of f in foggy conditions or if an engine fails  during the take off but here we’re just going to look at some of the more obvious things that make people anxious. First of all there’s a belief that this is the point of no return..it isn’t any more than any other point you could describe the same way. But this is the difference between being oin the ground and actually flying so your mind concentates you towards thinking that this is the big moment…it isn’t.  The big moment was when you decided that you’d take this flight. Now you’re just facing your fear.

• Sure there’s a lot of intimidating noise but the reason for this is that you’re sat right in the middle of it as the engines power up for take off…as you go faster you’ll leave it behind.
• The take off is bumpy because the suspension is stiff…it needs to be for the landing.
• You think the engines are straining …ask yourself why didn’t the manufacturer put on the right size engines if these are straining?
• And yes the runway will be long enough because if it were shorter you wouldn’t be taking-off with so many passengers on board!
• It’s all been thought of…sit back and do your breathing exercises …worrying doesn’t he;p to get it airborne.

Claustrophobia Many people who have a fear of flying also suffer from claustrophobia. The best way to address this fear is to gradually expose yourself to the situations that cause the symptoms. That’s why our Fear of Flying ground course can be so beneficial because you can get used to, and deal with you feelings on board a real aircraft where you are in a supportive and friendly environment and where you can operate the doors whose sound when closing can trigger your claustrophobic feelings.

Taking off The very first thing you should do if taking off worried you is to go to the video section and play the take off videos over and over again until you are either bored silly or your feelings of anxiety reduce. The videos are free so there’s no excuse not to watch them. Here is the link to the video section and to a video of the TAKE OFF. On the 4CD audio program there is a commentary from the flight deck of a Boeing 737 during the take off (Disc 4 Track 4 ) Buy your Audio CD Set here

Cruise While many anxious flyers enjoy the peace and quiet of the cruise there are still many who find this part of the flight un nerving. Many talk of a hanging feeling with nothing to support them, others worry about the lack of sensation of speed. Some just sit, waiting for something to happen. Of course to me as a pilot I know I’m not just hanging there. I know there’s a great big fat cushion of air that the plane rides on…I also know that there’s an enormous suction on the top of the wing supporting the plane too…so I know it’s not going to fall. If you’re worried about the lack of speed…look at our video section and see how quickly the ground passes by, and you can do this on a flight to by ‘marking’ a part of the window and watching the clouds or ground move past it. Finally in this brief section some passengers worry about the noise that the engines make suddenly when you’ve been flying along for hours and hours when the sound of the engines have been constant all the time. It’s very simply explained …when the plane has been flying it becomes lighter because of the fuel it consumes when the weight decreases sufficiently the plane will climb to a higher altitude, and of course the engines have to power up to do that. Simple as that and certainly nothing to worry about.

Panic attacks The chances of a panic attack occurring while you are in flight are very low. But as you know anxiety is caused by the thought that one may occur which you feel would embarrass you and the people you are travelling with or even embarrass the crew. Remember that the crew are trained to deal with panic attacks and will not let anything bad happen to you. But you also know that you will come to no harm if one happens. You know that you won’t actually stop breathing even though you feel very differently about it when you’re suffering from one. What can you do;

First you must try to be generally less anxious before you fly so that you don’t ‘set the scene’ and being less anxious will be the result of understanding what is going on around you and dispelling all the myths about flying and accepting that you can learn enough about flying to reduce your anxiety levels. If you control your breathing this will help to be in control. The problem is of course that when these worries start you forget to control your breathing because of the stressful situation that you are in. You should try to identify the levels of stress that you suffer and accept that they won’t get worse and that by accepting them they will reduce of their own accord.

Our Ground Course will help you to deal with anxiety and we’ll show you some very simple techniques to reduc the effects. On our aircraft you will be able to test your stress control because we can practise the things that cause stress…like taking off for example…we can run the video and sounds as many times as you want so that you can get used to your feelings and realise that you are capable of controlling them. We can show you more take offs in a day than you’ll ever do in a lifetime..if you don’t learn to control them like this then we’ll be amazed because everyone who has been on the course has benefitted so far!

Loss of control

What part of ‘control’ do you mean? Most people when pushed recognise that it’s safer to leave the flying of the plane to the people who are trained to do it. Even if you started your training tomorrow you’d need to fly for at least 10 years to be at the same level of experience as the average airline pilot. It is quite wrong to believe that you could do better and also quite wrong to believe that sitting in the cockpit watching what’s going on will make it any safer either! You just have to accept that you can’t help me as the pilot and the most you can do is sit there hanging on to the arm rests in the false belief that you’re holding the plane up. Actually you shouldn’t waste your time doing that either because the fact is that it doesn’t actually help at all. Learn to accept. Probably the truth is more likely to be in the control you can exercise over yourself. Learn to control the things that are withing your ability like your anxiety or the facts you know about flying or how your body works under stress. Stop looking outwards for control and look inwards instead. Perhaps these sound like hard words but facing your fear and everything that goes with it are vital to overcoming your fear.

Nothing changes when you leave loved ones behind

Many anxious flyers are suprised to hear that lots of people become anxious at the thought of leaving their family. Any significant life event like falling in love having a family or losing a friend or family member suddenly makes us realise that we’re vulnerable…that we’ve actually got more to lose than we thought. Despite these feelings and however strong they are…nothing has changed in the way of risk or chance. There are lots of people on the forum who can share these thoughts with you.

I think flying is dangerous The simple question you must ask yourself is …what is the evidence for what you think? and there’s no point in saying that there have been accidents…that’s not evidence for believing that flying is dangerous…any court of law would accept the scarcity of accidents as being evidence for the fact that it’s safe. Maybe it’s potentially more dangerous but then you’d have to apply that argument to other forms of transport for it to be valid. The irrefutable fact is that regardless of what you perceive, flying is safe by any reasonable comparison with other forms of transport. It’s a fact ..it may be hard to accept but it’s a fact. What can you do to re-structure your thinking about it? Read all the stuff on this site, then check out the products in our shop and learn the FACTS . I know I’m hard and I know I’m direct but I want you to overcome your fear of flying. So we have to deal in facts.

Bad weather This really is a job for the Book the CD and the DVD to persuade you that bad weather…however you define bad weather…is not a problem to aircraft and pilots.

Landing There’s a description in the book about landing and I’m about to add some stuff on the informastion pages about flying a plane . I know it’s a short and simple answer that despite what you’ve heard or seen flying an aircraft is something any intelligent human being could do given the right training. Pilots aren’t steely eyed Charlton Hestons they’re ordinary girls and guys who apart from flying planes also lose their car keys and forget where they’ve parked in the multi story car park Why should they be any different? Where’s the evidence that makes you think otherwise about them and about flying planes? Dont forget you can ask me a question through this website on this page And don’t forget that the range of help we offer in the shop is more comprehensive than anything available anywhere