Dreams

[MightyGem]

There's a topic running in the Military section on being scared of flying:
https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/605217-scared-flying.html

A common thread is dreaming of finding yourself under lots of overhead wires(and, in my case, trees) and trying to find a way through them.

I used to wonder if others had these dreams, and now I know that lots do.

So, who on here has these dreams?

[RINKER]

I have had dreams (nightmares) of flying into wires.

R:

[Al-bert]

There's a topic running in the Military section on being scared of flying:
https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/605217-scared-flying.html

A common thread is dreaming of finding yourself under lots of overhead wires(and, in my case, trees) and trying to find a way through them.

I used to wonder if others had these dreams, and now I know that lots do.

So, who on here has these dreams?

My dreams, cityscapes and wires, only began AFTER I stopped flying (1999) and went on for ten plus years. Also, I wouldn't describe them as a nightmare - in fact I rather enjoyed the 'challenge'! I never experienced a fear of flying as such, although I was fairly scared on more than one occasion!! :ok:

[aa777888]

That's really interesting, actually, that they should be so common. I have those very same dreams on occasion, but they are rare. I've never felt like they were nightmares. More like interesting trips through a labrynth of some sort.

[Twist & Shout]

A common thread is dreaming of finding yourself under lots of overhead wires(and, in my case, trees) and trying to find a way through them.

Unbelievably common, and similar.
Flying down a road with the skids inches off the road, overhanging trees and numerous power lines (often in a Jetranger), looking and hopping for a break to allow a pop up to a safe altitude.

I also consider it an interesting and recurring dream, rather than a nightmare.

[belly tank]

I have the same dream also. However in some of mine I'm doing the old Fred Flinstone running along and trying to jump and get translational lift!.... other dreams are just as posters have mentioned finding a gap through the trees or wires to pop above them.:ugh:

[heliduck]

Wow, isn't that interesting that I'm not the only one. Maybe its a survival mechanism, after all fear keeps us alive. I wonder if Neanderthals dreamt of being chased by sabre toothed tigers?

[Flying Bull]

Very interesting.
Had the dream as well a couple of times years ago, around the time my divorce started.
Guess an alternate way to deal with a daily problem.
With a new wife and a much more powerful helicopter at hand the dream disappeared :-)

[Ascend Charlie]

Yes, under wires, looking for a way to get up through them, even when seemingly thousands of feet up in the air.

My brother (also a pilot) has the same dreams.

Also recurrent is being about to fly and being totally unprepared, no maps, not in flight suit, aircraft not preflighted, everyone else knows what is going on but I don't. And then I need a wee but can't find the loo....

[whoknows idont]

Also recurrent is being about to fly and being totally unprepared, no maps, not in flight suit, aircraft not preflighted, everyone else knows what is going on but I don't. And then I need a wee but can't find the loo....

Been there but unfortunately wasn't asleep. :uhoh:

[heliduck]

Also recurrent is being about to fly and being totally unprepared, no maps, not in flight suit, aircraft not preflighted,

Flying into controlled airspace without knowing the radio frequency, taking off from a controlled airport without a clearance & hoping no-one sees me, flying along a power line corridor under the high tension wires & between the trees trying to wind my way up through them, flying around under trees trying to find a gap to get up through... all have been repeated many times over the years. I'm hoping that the previous experience will help get me out of trouble should I find myself awake & in those situations!

[spencer17]

Strange, never had that kind of dreams. Maybe it's because I did a lot of crop spraying under wires (not in the UK) and it never bothered me.

[Peter3127]

An auto onto a busy road and having to thread the disk between the street lights. Recurring dream.

[peterperfect]

Mine is similar to others above: flying at speed down a city street with lots of wires above and no tail space for a fast stop or apparent gaps to climb up through. Only occurred since leaving the cockpit though.

[ShyTorque]

Also recurrent is being about to fly and being totally unprepared, no maps, not in flight suit, aircraft not preflighted, everyone else knows what is going on but I don't. And then I need a wee but can't find the loo....

Yeh, I used to work for that outfit, too..!

