Fear of Flying
Discussion
Simpo Two said:
Taking pills is only papering over the cracks though, not fixing the problem.
A great analogy.Panic/fear is a terrible thing to have at inappropriate times, but to remove the flight/fight response isn't ideal either.
Best to face the thing full on and come to grips with your self, rather than hide from yourself.
Been there and got the T-shirt, and I know I'll never have the gay abandon of a 5 year old without any sense of their own mortality again, but being mentally strong to cope with things seems infinitely preferable if you actually have a choice... which I bet 99% of people taking these pills are!
Dave
I have a friend who is a nervous flyer, to put it mildly. His wife bought a nervous flyer package at gatwick as they were restricted to cruises for holidays...
His summary was, that the lectures from pilots and behavioural psychologists as the first part of the day were quite useful. They explained the theory of flying and the relative safety and rationality of fear. Then they were taken up for a familiarisation flight. The problem with this was, collecting 159 people on a plane whom all have varying degrees of anxietywas itself a trigger. Imagine people crying, gripping each other etc when usually 95% of people on a plane would be coping and therefore a stabiliser.
Personally I think the light aircraft familiarisation (ie ppl trial flight) is quite a good idea, albeit that light aircraft get thrown about a bit more.
Eta: I get quite nervous on flights myself, despite doing 100k miles a year, so have a lot of sympathy with your OH.
His summary was, that the lectures from pilots and behavioural psychologists as the first part of the day were quite useful. They explained the theory of flying and the relative safety and rationality of fear. Then they were taken up for a familiarisation flight. The problem with this was, collecting 159 people on a plane whom all have varying degrees of anxietywas itself a trigger. Imagine people crying, gripping each other etc when usually 95% of people on a plane would be coping and therefore a stabiliser.
Personally I think the light aircraft familiarisation (ie ppl trial flight) is quite a good idea, albeit that light aircraft get thrown about a bit more.
Eta: I get quite nervous on flights myself, despite doing 100k miles a year, so have a lot of sympathy with your OH.
Edited by jamesc_1729 on Tuesday 7th April 22:39
Simpo Two said:
If you can survive a glider winch launch anything commercial should be easy. But if someone is terrified of flying how are you going to get them to go up in a large Keil-Kraft model with a bit of string on the front?
I wonder how much of the fear of flying is (1) fear of crashing (2) fear of being out of control (3) claustrophobia?
Winch launches are brilliant fun I wonder how much of the fear of flying is (1) fear of crashing (2) fear of being out of control (3) claustrophobia?
.Next time, could your (OP) wife take a pen and paper and write down as much as possible of what she's feeling at that moment? All the way from check in. Sort of like those advanced driving classes where you're supposed to narrate your driving constantly. As spuffington and simpo two have said, give your brain a chance to come up with bulls
t and it will.Personally I like being in the cockpit and seeing the link between the pilot input and plane response - it's much nicer seeing for your own eyes that someone is controlling this thing. If that's not possible (i.e. nearly all the time) I'd prefer to at least be in as big a plane as possible - more money spent on avoiding things that would make people sue
. Not a fan of transoceanic flights though.
Fear of flying course is in doubt now. Same day as my grandfathers funeral. It's doable still, but with daughter in tow a lot more complicated.
I'm told it's the thought of flying over water at night. In fact it's only the overnight flight that is the problem - and I'm beginning to think it's less about flying and more about not sleeping.
I won't sleep either, but will just deal with it rather than whinge endlessly, and make the holiday a living nightmare dreading something that I can't change.
I'm told it's the thought of flying over water at night. In fact it's only the overnight flight that is the problem - and I'm beginning to think it's less about flying and more about not sleeping.
I won't sleep either, but will just deal with it rather than whinge endlessly, and make the holiday a living nightmare dreading something that I can't change.
Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff