X-QUORK,
Even though I’ve always loved airplanes, and I’ve been flying since I was born, I started to develop a fear of flying in the mid 90’s. It snuck up on me gradually, first with nervousness about flights on small airplanes and LCCs, and finally culminating about two years ago with a fit of crying before boarding and take-off in a BA 777. (A big thank you goes out to the FA on that flight who said to me, in a very reassuring and non-condescending manner, “If the flight wasn’t safe, I wouldn’t be on it” – sometimes, that’s all a nervous flyer wants to hear). Ten minutes into that BA flight, I was fine and happily looking out the window – and that seems to be the point that I just got over it and started enjoying flying again.
I grew up around aviation and knew all about safety measures and the statistics – it didn’t matter. The fatalistic sentiment “when your time’s up, you time’s up!” was of no help either as I was not ready for my time to be up!
Even though I’m mostly over it, I can still get a bit nervous before a flight – but I make every effort to control it because I don’t want the fear to become paralyzing as it almost once did. The fear of flying, as you’ve said, is completely psychological, and psychological tricks have worked for me – they’re just as irrational as the fear itself, and that’s the beauty if it!
- For control issues, I just remind myself that 2 highly-qualified individuals are in control of the aircraft, and that is infinitely better and safer than if I were in control. Also, getting up and walking around the aircraft (if it’s OK) helps me a bit because I am no longer confined to a seat.
- For turbulence, I remind myself that the only way turbulence can be fatal is if I am not strapped into my seat. Also, when flying over land, it helps me to look out the window because I can predict light turbulence – over mountains, at the edge of bodies of water, flying into or over heavy clouds, etc. Also, for any flight crew reading, I’ve always appreciated an estimation, in the “turbulence” PA, of how long it would last (I’ve also appreciated the times when, during the initial PA of the flight, the flight crew let us know if any turbulence was expected and when we could expect it – for example, 90 minutes into flight, etc.)
- The best trick I use (and one that has worked for my friends, too) is to count the seconds after the wheels leave the ground on take-off. An ex-boyfriend, who was a commercial pilot, told me once, while scoffing at my fear, that thirty-seconds into a flight, everything is fine. True or not, I count up to thirty seconds after take off, and I relax a little bit. One minute in, a little bit more. And by 5 minutes into the flight, I am happily looking out the window and enjoying the flight!
Hopefully one of these might help you, too. Good luck!