Fear of Heights

[acrophobic SPPL]

Hi all,

As my user name suggests, I have a fear of heights. I'm an SPPL with roughly 20 hours spread over a couple of years of disjointed training.

This year I finally decided to go for the PPL for once and for all as the flying bug just won't leave me. I have yet to go solo but am very near that stage.

As far as I'm aware, I have always had a fear of heights, nothing too serious but something I considered a healthy fear. Then in my 20's I developed an unexplained fear of flying, i.e. - big jets, going on holidays etc. This annoyed me so much that I had to learn all I could about flying which culminated in my first trial lesson. I was a bit shakey on the lesson but the bug bit me big time.

Now, when I do circuit work or fly around the control zone at 1000 feet I have no problem at all and feel quite relaxed even in rough air.

However, I have just completed my first dual cross country, more as an experience excercise than formal training (its a club I'm training with as apposed to a school) and when we climbed to 4000 ft I got quite rattled. I was surprised how different the view was between 1000ft and 4000ft.

Now I know that the plane doesn't know it's at 4000ft and I know that height is your friend when flying and I know that it's totally illogical to be worried but I'm very concerned that this will put an end to my flying.

At no stage did I ever feel like I was losing control but I did wonder what I was doing up there when it scares me. Unfortunately, my fear manifests itself in sweaty palms so my instructor had no problem realising what was happening. I had to point out to him that I get sweaty palms watching a scene in a movie with someone hanging off a cliff or tall building and consider it normal for me. I'm worried that he might tell me that flying is not for me.

So, is flying for me ? I've heard about pilots with a fear of heights before, Brian Milton if I'm not mistaken, is one so obvioously it can be overcome. Is there anyone on the board with a similar experience or a great method of curing this annoying phobia ?

All advice and help greatly appreciated.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Probably not much help ...

I don't like heights. I get seriously unhappy walking along a perfectly good path which is a whole foot away from a namby-pamby fifty foot drop, even when there's a fixed chain to hang on to. So unhappy that I'll walk the other way round an entire mountain in preference.

But somehow having only a couple of millimetres of aluminium separating me from a two mile drop to the ground doesn't bother me in the slightest ... no, I can't explain it either.

[Whirlybird]

I've always had problems with heights, to a greater or lesser degree. I used to not even be able to climb ladders, and I still tend to have difficulties on cliffs and similar. As for scaffolding or anything like that, forget it!

I'm usually OK when flying, but it manifests for me if I'm flying low and then the ground suddenly falls away. The first time it happened was flying over the South Wales valleys in a helicopter, when I was at about 500 ft, and the next moment at 2500 ft. And yes, I think a sudden climb might have bothered me in the past, but I'm gradually getting used to everything, and there's not a lot in aviation that worries me now.

There have been threads on PPRuNe about this in the past, and I was amazed at just how many pilots were scared of heights. It was quite common. So don't worry about telling your instructor. He won't tell you flying isn't for you, or if he does, get another instructor! What I'd do if one of my students had this problem is find out exactly when and where they were bothered, and take things gently, eg by climbing slowly and gradually in your case, and making sure you were happy, so that you could get used to it...and you WILL get used to it!

At the moment it sounds like you're adding to your anxiety by trying to hide the problem. Don't! We all have difficulties learning to fly, and if this is the worst problem you have, you're very lucky.

Take care, and feel free to pm me if it'll help.

Whirly

[AerBabe]

Me too. Absolutely terrified every time I took off, and I wondered how I'd ever go solo. I got over it, of course, and it's not an issue any more. However, I still don't like walking on ridge- or cliff-top paths, or standing on those clear panels on top of tall buildings. Stick with it and fly as often as you can - you'll be fine!

BTW, I've read that part of the reason it doesn't feel so bad in an aircraft is because you're sitting down.

[flying shrink]

I agree. Fear of heights is a very common problem. You have already prove to yourself that you can fly without it being in your way and the rest is about building your confidence as you fly further and higher. The worse you can do is to get stuck around a specific area of heights or flying and then believe you can't get past it. Feelings are just feelings and are constantly changing. However, if you do get stuck and it becomes a panic state, don't worry as you can get help for that. But, so far, in your case, you doing well and just keep doing it!

Good luck

FS

[acrophobic SPPL]

Many thanks folks for all your thoughtful and helpful advice.

