Fear of Flying

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Capt Tom Bunn LCSW said:

Ordinary counseling will not help. Only a handful of therapists have the expertise to effectively deal with flight anxiety.

Though books and tapes offer breathing exercises, according to research, that does not work for flight anxiety. Learning how flying works can help.

Say no to drugs. Research shows drugs make flight anxiety worse by increasing panic attacks tenfold.

Several articles on effective help are available at http://www.fearofflying.com/wordpress



Keesha L. said:

Thanks for the additional resources – I’ve always been afraid of flight and getting me to travel by plane would take a miracle!!

I had to drive 6 hours one time to a friend’s wedding just because I refused to fly. While I know it sounds silly, the fear of getting into a plane and not having any control over my own life was scary enough to serve as motivation for a 6-hour long drive alone to attend the wedding.



admin said:

I think fear of flying is one of the most prevalent phobias that plague humans all over the world. The feeling of being helpless when flying gets to many people and when someone feels they do not have control over a situation – the natural nervousness kicks into high gear and panic sets in.

I know at least two close friends who avoid flying at all costs. It seems odd to me, but I suppose it’s not so funny to the people who can’t even stand the thought of flying. Hopefully articles like this and the rest can help shed some light into these phobias.



Iggylizard said:

My significant other is also afraid of flying. I believe that his fear of flying doesn’t really have anything to do with being in the air as much as it does his lack of control. When flying you have to completely depend on the pilot to do the right thing and I believe that may be a large part of many peoples’ fear of flying.



Justin Cardinell said:

I am so scared to fly because my life is being taken in someone else’s hands. When i fly I feel helpless and not in control of anything. Watching the news and seeing planes go down makes me not want to fly even more. When i see the plane on the ground in pieces i remember that picture while in the sky.



serena said:

I have no fear for flying.Mostly people are afraid of flying cause they feel helpless thousands of feet up there.Definately these articles help in getting people over this phobia for flying.I feel its the most amazing experience to watch everthing down in a bird eye view.

I think everyone should try and get over this fear.Just think positive and fly high.



Walt said:

Flying didn’t bother me at all until fairly recently. I’m old enough that I grew up with real silver utensils, little giveaway plastic Pan Am bags, and flying was very pleasant for me.

The quality of the experience has been doing downhill for a long time, of course, but after the post-9/11 security measures I’ve developed an aversion to flying that borders on fear. For the first time, I can totally empathize with people who have real fear. And it’s not any worry about being blown up by terrorists; it’s being subjected to that Orwellian screening process and the general atmosphere of anxiety, suspicion, and corporate idiocy. I suppose it’s contagious.



jane said:

my first flight when i was 29 was an extremely turbulent ride. i was required as a buyer for a department store to travel on business. it was a short flight so, we never got above the clouds. a gentleman sitting across from me took off his seatbelt against the advise of the airline personnel. we hit a large pocket of turbulence and he came out of his seat, hit his head on the overhead compartment and went back down to his seat. i wasn’t too happy to begin with, and, this sight really rattled me. i flew many times after this, but, my heart pounds, i shake and really can’t tell what people are saying to me. i haven’t sought counselling as i don’t fly much anymore. when i do, i certainly don’t enjoy it, to say the least!



Benji said:

I really don’t fear flying but am scared I will get dizziness or vertigo as I have had a few such attacks during some joyrides! So far I’ve had no problems, but i occasionally pop a pill before a flight.
One of the great problems with therapy for such fear is that the situation is difficult to replicate in a therapeutic set up. So you really can’t know if therapy worked till the next actual flight.
a new fear these days is the fear of a hijacking or terrorists attacking a flight!



Melissa said:

I’m afraid to fly because I have social anxiety disorder, it’s minor, but being in a plane so close to other people intensifies the effect.

I also dislike sitting so close to another human being. And I do not like being so high up in the air where various things could go wrong.

And my other fear is the fact that I can’t swim so “in the event of a water landing” I’d be SOL



uglybanter said:

A lot of people are afraid of flying just because at any moment it seems, the plane could crash. It’s a hard phobia to get over especially since it has underlying causes. Once you can find those, it can be easier to get over it than you think. My dad had this problem and I was there to witness his recovery every step of the way.



