"...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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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 ?

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.

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

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.

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

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

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 !

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

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.

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

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.

;)

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

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.

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:

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: