PDA

View Full Version : Losing confidence in flying - any advice?


Reilly05
28th Feb 2008, 05:36
I am a frequent traveller, usually well in excess of 100 flights per annum for the last 8 years. In addition I have direct flying experience of several years in gliders etc (only around 80 hours, but a lot of 5 minute circuits!!).

Additionally, I have a life-long profound passion for aviation which has helped put the 'icing on the cake' in terms of making a great job into a fantastic one.

But.....here's the deal - on an Air Nelson Q300 late last year we had an encounter with what I can only imagine was mountain wave (lenticular clouds abounded, turb was encountered in lee of Southern alps on descent at circa FL100, wind gusts of over 70 knots were reported in the local valleys that afternoon). To say I have never experienced anything like this before is an understatement!!

Anyway, since then I have flown 30 or more times, except that strangely I now I have a background feeling of apprehension which I never had before, and I feel unsettled in the air.

I know the turbulence generated airframe loadings below the design load, and I know it was probably a large margin to the ultimate failure point but since this encounter I just cant seem to get the rational part of my brain to connect with the irrational part!

Any advice would be appreciated!

Regards

Reilly05

hardhatter
28th Feb 2008, 05:50
I know what you mean, I know how to design planes and the stresses which can be introduced into the airframe before failure...but that does not make it easier for me to fly!

What I do is try to get a window seat, that way I ca nsee outside what is happening, the attitude of the plane, identify any noises (eg flaps and so on) and memorize where the exits are, at least two, so I have a backup, should anything go wrong.

Try to find some relaxing techniques which work for you; my wife does yoga and taught me how to breath to relax, and it helps!

Do not be tempted into taking any kind of medication to help you relax, if the s:mad:t does hit the fan, you want to be alert and ready, not dozing off!

Finally, a small demonstration of the strength of the plane:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=pe9PVaFGl3o

Good luck!:ok:

cochise
28th Feb 2008, 05:59
If it makes you feel any better the Dash does not really handle turbulence very well. She's built like a brickSh!t house but that doesn't mean she can absorb the bumbs. The wings are quite ridgid thus do not really absorb the turbulence as well as a larger, transport, swept wing aircraft.
It is still nothing to worry about, you just had an unlucky experience. It should get easier with time and the more flying you do.
I guess the bottom line is that deep-rooted regard for self preservation is embedded in our brains and when we experience something to what we may think as threatening our reaction is to avoid repeating the same situation.
Having said that, I don't quite understand what I still doing in Africa now!:eek::}

chrisr150
28th Feb 2008, 09:55
I had a similar thing a while ago. Commute approx fortnightly AMS-MAN-AMS and ended up thinking too much about why I was flying at in an aluminium tube, doing 450mph+ over the ground, at an altitude above which no human being can survive for more than a very short period. Started getting quite freaked out by this thought and feeling really quite claustrophobic in planes.

My only solution to this was to get stuck into a good book to take my mind off it! I also find reading can be quite settling if I happen to feel slightly uneasy or disorientated during some bumps/turns, particularly at night if I have no horizontal reference visible to me.

I also tend to feel more comfortable in larger types (320/737) than smaller a/c like the EMB145/135, so maybe if you can choose an operator who flies larger a/c that might help too?

Good luck, just don't give it too much thought - its all in the head :)

hellsbrink
28th Feb 2008, 09:56
Make sure you get to sit next to a pax who is more nervous than you, you'll spend so much time keeping them calm you'll forget your own fears....

nebpor
28th Feb 2008, 14:30
Reilly, great post - I found myself in a similar position to you late in 2000.

Taking off at night from a wet & wintery Standstead on a Go (the old BA fleet) 737 - engines were going up and down and I was convinced the engines were going to stop.

Prior to this I had flown nigh on every week for the previous two years and always, always enjoyed flying up to that flight.

I was terrified - wanted off the plane, everyone looked spooked, but that was probably in my head.