Whirlybird - I reckon I was trying to hide it all from my instructor, I suppose I just wanted the feeling to go away and not be a factor in my training. We have discussed it now and the plan is to go up to 5000ft and glide back down. I'm actually looking forward to it but I'll have to practice my deep breathing exercises !

It is strange how many pilots are afraid of heights. My instructor said that he has problems on ladders etc. While we were having our chat, sitting in the parked aeroplane, a helicopter flew over. I was amazed to hear him say, as he pointed at it, "You'd never get me up in one of those things" ! (Thought you might like that Whirlybird)

flying shrink - nice to hear some professional advice. I'll keep at it and hopefully it will never become a panic state.

It will break my heart if this upsets my flying, I still can't see how I can enjoy it if I'm nervous or worried. Only time will tell I suppose.

[Mike Cross]

No point worrying about heights. Height never killed anyone, it's the ground you want to be scared of.;)

I've done climbing and abseiling, free fall parachuting, and skiied some pretty steep slopes. I learned to fly in 1974 and enjoyed fairly inept aeros from which I would commonly emerge the wrong way up and going backwards. None of it bothered me.

However a few years ago I developed the same symptoms you describe. I think it was at its worst when I was in a glider, looking across at someone else in another one and realising how much empty space there was below it. Happily that feeling has now gone and I hope it does with you. I think it's to do with the business of being "at one" with the machine, feeling that you're wearing it rather than sitting in it.

Took someone for a flight last wekend who had been in the Air Cadets and wanted to join the RAF. Trouble was he got vertigo when he was flying. He was happy as Larry as a passenger. When I asked him to have a go he was distinctly uncomfortable while handling the controls and quickly handed them back, following which he was fine and enjoyed the flight.

[yawningdog]

I've been flying since I was 17 and I'm now 37. If I go flying on a perfectly clear cloudless day above 3000ft, it is very likley I will experience some very uncomfortable anxiety. Sweaty palms, monotone RT, heightened anxiety, general feeling of "unsafeness". An agoraphobic reaction. The human mind's natural reaction to being in a potentially unsafe environment.

As a result of this I very much prefer to fly in marginal or IFR conditions, where there is less visual exposure.

It's a real shame, but it hasn't stopped me from flying, I have learned to live with it. This feeling of anxiety appeared after a 10 year break from flying. I was so surprised when it first happened that I undertook a lot of research and interviews in order to try and confront it.

My own way of handling the problem is to:

- FLY ONLY WHEN WELL RESTED.
- KEEP IN CURRENT FLYING PRACTICE.
- Eat a balanced meal before the flight, no coffee etc.
- Keep physicaly fit.
- Plan every part of the flight to the absolute tiniest detail.
- Concentrate of perfect airmanship.
- Fly in an aircraft with some sort of wing leveler or autopilot. (Not that you would need the autopilot, but the fact that its there is very reasuring)

My advice is don't let your body stop you from doing what you love, flying. Learn to deal with it. It may fade away, or it may linger forever, but it won't defeat you!

If anyone feels that it might be useful for them, I would be very happy meet and talk about the issue.

[DubTrub]

I was amazed at just how many pilots were scared of heights No great surprise, really, since all pilots are human, and most humans are scared of heights! Me included.
But like acrophobic, I can cope en avion until above about 3000', then I get nervous too. So I stay low-level, where I can see the darn ground!

Funnily, if I use a mount other than my regular steed, I am not so nervous. I think it may be to do with the view of the horizon (my regular steed has little, whereas say a 152 or Pa28 has lots).

I am more happy inverted, where the windscreen is full of ground. Perhaps the human mind needs to know its position in relation to the horizon (but that might be just my excuse for falling over late at night when coming out of the pub!)

There is a vertigo situation, Whirly and Mike, associated with perspective when crossing objects of differing heights (like flying across the top of a tall mast...the ground hardly moves, but the mast top does!). I also get vertigo in steep turns if I look at the higher wing against the sky...). Perhaps someone could give a logical expanation for vertigo, other than the "inner ear" argument.

[Send Clowns]

This has long made me curious, as I have always scared of heights but I never doubted that I was a pilot. In my jobs I have known hundreds of pilots of all different backgrounds, and I have asked a fair few about fear of heights. I would estimate that 90% or more happily agreed that they had some fear of heights, mostly the similar level to mine (I hate edges unless there is a good barrier, hate even watching other people stand near them).