[Miles Gustaph]

There is an ex-Bristow guy in the CAE Burgess Hill training centre who has run some fear of flying and familiarisation sessions in the simulators that they have. And I know that he has run sessions in the helicopter simulator.

If anyone is suffering from anxiety from their days flying it might be worth getting in contact and seeing if they can arrange a session to clear the demons out of their system.

Miles

[Devil 49]

Yes, under wires, looking for a way to get up through them, even when seemingly thousands of feet up in the air.

My brother (also a pilot) has the same dreams.

Also recurrent is being about to fly and being totally unprepared, no maps, not in flight suit, aircraft not preflighted, everyone else knows what is going on but I don't. And then I need a wee but can't find the loo....

Yes, to both. Not having the correct charts, preflight, etc. was set in China, nobody spoke English.

The wire nightmare typically starts after I dream I've arrived at an HEMS scene, the crew have loaded the patient and I am preparing to depart. I realize I can't go out the way I came in, wires that I somehow missed on the high recon and approach. I see a better path a little farther down the LZ, I hover over, even more wires. Repeats until I wake up.
Or, I'll be landing/departing and wires are everywhere (the wires themselves are easily visible near and far- definitely a dream), I try try to thread my way through.

Here's another specific to HEMS, dispatched by phone at night: I'll be sound asleep, dream the phone rings... Sometimes I just wake up, sometimes I fully awaken and put my boots on before I realize I dreamed the dispatch call.

Retired a year and a half ago, no dreams after the first year.

[MightyGem]

However in some of mine I'm doing the old Fred Flinstone running along and trying to jump and get translational lift
Yes, had that one as well...and got airborne.

I've never felt like they were nightmares.
Likewise. In my dreams I would eventually tell myself that it was only a dream.

[krypton_john]

There's a topic running in the Military section on being scared of flying:
https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/605217-scared-flying.html

A common thread is dreaming of finding yourself under lots of overhead wires(and, in my case, trees) and trying to find a way through them.

I used to wonder if others had these dreams, and now I know that lots do.

So, who on here has these dreams?

Yes! And I get the same kind of dream about boating. I am either trying to fly through a maze of wires and tree branches (sometimes in an aircraft I am not permitted to fly), or more often, am skippering a boat and find myself trying to get through a maze of rocks and reefs.

What does this say about us?

[YOP]

30 years flying helicopters although haven't even sat in one for nearly 4 years and haven't missed it at all if I'm honest.

Never dream about wires but still occasionally have one about going IMC without the relevant instruments or recent skill level to come out the right way up. Was fully instrument rated in the Sea King but the dream always involves an R22 and always features a low inertia head somewhere in it.

I've a degree in psychology but I'm :mad: if I can work it out.

Really nice to wake up though and find I wasn't airborne in the first place. :)

[jellycopter]

I very rarely remember dreams when I wake up so this thread is a bit of a revelation for me. Having read your accounts, it's unlocked my own memories and indeed, I too have the wires and Fred Flintstone dreams. Another one is the ability to walk on water - but maybe that's not a dream after all. ;)

[Crystal Clear 247]

No dreams about it, just the nightmare of having flown into them a few years back!

[Thomas coupling]

Wow didnt realise it was so common.
I have the low level flying bit in a seaking flying under power cables and street wires and between street houses and not hitting anything BUT the fear of impact is always there. I never actually get out of that threat zone.
Second recurring dream: i am on shift dressed and ready to launch at very short notice. Everyone is trained and ready but i haven't told them my license has lapsed and i havent flown for some time. I keep hoping that if there is a call out, i will remember all the checks!!!
Any psychologists out there?

[ShyTorque]

Any psychologists out there? Yeh, you're a nutter! :p

[Plank Cap]

Just cracked 20000 hours, ten years rotary and twenty fixed wing, and life takes a funny turn. Never had many concerns over bad dreams previously but now starting to have some fairly unpleasant nights as the brain goes into overdrive whilst I sleep, or more accurately try to sleep.

This mostly started when my operator (large Middle East plank-wing airline) began pursuing an evermore penalising and punitive policy against its pilots. The company takes the view that operational errors and incidents can be regulated against, and punishment continues as a way to improve their safety record - I kid you not, we seem to genuinely have a management belief that mistakes can be avoided by enhanced levels of punishment and retribution.

