Capot, not sure how you figured I told my daughter about how lots of people were afraid of flying (I agree that would be a bad idea!).
I
was concerned she was picking up on Mrs H's fear of flying (which my darling spouse doesn't conceal too well) and simply decided to "give her the facts" (as far as I know them anyway) about what was going on to keep her interested throughout the flight (although after about 30 mins she just wanted to go to her colouring in book).
By the way, the idea of the sweets is good with one child - but not with more than one child - they then can argue endlessly over who got the best, the biggest, the tastiest, the nicest colour - never doing that again
