What a fascinating thread. It should be required reading for any and all involved in any kind of aviation, especially those with responsibility for flight safety.
Refreshingly (brutally?) honest comments from pilots, other aircrew and the all-important ground crew about their own experiences. And no recriminations or put downs, just an understanding that 'it' happens.
Scared OF flying OR Scared WHILE flying?
Two different things, in my view.
lsh
Ahh, now there's a VERY good point ...
I never did very much: PPL (Spamcan), UAS (Bulldog) then VGS (Viking) and I loved flying and never felt the slightest concern pre-flight.
Even if I was scared witless (still am) about the idea of climbing a ladder to check the guttering on my house and had serious kittens about my daughter standing on the glass floor at the top of the CN Tower in YYZ and couldn't do it myself ..
My own experience? It never happened on powered types or when flying dual but latterly, solo on Vikings and just 'bimbling around' i.e. not doing a lot, just soaring, I started to get freaked out because at times I thought I could see myself sitting on the wingtip looking in at myself flying the a/c. (Not hypoxia, this was at 2,000').
Was this because of the lower workload and that my mind wasn't fully occupied or stretched and had too much time to think about silly / irrational things? Or something else?
Wish I'd seen this thread then because I never had the confidence to discuss it with anyone and stopped soon after .. Having a stude trying his best to kill us both on landing may have had something to do with that as well!!
CS