I know, I know, why come and work for a Middle East operator stuck in the middle ages, as far as its safety policy goes? Still, here we are, and as regards the dreams is it too simple to draw any causal link? I consider myself no more than an average operator at best, and as yet I have fortunately escaped any incident and associated retribution -- but several others here have had issues, in some cases leading up to them being at best 'resigned' by the company, and in a few cases fired.

Time to give it up and head for the garden?

[etudiant]

Just cracked 20000 hours, ten years rotary and twenty fixed wing, and life takes a funny turn. Never had many concerns over bad dreams previously but now starting to have some fairly unpleasant nights as the brain goes into overdrive whilst I sleep, or more accurately try to sleep.


Time to give it up and head for the garden?

Unless you've changed your diet, your spouse or your schedule, different job conditions seem a plausible catalyst.

Can you afford to head for the garden? It matters, because if you cannot, you'll need to live with the bad dreams. At most, you can remonstrate gently, pointing out that mercy is a huge virtue according to the Koran and tying that in to current best practices.

Obviously if you have the garden fund overflowing, you can be more explicit, but skilled marketing remains essential if you want to do more than just quit.

[LOON-RAT]

I regularly dream of being stuck under power cables but put it down to living as a child in Southall where trolley buses ran up and down the high street powered by overhead power lines. My worst dream is dreaming I have just woken up to find I am in bed with my mother in law !!!

[Sir Niall Dementia]

Yeh, you're a nutter! :p

Pot, kettle!!!

I don’t want to worry you, but you once appeared in one of my nightmares! Worst checkride I’ve ever been through and I never left my pit!

SND

[601]

I used to dream about flying a shovel around when I was a kid. Later during my flying career, I dreamt about flying between powerlines.

After retiring, I have dreamt that I have been rostered to do a flight but realise that my medical and IR have expired.

One thing different, I never flew helicopters.

[HughMartin]

Over the years I have regularly dreamt of being trapped by wires. The scenario is usually trying to take off along a street with lots of wires crisscrossing it. My worst one was finding myself hovering in the middle of the Rugby radio station aerial array at night, which, in its day, had 12 aerial masts up to 800 feet high held up by lots of guy ropes and supporting long aerial wires between them. It was thick fog and I knew where I was but couldn’t see a thing.

Having retired three years ago, my aviation related dreams have changed. They tend to be about finding myself about to go flying when I shouldn’t be. My last one was going in to work as a retired pilot and being asked if I could do them a favour and doing a flight because they had run out of pilots. Next thing I am in the cockpit with passengers being loaded and realising I had never flowed this type of helicopter before. Not wanting to let everyone down, I’m thinking as long as I can work out how to get the engines going I should get away with it.

Glad to hear I’m not alone with my dreams but I do resent dreaming about work when I am retired.

[chopjock]

Hugh
Next thing I am in the cockpit with passengers being loaded and realising I had never flowed this type of helicopter before.

Was it a twin?...:)

[HughMartin]

Was it a twin?...

But of course. That would have been a nightmare if it had been a single.

[helipixman]

Have also had similar dreams. Mainly flying around under high trees looking for a way out.
Never seem to find it.

I also have dreams where I run fast and then start flying and once gained enough height gliding around towns and countryside.

Then comes a recurring nightmare... I crawl through a tunnel for miles and miles eventually seeing a small shaft of light, continue crawling and find its too small to get through and I'm stuck and it ends there.

Whats the gliding or tunnel all about ?

[happybiker]

Helipixman. I also have the same dream about running fast and then take off for a glide around. The dream always ends up in a town below wires without a easy route back into the sky.

[chopjock]

Except in my dream I step outside the helicopter and fly it past the wires by remote control! :E

[ShyTorque]

Pot, kettle!!!

I don’t want to worry you, but you once appeared in one of my nightmares! Worst checkride I’ve ever been through and I never left my pit!

SND

I wish to make it quite clear to all that I have NEVER done a checkride on SND in bed!! :eek:

:)