Quick Fixes for Common Fears

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. There is more help with turbulence at other membership levels.

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 your 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.

The very first thing you should do if taking off worried you is to go to the video section and play these take-off videos over and over again until you are either bored silly or your feelings of anxiety reduce. There are more videos about Taking off on the Premium Level membership.

While many anxious flyers enjoy the peace and quiet of the cruise there are still many who find this part of the flight unnerving. 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.

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.

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 traveling 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.

 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.

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 armrests 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 within 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.

Many anxious flyers are surprised 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.

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 restructure your thinking about it? Read all the stuff on this site, then get all the stuff from 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 with facts.

However you define bad weather…is not a problem to aircraft and pilots.

There’s a description in the book about landing and I’m about to add some stuff on the information 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?