Help Me! I am Afraid of Flying!

[BlueSideUp]

Joe is that why I heard you issue diapers to all the guys you fly with?

Shawn I actually went through a very stressful point in my life where I had a fear of flying on my commute to work, yes I work as a pilot. It was momentary and no where near what you describe but there was a fear there. I think it's related to your other stresses and a feeling of no control. Maybe your mind is associating the extended period of no control (the flight) with other parts of your life that you feel are uncontrollable.

Not sure if it helps but there is a saying that the pilots are always first to the scene of an accident. Interpretation is that no pilot wants to take a dirt nap. They will do everything in their power to have a safe flight and there is a self preservation element to that. I and other pilots on this board have had some extremely serious situations in flight, you just handle them professionally like we are all trained to do.

[Rick Lee]

I just have to keep remembering that I am exponentially more likely to die while driving to the airport than while in the air. They let any nutbag on the road and with plenty of distractions. When you're at 30k ft, professionals are running the show. Minutes ago I walked out of the bank and saw a guy get into the car next to me and blow on a steering interlock device before he could start his car. Imagine if they let guys like that fly planes.

[Zeke]

I love flying. I hate airlines. I don't know any pilots. I don't fly.

Actually, the only part of flying that I like is the take off. Big or small, taking off is the best. Landing comes in second, but I've not had the experience of any performance flying. I'd probably like hard turns and such.

I'm quite sure I'd blow when going on a steep dive. I love motion but I've never done well at downward motion. I stay off roller coasters because of the drop, but I really like being whipped around in the turns.

[p911dad]

SloDave, great photo, looks like maybe a spin entry from about 10,000'. We used to demonstrate that maneuver as part of the private pilot course using a
Cessna Aerobat. Nothing concentrates the mind more than watching a cornfield rotate around an axis! No more of course. FAA said no longer part of the curriculum years ago. Who took the photo? Pilot or student?

[Zeke]

You think they maybe run video these days?

[cgarr]

Nothing but joy! but I even have some uneasiness on commercial flights.

[Seahawk]

Shawn,

I hate to fly when I am not flying the damn thing! I love to fly but if I am riding I loath it...viscerally, literally, figuratively, everythingly.

If the sticks aren't in my reach, if I haven't pre-flighted the aircraft, reviewed the MAFs, seen the wx, etc. I sulk to my little passenger slice of foam hell with foreboding.

So. My advice?

Do what my Father, who has many millions of miles on airlines (and has jumped out of many) does: He scans the crowd of folks he will be traveling with in his little aluminum panic in a can...he looks for a fellow traveler, a man or woman of substance. He figures two good folks will tip the scales.

He always finds one, always gets on.

Me, too.

[Jagshund]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I just have to keep remembering that I am exponentially more likely to die while driving to the airport than while in the air. They let any nutbag on the road and with plenty of distractions.

+1. You're much more likely to die as a passenger in a car than as a passenger on a plane. Forgive me if my outlook seems a bit bleaker than that of others here, but I believe fear is irrational. No one here gets out alive.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by BlueSideUp

Joe is that why I heard you issue diapers to all the guys you fly with?

Shawn I actually went through a very stressful point in my life where I had a fear of flying on my commute to work, yes I work as a pilot. It was momentary and no where near what you describe but there was a fear there. I think it's related to your other stresses and a feeling of no control. Maybe your mind is associating the extended period of no control (the flight) with other parts of your life that you feel are uncontrollable.

Not sure if it helps but there is a saying that the pilots are always first to the scene of an accident. Interpretation is that no pilot wants to take a dirt nap. They will do everything in their power to have a safe flight and there is a self preservation element to that. I and other pilots on this board have had some extremely serious situations in flight, you just handle them professionally like we are all trained to do.

Yep, the barf bags never contained all of it, so we just started giving two pampers to every pax, one for their rear and one to wrap around their head. We actually duct tape it around their head and neck, that way it holds most of the chunky bits.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by gmeteer

SloDave, great photo, looks like maybe a spin entry from about 10,000'. We used to demonstrate that maneuver as part of the private pilot course using a Cessna Aerobat. Nothing concentrates the mind more than watching a cornfield rotate around an axis! No more of course. FAA said no longer part of the curriculum years ago. Who took the photo? Pilot or student?

That was at about 4,500-5,000 feet (MSL). First one was unintentional from student - me . Instructor was in control (ha!) for the above pic, I was busy with the camera.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Shawn 357

I am scared from the moment we take off until we are stopped. It doesn't bother me if we are over land or sea but knowing that I'm really high up gets me. It helps if I don't open the window. Sharp turn or turbulence also get my heart racing.

The worst part about this is that my Wife really likes to travel and me not wanting to fly makes that very difficult. We are driving up to San Francisco in about a month even though we have a bunch of free airline miles just because of this issue.

