if you are afraid, cancel the trip.
see, you are in control. no one has to go to either fort lauderdale or dulles airport to live.
you are fully in control. you can cancel the flight, take the train, rent a car, take a bus.
or, take the flight and when you get on the plane, tell the flight attendant you are a nervous flyer and could you please say hi to the pilots?
Whenever someone comes on the plane and is afraid to fly, I always take time to chat with them and try to make things better for them.