Pilots and fear of heights
Guest
Posts: n/a
Dont really bother me at all:-)
Only time I feel a bit wierd is when i have one of those dreams about falling from a great hight - you know the kind?
But the worst ever had to the bungee I did in cyprus - major session the night before, being 150ft barely able to talk was one of lifes interesting little moments - the jump itself was superb though!!!!
b
x
Only time I feel a bit wierd is when i have one of those dreams about falling from a great hight - you know the kind?
But the worst ever had to the bungee I did in cyprus - major session the night before, being 150ft barely able to talk was one of lifes interesting little moments - the jump itself was superb though!!!!
b
x
Guest
Posts: n/a
Gosh -this all sounds very familiar!
It IS the fear of falling for me, and I spent a year surveying for an industrial roofing company -boy did I sweat sometimes -i HATED it.
One up side was winning the contract to re-roof the spectator veiwing area at LHR about 7-8 years ago. It was a VERY hot summer, site meetings followed by some 'plane watching, no problem, and in company time -no prob with heights there!!
It IS the fear of falling for me, and I spent a year surveying for an industrial roofing company -boy did I sweat sometimes -i HATED it.
One up side was winning the contract to re-roof the spectator veiwing area at LHR about 7-8 years ago. It was a VERY hot summer, site meetings followed by some 'plane watching, no problem, and in company time -no prob with heights there!!
Guest
Posts: n/a
Me too
My Psych mate told me the name of the syndrome which is quite well known, but can't remember it. Anyone?
There are 2 ways to get me unglued,
1 Standing on a tall anything, cliff etc, including those glass elevator thingys and looking down.
I actually whiteknuckled the opening scenes in the movie Cliffhanger and that other one on the Pertamina towers in KL.
2 Any kind of snake.
Found a new version of the dreaded "leans"
Was checking out a very experienced and superb pilot on a new type in the daytime VMC and after a while noticed during the seat swapping that was taking place, every time we banked to the side he was occupying he would lean away from the side window. The last session took place at night, no visual cue of the ground, no lean. At the coffee session after, I asked him if he was aware of the habit, he was not, but had the same feelings discussed here. He was much relieved when I related my feelings and that we were not alone.
My Psych mate told me the name of the syndrome which is quite well known, but can't remember it. Anyone?
There are 2 ways to get me unglued,
1 Standing on a tall anything, cliff etc, including those glass elevator thingys and looking down.
I actually whiteknuckled the opening scenes in the movie Cliffhanger and that other one on the Pertamina towers in KL.
2 Any kind of snake.
Found a new version of the dreaded "leans"
Was checking out a very experienced and superb pilot on a new type in the daytime VMC and after a while noticed during the seat swapping that was taking place, every time we banked to the side he was occupying he would lean away from the side window. The last session took place at night, no visual cue of the ground, no lean. At the coffee session after, I asked him if he was aware of the habit, he was not, but had the same feelings discussed here. He was much relieved when I related my feelings and that we were not alone.
Guest
Posts: n/a
I've got a particular aversion to that film of John Noakes from Blue Peter at the top of Nelson's Column, can't watch it without getting butterflies in my tummy. Still, cheaper than a roller coaster.
Parachute jumps are odd, I did one from 9000' and was ok in the 20min climb, but as soon as the door was opened, that was it. Very scared. Once we [tandem] exited I was ok - I realised there was bugger all I could do about it, and you don't feel like you're falling anyway (until last 100').
sB
Parachute jumps are odd, I did one from 9000' and was ok in the 20min climb, but as soon as the door was opened, that was it. Very scared. Once we [tandem] exited I was ok - I realised there was bugger all I could do about it, and you don't feel like you're falling anyway (until last 100').
sB
Guest
Posts: n/a
Oh God ... me too!
If I'm standing on something even as silly as a chair I don't want anyone near me, touch me and I'll freak out. I can't even look at someone else on a ledge, balcony, roof, etc. I get a very strong and quite uncontrollable feeling that I'm gonna' fall if I'm not planted squarely on terra firma.