Hell, a drive up the coast from San Diego to SF used to be a good thing..

[Jeff Higgins]

I have made a career for myself in a very small niche of the commercial aviation industry, a niche know in the industry as "AOG", or "Aircraft on Ground". What that means in aviation parlance is an airplane that is not flying, because it is not airworthy. I help get them flying again. I design tools and equipment used by the largest OEM in the industry to go out and repair customers' aircraft.

In my years in this profession, I have quite literally "seen it all" as far as specific incident repair, basic maintenance, service bulletins relating to design changes and upgrades, and all sorts of other work that gets us out in the field around the world. I have worked with the best in the industry as far as airlines' engineers and mechanics, engineers and mechanics at MRO's around the world, and our own team (as the biggest OEM in the biz, we are well known as being "the best in the business" at what we do).

In other words, I have spent a lifetime around folks who design, build, maintain, and repair commercial aircraft. I have spent many, many very long days and nights with them everywhere from our own plant to some of the most god forsaken remote hangars around the world. We have worked together, we have drank together, we have spent altogether too much time together. As such, I have gotten to know a good number of these folks intimately, and have a pretty good handle on the kinds of folks who do this sort of work. That's why I can say, without reservation, that flying absolutely scares the shyte out of me.

[cstreit]

Interesting. I fly every week and have logged hundreds of thousands of miles. THe older I get, the more nervous I get. Particularly long periods of turbulence... Find myself wondering how much the old airframe can take. Then I start to thing, how many crashes do we have due to turbulence, so few.... It helps.

The thing that bothers me? It's the control thing. If something happens there is NOTHING I can do to change it. Gotta learn to relax and simply look at the stats. Walking down the street is probably more dangerous. Convince yourself of that, 'cause it's true.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I have made a career for myself in a very small niche of the commercial aviation industry... flying absolutely scares the shyte out of me.

Umm... You're not helping. I fly a LOT, don't want to hear that TYVM.

[ramonesfreak]

developed a bad fear after TWA Flight 800 crash...shortly after that, i was on a flight that was very bumpy and i was reading the paper on the flight and the TWA 800 story was still news and they were talking about how passengers were found at the bottom of the water still strapped into their seats....bad idea to read that stuff on a plane while going through bad turbulence. didnt fly for about 9 years after that..drove everywhere. 9/11 didnt help and then the crash shortly after in rockaway beach didnt help and now the buffalo crash....

doesnt make any sense given my hobbies include motorcycles and smoking cigarettes

[Rick Lee]

TWA 800 had to be the worst. When you watch the computer animation of what happened there, it's bone-chilling. The cockpit broke off and fell to the water while the fuselage continues to soar upward with many passengers still alive, before it ran out of steam and plummeted to the water. Can't imagine.

YouTube - TWA Flight 800 Disaster

[cgarr]

The one I remember was on September 1, 1983, Korean Airlines (KAL) flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet fighter jet. This was the morning I was taking my actual flight exam for my Private Pilots License. All I could think was, were going to war!

[Rick Lee]

IIRC, that plane was disabled long before it hit the water. They had a long ride down, knowing they were doomed.

[Tim Hancock]

My boss's wife has not flown in nearly 20 years due to what she claims is physical illness she had started experiencing back then when she flew. Now that they own our business, increasingly they are faced with traveling and thus far shehas insisted that they drive from Ohio to places like Florida, Vegas ect. We need to go to a trade show in Vegas in Sept, so I talked her into going up in my 4 seater to see if she could handle it. I told her we would go u to 8000' to simulate cabin pressure in an airliner.

Well I got her up to 5000' climbing in stages very slowly. So log as she had her hands on the controls and I had the trim set at 100 fpm climb rate, she as OK, but when I would take over and try to climb a bit faster, she would start complaining that she was starting to feel "funny" so I would reset the trim and let her fly again (she did not notice that we were still climbing) and she would settle down. After 40 minutes, she said she was ready to return, so I let down and landed.

She said she was fine and thought maybe she could fly to Vegas, but a few days later, she says they are just going to drive..... What a PITA and a waste of AV gas. She still is claiming it is physical due to altitude change, but after observing her during our flight, I am 100% convinced it is caused by fear.

[imcarthur]

My attitude for airplanes is the same as I view any public transport I travel in. What will happen, will happen & I have no control. Whether it's a taxi or a ferry or an airplane - it is all the same. An airliner is merely a bus that flies. I fly frequently & I was only really scared once: on a flight out of SFO in the 90s the plane 'hit' some clear air turbulence. It really felt like we were hitting something & yet I could see the high desert below & the sky was clear. That made me jumpy for several years but I got over it.

Ian