From then on, every flight was an ordeal, and as I travel virtually constantly (I'm a dreaded management consultant) it was seriously stressing me out on a Friday when I got to thinking about the flight home.

I still fly circa 50-70 flights a year, and only in the last few months have I started enjoying (virtually, but not all) it again.

I'm from an engineering background and an IT professional - I trust computers, I trust engineers and I trust pilots ... but my confidence went.

I then decided to learn as much about flying as I could (knew the basics from a life of computer gains and as a curious youngster anyway), which is why I stumbled upon this place eventually and the wealth of information it provides, including the calm words explaining those routine incidents that happen all the time (birdstrikes, etc)

I then learned the engines going up & down were the 737's autothrottles, and laid that one to rest.

As said, it's a fragility thing and a control thing - if you could see the pilots up front it would be absolutely fine ... it's the feeling of helplessness in the back that does it.

One of my best computer skills is my ability to "put myself in the computer" - works well for massive IT systems when I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with them ... I can visualise it all.

I can now do the same with an aircraft engine - I understand it, thus have got over my silly fear that it's about to stop at any second ...

Still not a big fan of the first 5 minutes in the air, but as soon as the bong for the crew to start service sounds, I immediately relax, and I always enjoy landing anyway (you've got to when you fly into London City on a windy day :E)

Oh, I always sit at the window as well ... helps enormously.

Good luck with it all - there are many, many like us ... and there are many, many who eventually get over it. If you get a chance at the end of the flight say hi to the pilots as well and ask them about anything you noted .... works for me and they're happy to explain as they understand the problems we have, in fact a lot of crew (not the pilots) will usually admit it happens to them from time to time as well.

All the best :)

chrisr150
28th Feb 2008, 18:37
I then decided to learn as much about flying as I could

Also something I did which calmed many minor insecurities I had before taking my first flight in about 12 yrs (didn't fly as I never had cause to, as opposed to any fear), 3 years ago...definitely worth finding out as much as you can about it as you will feel more comfortable about the assorted noises and movements and suchlike :)

llondel
28th Feb 2008, 21:58
I remember being on a Virgin 747 out of LGW a few years back. It wasn't a full flight and we had some interesting turbulence on the climb out, with lurches in all directions, overhead bins popping open and much shaking. The people across the aisle were praying, I was just thinking "Wow! Good one".

Last time out we were sitting in the center block of row 56 on a 747 and on the ground the wings were visible through the windows. I pointed out to my son that once we were in the air, he wouldn't be able to see the wings anymore because they'd be bent upwards out of view. Then I had to explain about the wings being full of fuel and hanging down from the fuselage, but once airborne, the fuselage would be hanging from the wings.

If you want to see how much some of these aircraft can take, there was China Airlines 006 that lost control and got really close to Mach 1 with bits being ripped off and yet landed safely. Aloha 243 lost a lot of fuselage and still landed safely, United 811 had a lump ripped out of the side and landed safely. The recent BA038 777 landed well enough that some passengers thought it was just a bit of a hard landing and hadn't realised it had crashed. They build them tough.

Reilly05
29th Feb 2008, 03:27
Thanks for your replies and advice. Its reassuring to realise that other very frequent flyers can experience this sort of feeling after an event like this.

Its important to me that I regain my utter fascination with being in the air & although I know there are many people who are nervous about flying and always will be, I never want to be one of them for the simple reason that the love of aviation has meant so much to me throughout my life!

Appreciate the opportunity to get this "off my chest" and read such great advice coming back.

Happy travels!

Reilly05

Monkeytoo
1st Mar 2008, 17:36
I was also having the same feelings - after having flown hundreds of thousands of miles in a reasonably short time frame I was under the impression that 'statistically' something must be due to happen :{...............until someone pointed out to me that I couldn't work on 'statistics' as everytime I got on a plane the statistics 're-set' to zero again - so I don't think about it anymore :)