Flying Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 and Jazz Air / Air Canada Express for the first time
I am prone to some anxiety, and I've suffered from panic attacks before. I have kids overseas, so I have dedicated the last several years since they were born to going back and forth between N. America and Asia for them. Sometimes it's been hard.
I have a major anxiety about flying about a decade ago (around 2009 - 2010), but I have done some mindfulness work, taken a fear of flying course online, and a bit of counseling. Generally speaking, it helps when the flights are with an airline with a stellar safety record (ANA, Singapore, etc.) on the "top 20" lists. It helps with the aircraft that are bigger too.
I am getting ready to return overseas. I booked flights a month ago. At the time the flights seemed good. I booked "Air Canada Express" from the northwest U.S to Vancouver.
I have neither taken a regional airline before nor a turboprop plane before. At times, I also purposely avoided taking both due to the perceived slightly higher risk of an accident. This trip I booked Air Canada Express thinking I should be alright.
As I inch closer to the flights at the end of this week though I'm just getting nervous. I did see that Jazz Air (now Air Canada Express) has had a pretty large amount of incidents in recent years. In fact, on this web site, they seem to have the 5th largest number of incidents according to the list that ranks airlines by number of incidents on the index page.
I want to post a link to AeroInside Jazz incidents list but it won't let me include links because I'm a new member.
I'm just looking for a bit of reassurance from community members here. Because I'm nervous about flying. It's my first time taking a turboprop and I've never taken one before. I was preparing myself to take my first turboprop, but then I saw the large number of incidents with Jazz Air / Air Canada Express.
Most importantly, I saw at the end of this week there is bad weather forecast for the day I'm supposed to fly. The forecast is calling for thunderstorms and some heavy rain. It's been very sunny in Portland for the last few weeks. That day looks like the first day with bad weather. So I keep worrying thinking about my first time in a turboprop and having bad weather.
I'm just worried that the turbulence might be terrifying? The sound of these engines will be unfamiliar. I also worry and seeking some honest advice, feedback, and perhaps reassurance (if it's warranted) both about this aircraft the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400.
I thought that generally I was 'cured' of my fear of flying, though unfortunately it's come back for the first time in a few years. This just feels like a moment of weakness for me perhaps.
I feel kind of embarassed to post this actually. I'm just not sure what kind of replies I may get. But hopefully some replies would be good that are educational or reassuring.
Thank you