You seem to be going in the direction I would recommend, challenging yourself. I loved climbing and abseiling; there were times in each which terrified me, but I carried on and had my fear under control. I think had I avoided doing that I would now be much more restricted by the fear, maybe avoiding ladders (which I dislike).

How about either doing some aerobatics and spinning (you have to be high for spins, and the worst has happened!), or even go abseiling to challenge your fear in another environment?

Yawningdog

That probably makes you a damned good club pilot!

[bar shaker]

I learnt to fly to cure my fear of heights and it worked. I used to be terrified.

Now, whilst I have no fear of height in a/c (been over FL100 on perfect viz days etc), I do occasionally get a slight pang on a high structure. But I did manage to do the Eiffel Tower two years ago, something that would have been unthinkable beforehand.

Just keep yourself very current and the fears will get less and less.

[Whirlybird]

Send Clowns' suggestions of challenging yourself may work for some. However, personally I've found such methods can be counter-productive. You really push yourself, do something scary, get terrified, and confim your fears all over again. It doesn't work for me. I find it's better to make haste slowly, just go a little higher each time, taking deep breaths, and stop when you've had enough. Pat yourself on the back for doing so well, and go a little bit further next time. That way, I can now climb a ladder to my top upstairs windows...if I have to. I still won't go on the roof though! But do whatever works for you.

A slight digression here, if I may. I recently found out that the women's light piston helicopter altitude record hasn't been broken since the 1980s. The person who holds it was delighted when I said without thinking that I'd like to give it a try! Then I thought about it.....around 18,000 ft (I think it's around that at the moment)...in a helicopter...arggggghhhhhhhhh!!!! :)

[Cat.S]

I too have a great fear of heights. I found looking straight down at the ground out of the side window in a steep turn sometimes brought that 'feeling' of vertigo on. My cure was to look forwards for a few seconds and I'd find it would then go away.

[muffin]

I normally have no problem in an aircraft, although I don't like cliff edge paths or looking out from the top of high buildings. However, as it was very hot for a short time a couple of weeks ago, I took both doors off my R22 and flew it around like that. While at low level say 500 feet or so this was OK, but I found that if I climbed to 1000 feet plus it felt really scary especially in steep turns!

[Kolibear]

I hate being over water. I'm OK in big jets flying to the US, but I really don't like crossing an expanse of water in an small aircraft. Flying to L2K this year was a major achievement for me.

But its not just flying over water that affects me, I dislike crossing bridges, I'm used to the Dartford Crossing now, but the Severn, Humber and Forth road bridges are too long for comfort.

In London, I'm the one crossing the bridges by walking on the kerbstones and on the Channel ferry, I'm the who isn't on deck. I couldn't lean on the rail and look over the edge of the deck. Sea cliff edges have the same effect too.

So I think I have a fear of being over water, but its amazing the feeling of security that 3mm of perspex gives you.

[flying shrink]

Hmmmm I can see a research project appearing on the horizon.......

[FullyFlapped]

Everyone has a fear of something ... it's perfectly natural.

Heights ? No problem.

Taxman/Bank Manager/Mrs FF ? Ooooeerrrrr ....... ;)

FF :ok:

[englishal]

Fly a low wing aircraft!

One trip a while back, me and a friend were flying over a desert in a 172, at 12,000'. It was turbulent and the atmosphere was very murky, you couldn't see that well ahead, but you could see down ok. When we landed he confessed that he started getting a bit of vertigo....which was funny, as I had too.

Never experienced this in a low wing a/c....probably as the wing stops the 12000' view directly down ;) Not experienced it on a gin clear day at 12000 in the desert either, in a high wing or low wing......

[c_jephcott]

I have exactly the same problem. Above 3000 feet, I start to feel anxious about the height that I'm at. Steep turns and spiral dives have never been a problem. However, i have been reduced to a gibbering ball of nerves on a couple of occasions, both of which were away from flying. The first was when climbing the CN tower in Canada, and trying to convince myself to cross the glass floor. The second was climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge.

It's a perfectly natural reaction to have.

[tmmorris]

I once took a friend flying who was scared of heights, in a PA28. His fear was that he would open the door and jump out - it's on the passenger side, of course, in the PA28. No amount of persuading him that if he didn't do it, it wouldn't happen, or indeed that you can't open the door against the airflow anyway, would make him happy. We got from Kidlington to Enstone before we had to turn round, and he emptied the hip-flask of whisky he brought with him on the return trip. Luckily I was driving...

