Thanks

[pberrett]

Hi all

I am not a pilot but I hope you don't mind me posting the following.

I have always had a fear of flying to a certain extent but did not let it stop me flying. However earlier this year I had to cancel a trip to Europe (sister's wedding) due to panic attacks (principally due to Sept 11. I had not flown at all since that day.)

Anyway I enrolled in the Fearless Flyers course (http://www.fearlessflyers.com.au/ ) which I have just completed today. The course finished with a flight Mel-Syd for the day with lunch at Bondi. As you would well be aware it was a fine day and not too bad for flying.

Anyway the course and the day went fine. Although I was nervous flying there were no panic attacks and I coped ok. Most other people doing the course also reported good results.

A number of people contributed their time and expertise to helping the group including a number of women pilots and your own Captain Dale Newman who was a fountain of knowledge.

I would just like to publicly express my thanks to all associated with the course and comment that I found the course worthwhile and would recommend it to anyone with a fear of flying. The course presenters are genuinely interested to help people with their problems and their results reflect this commitment.

I am sure that in your flying duties you come across many passengers who have, to some degree, a fear of flying. I hope that you will point them towards this course based on my and other's recommendations.

Also I'd like to express my thanks to the Captains and staff on QF3 out of MEL at 8.30 AM today and QF447 out of Sydney 3.40 PM for the warm welcome they gave the group. We are fortunate to have a great airline and great staff in QANTAS.

Thanks and keep up the good work

Peter Berrett

[SmallGlassofPort]

Well done!
Always pleased to hear that people get a better understanding of what we do.:ok:

[Tinstaafl]

You can help yourself by making as many flights as you can. You could start with short hops on nice days then longer journeys etc.

Anxiety/panic attacks and the consequential avoidance behaviour tends to reinforce the phobia. By NOT avoiding the anxiety producing situation the frequent exposure eventually results in the extinction (or at least a reduction) in the anxiety.

[pberrett]

Well, I've no immediate plans to fly anyway however Captain Dale is organising a day out in the Yarra Valley and he'll be taking people up in a light plane. I shall certainly attend that as it will be an interesting and useful experience.

Yes, aviation is a fascinating area and I can see why pilots who have the nerve love to fly. When you get up above the storms and you are flying above the clouds its beautiful.

Actually that reminds me of something. Whilst flying to Sydney (in a 747-400) a smaller Qantas jet was slightly ahead of us and off to the right a bit. One could see the smoke trail dissipating behind it. At one point it slowed down, banked left quite quickly and pulled upwards, to the left (towards us) and slowed down at the same time. In other words it wound up behind us and a little up at the end of the manouvre. Watching from the the window it was graceful and beautifully executed.

cheers Peter

[Sector3]

The URL for the Fearless Flyers Inc with QANTAS (http://www.fearlessflyers.com.au/) website should be:

http://www.fearlessflyers.com.au/

[pberrett]

Thanks sector3 - yes the correct url is http://www.fearlessflyers.com.au

I've edited the url earlier posted to correct it.

It is so nice of these people who give up their time to run this course. Also QANTAS deserve considerable thanks for the support they give to participants (ie allowing the use of their flight simulators).

cheers Peter