I've noticed as well, that when I'm doing steeps turns in a high-wing to the left that if I look down I begin to get that same feeling. I wonder if I should stay with software development and forget about getting my CPL? Anyone had it this badly and still wound up flying for a living?
Wannabe With Agoraphobia
If I'm standing on something even as silly as a chair I don't want anyone near me, touch me and I'll freak out. I can't even look at someone else on a ledge, balcony, roof, etc. I get a very strong and quite uncontrollable feeling that I'm gonna' fall if I'm not planted squarely on terra firma.
I've noticed as well, that when I'm doing steeps turns in a high-wing to the left that if I look down I begin to get that same feeling. I wonder if I should stay with software development and forget about getting my CPL? Anyone had it this badly and still wound up flying for a living?
Wannabe With Agoraphobia
Guest
Posts: n/a
I'm not aircrew, but used to spend quite a bit of time in Army helicopters whilst in the forces. Doors open at 500' with legs dangling in the wind was quite a buzz, not too scary.
After leaving the forces I worked for a Telecommunications company and had to climb 200 ft masts - I managed it but it felt bloody horrible. On one occaission, we climbed to 170ft on a foggy day, looked down only to see the mast slowly fade to nothing below me. Looked up to see the same thing - as the mists drifted past it felt as if the whole tower was moving at a few miles an hour !!
Very interesting thread this; has anyone heard of the times when pilots can suddenly freeze up and feel really severe vertigo ?
( Not the leans. I heard this happened to a military pilot. ) Maybe that one's just urban legend.
I'm now happily employed on terra firma - the Ground floor.
After leaving the forces I worked for a Telecommunications company and had to climb 200 ft masts - I managed it but it felt bloody horrible. On one occaission, we climbed to 170ft on a foggy day, looked down only to see the mast slowly fade to nothing below me. Looked up to see the same thing - as the mists drifted past it felt as if the whole tower was moving at a few miles an hour !!
Very interesting thread this; has anyone heard of the times when pilots can suddenly freeze up and feel really severe vertigo ?
( Not the leans. I heard this happened to a military pilot. ) Maybe that one's just urban legend.
I'm now happily employed on terra firma - the Ground floor.
Guest
Posts: n/a
X-Quork,
We once ended up hover-taxying over water in near freezing fog conditions, following a wrongly charted set of wires (which should have stayed over land and allowed us past along the shore). The captain suddenly elected to go over them as he was beginning to lose his visual references over the water. Just as we got over them (about 60 ft agl) we spotted another set ABOVE us. We appeared to be suspended in space with wires above and below.
Laugh? No - I still have bad dreams about it.
------------------
Safety Altitude? We only go that high with 7700 selected..
We once ended up hover-taxying over water in near freezing fog conditions, following a wrongly charted set of wires (which should have stayed over land and allowed us past along the shore). The captain suddenly elected to go over them as he was beginning to lose his visual references over the water. Just as we got over them (about 60 ft agl) we spotted another set ABOVE us. We appeared to be suspended in space with wires above and below.
Laugh? No - I still have bad dreams about it.
------------------
Safety Altitude? We only go that high with 7700 selected..
Guest
Posts: n/a
Some of you guys seem to have had freaky experiences, especially that wire thing, Skycop.
I am also scared of heights, although I am perfectly happy flying at FL50 inverted with a small piece of plastic molding (with 260hp Lycoming) strapped to my back. How I see it is definitely the fear of falling - especially tripping over my own feet. Any edge where the barrier is below waist level gives me the willies. However I climb and occasionally abseil. Fine while I'm on a rope, but going over the edge onto an abseil rope (already attached, but not taking the full weight, so my psche doesn't trust it) scares me s**tless
I am also scared of heights, although I am perfectly happy flying at FL50 inverted with a small piece of plastic molding (with 260hp Lycoming) strapped to my back. How I see it is definitely the fear of falling - especially tripping over my own feet. Any edge where the barrier is below waist level gives me the willies. However I climb and occasionally abseil. Fine while I'm on a rope, but going over the edge onto an abseil rope (already attached, but not taking the full weight, so my psche doesn't trust it) scares me s**tless
Guest
Posts: n/a
What about the fear of height when doing scuba diving, looking down in deep sea........without seeing the bottom floor.