Dagon said:

Although flying is supposed to be safer than driving, there is a lot to be said regarding the ‘control factor,” meaning it’s much more frightening to relinquish your fate to someone else. This someone else might not just be the pilot; he or she might also be the airline mechanic who failed to install a replacement tail bolt, which is what brought down the Alaskan Airlines plane back in 2000. A bolt. A simple bolt. A lot of people dead because some numbskull failed to change the bolt. Since I keep my car maintained, I’d say when it comes to material failure, cars are much safer — at least mine is.



Will Never Fly said:

I have never traveled by airplane and I’m not doing it anytime soon. A couple of years ago a friend of mine was going to pay for my vacation and she worked for the airlines but I told her no thank you because I was scared to fly. She begin to state the same things that I noticed other people with this fear have said people have said to them. She told me that flying is much safer than driving in a car because it’s not many crashes of planes and that that’s very rare for a crash to occur because airplanes are very well maintained and inspected over and over before take-off. My response was well, in one of those rare cases were the plane did crash I’d die. I said at least on the ground I have a chance or even if I did have a fatal car crash at least my body would be found. If I went down in a plane I might never be found. I really want to conquer this fear but every time I feel like maybe I’ll at least try to ride in an airplane even a short distance I always here about a plane crash. I might be persuaded to ride if I was guaranteed my pilot would be Captain Sully! That was an amazing landing he did.



Too High said:

I have always had a fear of flying. There is something about being up 30000 feet that doesn’t seem right to me. I have flown two times in my life and never want to again. I have had counseling and I am trying to work my way through my problem.



Missy said:

I was not afraid of flying until a few years ago as well. This one particular flight was during the winter and the turbulence was terrible. There were several sudden drops and one woman actually started screaming. Fortunately, I was traveling with a family member. He kept me calm but even when we landed he said the flight was bad. I actually had to sit and rest when we got off the plane for a few minutes because my legs were numb and I was dizzy.
Now when I fly, I keep my eyes closed during take-offs and landings as well as whenever there is turbulence. I figure this way no one will see me panic but my knuckles still go white.



John said:

I did not used to be afraid of flying, but I am now. It’s that I think the plane will crash, I just have difficulty with being confined. I have not actually flown in about 12 years, and I had a little difficulty with it then, but now I don’t think I could bear it. I believe it’s because I suffer from claustrophobia. I have difficulty with elevators, public transportation, even the back seat or passenger seat of cars. If I am driving, I’m ok. Maybe it’s a control thing.



Jennifer said:

I have a huge fear of flying. I have never been in an airplane. I will never get on one. There is just something about flying that really freaks me out. I am so afriad that the plane will crash. That it will fall out of the sky for no reason. Each time I have tried to get on a plane I turn pale and I pass out.



Scared2 said:

I am so so scared. I am almost 31 years old and I have never been on a plane. I now have a ticket to take off to Florida in less then two weekd and when I even think about it I start to tear up and get nauseaus. It’s definitely the fear of crashing for me. I don’t want to die like that… I can’t imagine how I am going to do this. I am told I need to keep calm or they won’t let me on the plane. My 25 year old sister is going with me and it’s only a 2 hour flight so those things should help… but I am so scared. I kept help but feel that not everything will be fine. On top of that in a little over a month I am flying alone for a 4 and a half hour flight, I can’t even tell you how I feel about that but all I can say is that I hope this flight to Florida does something for me in regards to feeling safe, cause right now I can’t even believe I have considered this… let alone am going to be doing this. I get scared in trains too. I am even a little fearful when I drive not knowing if something could happen like a tire blow out at 70 miles an hour on the highway in snow… So I am scared of that stuff… you can imagine how terrified I am of flying…. I think it’s totally awesome that I am going to be able to finally experience new things and places in my life… but I can’t help but be scared that I won’t make it there or back and…. well I don’t know what to do. Nothing makes me feel better about this, other then my brother said the other day…”You know sis, the guys flying know what they’re doing and they don’t want to die either so it’s not just your life, it’s theirs too, so you have to think if they didn’t feel confident and safe flying… they wouldn’t be risking their life… that made feel a bit better but I am still…. sooooo scared!

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