He won't come again, so I haven't been able to work on a cure.

Tim

[yawningdog]

"...His fear was that he would open the door and jump out..."

Someone did actually do that not too long ago. The passenger just decided to open the door on a Cessna and say goodbye. It wasn't a fear of flying issue though.

Flying Shrink
If you do carry out some research, I may be able to provide you with some useful info.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Someone did actually do that not too long ago. Er yes, one has sort-of realised that one has to qualify one's passengers (and there are some people I wouldn't take flying), but it's not something that forms part of the PPL training, and the care-of-passengers AIC does not, as I recall, say anything much about how to decide whether to take a particular individual flying or not.

[flying shrink]

Thanks yawningdog. I will keep you in mind.

I am also interested to know how pilots, who "walked" away from an air crash or accident, have "overcome" their feelings and anxieties to fly again?

[acrophobic SPPL]

Hello again,

It's really great to hear of so many pilots in a similar position to me and others with milder fears of heights.

I'll be going up on Monday, weather permitting, and I'll let you know how I get on. Incidentally, it is a PA28 I fly and I do find it better than the Citroen 2CV with wings (C150) that I trained in before.

It's a strange one - the jumping out of the door fear. I get that on boats and ships. I love looking over the side and have no problem with rough sea but I do sometimes have to check myself when I get an urge to jump overboard ! I suppose it's all connected to the fear of heights.

Thanks again you lot.

[Juliet Papa]

I find this very interesting. I get scared in certain situations - I'm OK being on top of a tall building, even looking over the edge - but only if I can't fall. anywhere with no 'safety net' like a cliff or rope bridge does me in. I also get vertigo by proxy - my GF has no fear and will happily stand on the edge of a cliff (she did once at beachy head - looked back to see me lying on the ground 30 feet from the edge pleading with her to get back!!)

In Canada last year we drove up a logging road, about half way along a mile-long stretch we had to stop. I got real vertigo as the sheer drop on my left was too much! Had to reverse down slowly...

The thing I find (and I know this will sound strange) is that I feel unsure that I wont throw myself off. No through any desire to kill myself - but like it is a deeply subconscious urge. I've often wondered if there is some part of the brain that 'remembers' flying at some hugely deep evolutionary level, and it is the instinct of this that we fear, but also compels us to spend time and money learning to do what we love - even if this appears to contradict our responses in other situations. Probably complete bo-lo's, but I like to ponder on these things.:O

JP

[delta-golf]

I definately sympathise...

I can happily do aero's over terra firma, hand fly an approach in bumpy CU.......but even a marginally steep turn offshore has the tension ratcheted up a notch or two :\

No idea why, but I can't seem to shake it off...any free advice from the shrinks out there ?

[gingernut]

Don't look out of the window. (Only kidding!)

I find keeping busy and deep breathing (count to 5 on inspiration, hold for 5, and count to 5 on expiration), helps, but practice it on the ground first.

Also, as one previous poster pointed out, keeping fit helps to keep excess adrenalin affecting performance.

[Kolibear]

Juliet Papa, ypu've just described exactly how I feel.

[delta-golf]

Nice one Ginger :D

Strangely enough, when executing visual manoevres over the sea, especially with a less distinct horizon, if I feel a bit odd, I go straight on instruments with the occasional look out the window for traffic until I am straight and level again.

I can't seem to figure out why I am more afraid of crashing in to the briney, than I am at meeting solid rock at full tilt............

Years ago, when based in Germany, I did meet a 14sqn Jaguar pilot at Bruggen, who in the middle of a high level transit over France, decided that if he tried to turn the aircraft it would fall out of the sky !! , he had to be vectored in very wide, shallow circles and on to a long final to get him down. He was medically grounded, but apparently after a bit of treatment got over it and was allowed to fly again. Apparently once they have spent a lot of money training you, they don't want to let you go easily. I think that we bug smashers could carry on with that philosophy too.

[Saab Dastard]

I'm not too comfortable with unrestrained heights - like the tops of tall ladders. I think it's the bouncing / swaying that does it.

I don't usually have a problem with cliffs, high buildings etc. - unless you count wanting to toss myself off. Perhaps I should re-phrase that :O

Never had a problem in an aeroplane or glider (sitting) or balloon (standing).

Interestingly I was cutting down a 35-foot birch tree in my garden last week, and had to climb to about 25 feet AGL and then use a saw to lop off branches - now THAT was scary! No rope - I thought I would be better off falling than accidentally hanging myself (some of you may disagree!).

SD

[Victor Mike Charlie]

I have the same fear - flew over Grand Canyon airport last year, but couldn't land as it was too close to the edge of a VERY BIG cliff, that's gotta be nuts! :hmm:

Recently, I've found 2 situations in the air that have made me apprehensive (sweaty palms etc) - the first was after an extended period of flying "on top" at FL70 I looked down through a hole in 3000' cumulus - that made me quite giddy.

The second is a bit more worrying - I've just bought an aircraft with a canopy rather than windows like a PA28 and I'm feeling quite a bit more exposed with the extra visability; with that comes the anxiety.

I flew it yesterday and didn't really want to go above 3000' and found that I was a more uncomfortable with the light chop that was bouncing me around a bit.



VMC

[acrophobic SPPL]

Yaaaaaaaaaahhooooooooooo for me.....I did it.

Today I flew at FL060, yes thats right 6000ft and with no real problem at all.

I'm so delighted with myself and my flying dream is most definitely back on course.

My brilliant 64 year old instructor took us up in gentle rate one climbing turns. We levelled off at 4000ft and then 5000ft. I sat very relaxed with my feet on the floor and my right arm stretched out behind my instructors seat. I think this helped to relax me. Also, with my instructor doing the flying, I had time to relax and have a good look around and I really was wondering what all the fuss was about.

When we reached 5000ft he leveled off and I took control, just some straight and level and some gentle turns. I was very happy and relaxed when he called centre and asked could we go up to FL060 on 1013 for 10 mins, (FL060 is transition altitude/level here), I did feel my pulse raise a little but I soon settled into a nice rate 1 climbing turn again and in no time we're at 6000ft.

The air was so smooth and the vis excellent. After about 10 mins we descended slowly all the way back to the zone entry and then back to the field where I made a nice landing despite the very bumpy approach.

I could have hugged my instructor I was so relieved to have been up so high and felt so relaxed. I will always get sweaty palms but with good positive thought power I will never loose control or be worried again. Three thousand feet is nothing to me now.

Again, many thanks for all the great advice from you lot, I'm over the moon here !

[delta-golf]

SD, I actually laughed out loud in a room full of people when reading your last post, vv funny. :D

[David Pick]

Well done - it sounds like you're well on the way to sorting yourself out.

For me, getting over height anxiety is all about practice.

I loved the idea of flying for as long as can remember, but the few times I flew as a teenager, I was pretty nervous. I managed to get my gliding solo with the ATC anyway.

When I started gliding again 10 years ago, I was initially very nervous. The higher we flew, the more nervous I got, though I loved the actual flying. I found aerotows very vertigo-inducing.

Over a period of three or four years, flying regularly, I found I simply got used used to the view out of the aircraft. I stopped feeling unsafe. New situations can still cause nerves, and frankly I regard aerobatics as a great spectator sport, but regular flying is pure pleasure. I hope I'll always get appropriately nervous if the situation demands it though!

good luck with the rest of your training.

[dc1]

thanks to everyone who has posted their anxieties about their fear of heights. I still have to experience flying above 5000ft and thought there was something wrong with me to feel a little anxious about this. Feel better now that it seems to be common enough anxiety that most get over. Cheers

[Halfbaked_Boy]

It's strange really - as far as I'm aware I've never suffered a fear of heights in any format, but I do feel much more vulnerable when flying at a circuit height than at high altitude. I don't believe this is related to 'fly lower, glide less' but due to the fact that at 1,000' you really begin to appreciate the relative airflow that is holding you in the sky - when you're lower you realise how high those buildings are and that you are many times higher... whereas at higher altitudes it's easy to forget that it's the airflow actually keeping you in the air and the whole process seems much safer... I'm also a weirdo :E

Cheers, Jack.

[cavortingcheetah]

;)

Any structure, be it a step ladder ot the Eiffel tower, between the soles of my feet and the ground, can cause vertigo.
In an aeroplane, absolutely no problem, rather strange.
The kiss of death is something that moves as well as being in ground contact, such as a ferris wheel or the london excrescence. I think that the slow motion makes matters much worse.
I learnt once, to my cost, that the unpleasant sensation associated with moving vertigo is infinitely worse if experienced with a rather serious hang over!:E

[effortless]

I know quite a few pilots who would never climb a ladder but will quite happily fly upside down at 1,000. Your aren't alone. Enjoy flying and the power you will feel at having control over your fear.