What a strange feeling of a gulp machine
I tried one time to beat my fear by passing under the sailing boat.....I found it more scarry.
Maybe I will get used to it after a hundred time, I don't know.
[This message has been edited by ehwatezedoing (edited 27 October 2000).]
[This message has been edited by ehwatezedoing (edited 27 October 2000).]
What a strange feeling of a gulp machine
I tried one time to beat my fear by passing under the sailing boat.....I found it more scarry.
Maybe I will get used to it after a hundred time, I don't know.
[This message has been edited by ehwatezedoing (edited 27 October 2000).]
[This message has been edited by ehwatezedoing (edited 27 October 2000).]
Guest
Posts: n/a
Yep, me too!
Sitting in the front of a cab at almost any height, aeros in my fixed wing days - no snags!
I'm OK with ladders, tress, gutters etc, but get me near a cliff or any long drop with nothing between me and the edge and I start sweating!! I also felt a bit uncomfortable leaning out of the cargo door trying to grab a HIFR hose at 50ft, even though I knew I had a dispatcher harness attached to the aircraft.
The only time I've got slightly concerned while flying was when we took a cab up to 10000' and the realised that it wasn't fitted with the new ELS gearbox. Time for the gearbox to seize without oil - about 2 or 3 minutes if you're lucky, time to auto from 10k - 4 minutes(ish).....we decided we both preferred flying below 500ft and that was a much more comfortable place to be!
Sitting in the front of a cab at almost any height, aeros in my fixed wing days - no snags!
I'm OK with ladders, tress, gutters etc, but get me near a cliff or any long drop with nothing between me and the edge and I start sweating!! I also felt a bit uncomfortable leaning out of the cargo door trying to grab a HIFR hose at 50ft, even though I knew I had a dispatcher harness attached to the aircraft.
The only time I've got slightly concerned while flying was when we took a cab up to 10000' and the realised that it wasn't fitted with the new ELS gearbox. Time for the gearbox to seize without oil - about 2 or 3 minutes if you're lucky, time to auto from 10k - 4 minutes(ish).....we decided we both preferred flying below 500ft and that was a much more comfortable place to be!
Guest
Posts: n/a
Hi everyone,
I am an F/O on a fairly large cargo aircraft. Part of our pre-flight checks is to get out on the wings to check fuel and oil levels.
I am scared stiff of these kind of "height's" but I'm fine once I get back in the cockpit!
Fortunatly, the rest of the crew on the fleet are very understanding. I usually do the external walk-around checks while another one of the crew members goes out on the wings.
I'm sure if any of my colleague's reads this they will know who I am ! Thank's for your support guy's.
------------------
Pull back and the houses get smaller - pull back a bit more and the houses get bigger!
I am an F/O on a fairly large cargo aircraft. Part of our pre-flight checks is to get out on the wings to check fuel and oil levels.
I am scared stiff of these kind of "height's" but I'm fine once I get back in the cockpit!
Fortunatly, the rest of the crew on the fleet are very understanding. I usually do the external walk-around checks while another one of the crew members goes out on the wings.
I'm sure if any of my colleague's reads this they will know who I am ! Thank's for your support guy's.
------------------
Pull back and the houses get smaller - pull back a bit more and the houses get bigger!
Guest
Posts: n/a
Once saw an interesting documentary on babies. It showed babies develop a sense of depth perception at a very early stage. Experiments with humans and animals, they used kittens, showed how when exposed to large dropoffs (protected however by glass sheets) none would venture further over what appeared to be a drop off even if something was placed ahead of them to show them that it was safe to carry on, but would always draw back and refuse to go.
