I am flying to Paris on Monday evening. During the day I’m excited, but at night I get terrified.
I have flown many times, but I really hate it.
It’s too late to get xanax or something like that. Do you have any suggestions for a more natural way to keep my fear at bay?
I can’t even sleep on a plane. This is because if I lean over too far the plane might flip over. Yes, I know this is stupid, but a plane is really big and heavy. What is it doing up there, anyway?
Ships are made of steel, which sinks. And yet they float.
Many birds are bigger and heavier than mice, and yet they fly.
A car is bigger and heavier than a person, and yet they go much faster.
It’s about energy management. The engines produce energy to move the airplane forward, and this allows the wings to generate lift energy to take it into the air. Thousands and thousands of pounds of lift!
If you were to walk out to the wingtip (wearing your Zoo-Zappa 2000 Ultra Grip Booties™, of course) your puny weight would barely affect the enormous lift being generaged by just the very end of the massive wing. Leaning over when you’re near the longitudinal centre of gravity will have no effect at all.
No worries!
I think the best “natural” way of calming your fears would be to take an introductory flying lesson in a very small airplane. The instructor will tell you all about how something so heavy can stay in the air. I think there are also programmes that work with “fearful flyers” to get them more comfortable riding in aircraft.
There’s no magic involved at all.
(And yet… When I see a machine fly, it’s one of the most magical things I can imagine! 
)
Addressing your fears would be the first issue. If that can be resolved, then you will be much happier than if you merely take some kind of drug every time you have to fly. I am a pilot, as are a number of others on this board, and I’m sure we can address those fears.
As Johnny L. A. said, it isnt magic. Aside from tipping the plane over by leaning, are there any other fears that you experience which we could help you deal with?
“Magic Through Physics™ – We make life more interesting!”
Fear not my aviophobe for there are many who can help you. But you only have till monday, eh? Most help courses are a bit more involved, but do you think a book would help?
I have heard good things about This Capt. Chance guy (no, not a shameless plug):
http://www.fearofflyingbook.com/bio.shtml
There are others out there of course, this one was just mentioned to me once though. Hope this works for you.
Just remember that you’re less likely to die in a plane than you are just sitting quietly in your house.
I learned something a few years ago that was interesting: My fear of flying evaporates when I can see out the front of the airplane, or at least see what the pilots are seeing.
You have to find what it is about flying that you’re most afraid of – in my case, it’s not the flying, it’s the takeoffs and landings, and I’m actually afraid of crashing. So it was a revelation on several flights within Japan a few years ago to discover that they had a camera in the cockpit and would show up on the screen in the front of the cabin the view out the front window of the plane during takeoffs and landings. Voila! I could see where we were going, I wasn’t afraid any more!
Perhaps you can identify what exactly your concern is: irrational fear, reasonable nervousness, physical discomfort? If you can elaborate, that would help.
Lillith, I am so in tune with you! I haven’t flown for thirty years because of a phobia. And yet I love to travel and the idea of seeing Europe again. So I am going to Paris next spring.
Even that far away, I get these cold waves of fear that sweep over me. I think that it has to do with feeling totally out of control. Fortunately, I take enough medication to make me sleep comfortably.
Are you sure it’s too late to get xanax? I would call my doctor even though it is on a weekend. There is no point in your suffering anxiety like that.
But if you can’t do it with meds, find some consolation in that fact that you are not letting your fears stop you as it did me. That’s the only way to live!
I really like the idea of being able to see out the front window via camera in the cockpit!! No one likes to ride around in the back of a car while they are blind-folded. It makes you feel much more vulnerable than you really are. Do any of you know what airlines do that?
To any pilots out there, please tell all of the good side of flying. I want to hear some good stats!!
AS you can see, there were very few accidents to begin with; an donly about 1/5 of them were fatal – and this is with a million more flying hours. Plus, this is for general aviation aircraft. Commercial air carriers are much safer.
Are you afraid of driving on the street?
You have a better chance of dying in a traffic accident than you do on a plane flight. Airplanes (at least American run ones) are among the safest mode of transportation there is.
I love flying. The process and feeling of taking off… turbulence… looking out the window… it is exhilirating(sp ?). I’ve never gotten sick of it and I have flown dozens of times.
I’ve never seen a reason to fear flying.
I have to fly in 2 weeks and i feel the same way as Lillith Fair, in the day it doesn’t really bother me but when i hear the sounds of planes at night i get quite scared. I’ve flown 4 times (2 holidays) and i hated taking off every time. I don’t think i want to go anymore.
I think you need to examine what scares you and attempt to look at it in the most objective fashion possible.
Take those boogiemen and expose them to the bright light of reason.
Bravo, Mockingbird. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
The only airline I’ve seen do that is an internal Japanese airline, ANA. I wish they all would!
Moderator’s note:
I merged duplicate threads. I think. I hope.
If things look twonky it’s all the fault of these danged buttons.
Harumph.
TVeblen,
IMHO mod
But when your sitting quietly in your house, you don’t fall 38,000 feet. I love flying, as long as I don’t think about it. When I’m on a plane, I won’t even move, and yet, I love the feeling of taking of, and when the plane is about to land, for a brief moment, it feels as if I’m floating.
Question: At the airport, where they sell magazines, I noticed they have various adult titles. Do people actually buy them for the plane? I mean, you’re in machine that weighs thousands of pounds, and is flying (yes, I know it generates lift and everything, but it still astounds me). I would not want to tempt the fates, at all.
I’m not following your logic here. What do adult magazines have to do with a machine that weighs thousands of pounds?