[B Fraser]

I will happily throw a paraglider around in the mountains while suspended by very thin kevlar lines knowing that a dicey thermal can collapse the wing requiring me to recover the canopy while hurtling earthwards. I love it.

My personal best is 10,500 feet over Marlborough in a balloon. The viz was so good that I could see the Solent. One day, I'll do 30,000 feet.

Try getting me up a 15 foot ladder :ugh:

Can't explain it :confused:

[Windy Militant]

It's all relative. A few years ago I had to shin up a boresight mast here at work to change the Aircraft Warning Lights.
Dangling off the top at about 250' AGL I had the thought that I was too Bl*ody high. Especially as the mast was a light weight triangular lattice about a foot across each side which twisted every time I pulled on the rachet to tighten the bolts holding the lights to the tower. A bit later on I had the thought that in an aircraft at 250' AGL I'd be feeling nervous because I was too close to the ground. ;)

Mind you neither of these situations are as scarey as being in the bucket of our very ancient cherry picker which really puts the willies up me. :eek:

[effortless]

When I was a lad I was working on the Sussex County Hospital new tower block in Brighton. On the day the Red Arrows came I was on the roof. I then realised that I had an atavistic desire to fly, which is what I think fear of heights is. I realised that when ever I was up high I wanted to step off. I still have it.:eek:

[flying shrink]

Just a note or two for those of you who are interested in how this works. (Well, how we think it works because we really don't know much about the brain!).
Those parts of your brain responsible for feelings and fear (specifically the amygdala and hippocampus) work on the basis of association. So rational thinking, logic, and reality are nothing for those parts. And those parts can be very specific in what it associates with fear or anxiety. That is why you can be happy and addicted to flying at 10 000 feet in a glider, or parachuting but intensily fearful and anxious of a 15 foot ladder.


fs

[B Fraser]

There must be a nerve linking the hippocampus to the sphincter :uhoh:

sorry, this isn't jetblast but a serious discussion, I'll behave.

[Oscar Kilo]

...fascinating thread...

I was on a cliff top last weekend and had the strongest urge I've ever had in a similar situation to run and leap off. I really had to stop myself and get away from it before I plunged to a certain death on the rocks below. I love the theory about this being linked to a deep instinct to fly, and the theory that this feeling may also explain why I love flying.

Anyway - flying shrink (or any other similarly qualified person) - what is the reason for this overwhelming self destructive urge, are there any theories???

Would love to know.

- Oscar

[UV]

Read about this some time ago and seem to recall its to do with maintaining balance.

Apparently the body is constantly swaying from side to side (very minutely). The eyes pick up this swaying motion, and cancel it out, so that balance can be maintained.

As the swaying is so minute the eyes can only make the necessary corrections when glancing at something relatively near by (e.g. objects ahead when standing, or the canopy, wing etc. when sitting and flying).

Hence the problem when looking over a cliff or up a ladder...there is nothing close enough for the eyes to dectect the minute swaying ...thus the uneasy feeling...

UV

[Monocock]

This topic is really interesting.

Can someone explain to me what vertigo is and what it feels like?

If I don't fly for two weeks I get a horrible nervy feeling as the wheels leave the ground on departure. Is this it? If I fly on a regular basis I don't get this sensation.

I too hate heights. In fact, I hate them so much that I would choose to go on the bottom deck of a bus to avoid sitting upstairs! In hinsight that wasn't a very good example as I have never been on a bus.

Crossing the channel gave me an hour of emotional hell each time I did it. I vowed to never do it again until my children are old enough not to care if I join the fish. I suppose this isn't so much of a height issue, more of a "level of acceptance of risk" issue.

Interesting stuff

[John Farley]

I cannot stand heights. Never have. As a result my wife is the person of choice to deal with anything higher than I can reach and thus needs the use of steps or ladder.

But in my case I am certain it is a fear of falling. So it never bothers me so long as I am strapped in. I did not fancy the London Eye but went and had no problem - hence I agree with those who talk about the magical (illogical) powers of a few millimetres of Perspex or metal.

Just once, literally once, in an open cockpit glider at the top of a winch launch I happened to be able to look down the cable all the way down to the ground and had a sense of being a long way up which I certainly did not enjoy. It was instantly fixed by looking away from the cable.