It would appear that we are given an instinctive inbuilt aversion to what could be potentialy lethal situation involving height.
Our various pursuits, hobbies, and in most cases our profession, have all been done in stages. We learned to cope as we went along with altitude and situations where height is involved, but our gut instinct apparently still kicks in at various times to warn us of danger.
(It's not the fall that hurts but the sudden stop at the bottom and I've found that out the hard way, a 24' conical reserve doesn't slow you down very much at all.)
Some of us obviously cope with it better hence the workers on the 'high steel'. I gather that there was a certain tribe of American Indians in the height of the scyscraper era excelled in those sort of jobs. Rather them than me, after all look at what happened to the Flying Walendas
It would appear that we are given an instinctive inbuilt aversion to what could be potentialy lethal situation involving height.
Our various pursuits, hobbies, and in most cases our profession, have all been done in stages. We learned to cope as we went along with altitude and situations where height is involved, but our gut instinct apparently still kicks in at various times to warn us of danger.
(It's not the fall that hurts but the sudden stop at the bottom and I've found that out the hard way, a 24' conical reserve doesn't slow you down very much at all.)
Some of us obviously cope with it better hence the workers on the 'high steel'. I gather that there was a certain tribe of American Indians in the height of the scyscraper era excelled in those sort of jobs. Rather them than me, after all look at what happened to the Flying Walendas
Guest
Posts: n/a
Yup, another confession of legs occasionally turning to jelly with regard to heights attached to the ground.
Paterbrat has a point about us overcoming such an aversion "in stages" though : I tried a spot of paragliding a couple of years back, which started out with me clinging to a hillside with barely concealed terror as fearless PepsiMax types swished nonchalantly above giddy head - soon, however, I was leaping off the same hill into the wild blue yonder like any other extreme sports nutter (to the untrained eye, perhaps).
Perhaps it is the subconscious desire to overcome such anxieties which attract us to aviation in the first place?
------------------
Today is a good day for vanity and chasing after the wind.
[This message has been edited by Blackshift (edited 06 May 2001).]
Paterbrat has a point about us overcoming such an aversion "in stages" though : I tried a spot of paragliding a couple of years back, which started out with me clinging to a hillside with barely concealed terror as fearless PepsiMax types swished nonchalantly above giddy head - soon, however, I was leaping off the same hill into the wild blue yonder like any other extreme sports nutter (to the untrained eye, perhaps).
Perhaps it is the subconscious desire to overcome such anxieties which attract us to aviation in the first place?
------------------
Today is a good day for vanity and chasing after the wind.
[This message has been edited by Blackshift (edited 06 May 2001).]
Guest
Posts: n/a
Blackshift -
Interesting point there about the natural urge to overcome fear of heights - I've always been of the opinion that I'm afraid of falling (as I'm also not afraid of flying high, just climbing ....trees (for want of an example!) ).
However... any of you lot been to Alton Towers in the past few years and had a go on the 'Oblivion'? Scary as hell - *very* worrying the first time you ride it! But the second you get off, you just want to face the fear over and over again..... human instincts work in strange ways I suppose
All the best.
Andy
Interesting point there about the natural urge to overcome fear of heights - I've always been of the opinion that I'm afraid of falling (as I'm also not afraid of flying high, just climbing ....trees (for want of an example!) ).
However... any of you lot been to Alton Towers in the past few years and had a go on the 'Oblivion'? Scary as hell - *very* worrying the first time you ride it! But the second you get off, you just want to face the fear over and over again..... human instincts work in strange ways I suppose
All the best.
Andy
Guest
Posts: n/a
I'm like Lurkr, don't mind the height as long as you don't take the plate glass window away. In effect I don't like ledges or precipces.
I urge you all to try something which I tried the other day. It scared the sh!t out of me. As I was taking off from LGW there is a small space of time between the gear going up and acceleration when I chanced a look out of the window (right down as opposed to out!) I did get the vertigo but on returning my gaze to the flight deck I got this overwhelming feeling that we were climbing too steeply. A quick glance at the AH reassured me but for a split second I was ready to lower the nose for the driver and I even inhaled sharply through my teeth hissing. The FO wondered what was the matter so I explained it to him later and got him to try it on the next leg.
------------------
Very funny, Scotty. Now beam up my clothes!
I urge you all to try something which I tried the other day. It scared the sh!t out of me. As I was taking off from LGW there is a small space of time between the gear going up and acceleration when I chanced a look out of the window (right down as opposed to out!) I did get the vertigo but on returning my gaze to the flight deck I got this overwhelming feeling that we were climbing too steeply. A quick glance at the AH reassured me but for a split second I was ready to lower the nose for the driver and I even inhaled sharply through my teeth hissing. The FO wondered what was the matter so I explained it to him later and got him to try it on the next leg.
------------------
Very funny, Scotty. Now beam up my clothes!
Guest
Posts: n/a
I LOVE heights... Are there any other pilots out there who rock climb or iceclimb/mountaineer/cave?
For those of you scared of heights - try caving - in particular vertical caves involving abseiling. It is amazing how calm you are on a muddy slippery rock at the top of a 60 metre drop rigging the ropes when you cant see the bottom as it is beyond the reach of your torch beam....
Once spent a memorable night on the North Wall of Mount Buffalo Gorge (it is the right hand cliff in the picture of the Dark Forest of Ewing in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but I digress...). Our second night on the cliff, and it involved sleeping on sloping a foot wide ledge, well tied in harness to the crack at the back, but as I drifted off to sleep, my arm would fall off my chest over the edge and pendulum in space, waking me up as my CoG moved past the lip....
As we were on a slight prow, it was a sheer 600 feet to the rocks below. Wonderful!
------------------
Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
William Blake
For those of you scared of heights - try caving - in particular vertical caves involving abseiling. It is amazing how calm you are on a muddy slippery rock at the top of a 60 metre drop rigging the ropes when you cant see the bottom as it is beyond the reach of your torch beam....
Once spent a memorable night on the North Wall of Mount Buffalo Gorge (it is the right hand cliff in the picture of the Dark Forest of Ewing in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but I digress...). Our second night on the cliff, and it involved sleeping on sloping a foot wide ledge, well tied in harness to the crack at the back, but as I drifted off to sleep, my arm would fall off my chest over the edge and pendulum in space, waking me up as my CoG moved past the lip....
As we were on a slight prow, it was a sheer 600 feet to the rocks below. Wonderful!
------------------
Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
William Blake
Guest
Posts: n/a
Wow amazing how many folks here share the same fear !
I've got the same problem, a tall ladder / a mountain trail and you can use a crowbar to "unfreeze" me .. Flying an open cockpit glider (SG38 the flying broomstick) or hanging under a parachute canopie no problem whatsoever ..
I've also got another explanation as of why you get this difference between looking downa cliff and flying at the same hight.
It's that your eye can only focus to a certain distance (40m ? can't remember) and after that it's unlimited, that means the feedback your brain gets fom looking out of an aircraft is the distance to the furthes part of the A/C you see, the ground is just background. Now when you look down a cliff the full distanceis reported back to the brain and therfore you get thois F A R down feeling.
dunno if i got that across
MB
I've got the same problem, a tall ladder / a mountain trail and you can use a crowbar to "unfreeze" me .. Flying an open cockpit glider (SG38 the flying broomstick) or hanging under a parachute canopie no problem whatsoever ..
I've also got another explanation as of why you get this difference between looking downa cliff and flying at the same hight.
It's that your eye can only focus to a certain distance (40m ? can't remember) and after that it's unlimited, that means the feedback your brain gets fom looking out of an aircraft is the distance to the furthes part of the A/C you see, the ground is just background. Now when you look down a cliff the full distanceis reported back to the brain and therfore you get thois F A R down feeling.
dunno if i got that across
MB