Flight School: Overcoming Fear of Flying
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2004-01-16 00:00:00-05:00
by Joe Volz
Long before the events of September 11, 2001 altered some passengers' thinking about air travel, many Americans were afraid of flying- and had been for decades.
In fact, almost 25 million Americans "prefer not to fly commercial aircraft," according to the Fear of Flying Clinic, a non-profit organization based in Tukwila, Washington.
But even in this volatile age, how rational are those fears?
Experts say, just look at the facts. In 1998, the odds of dying in a plane accident were 1 in 390,000, compared to 1 in 6,212 in a car. Yet few people say they are afraid to get into a car.
The people who run the Fear of Flying Clinic say, "Some people have never flown and don't know what to expect; others have to fly regularly, but are extremely uneasy about the whole process."
It's Called Aviaphobia
So what can be done?
In my own case, I was on a commercial plane headed for Melbourne, Florida to cover the crash of the space shuttle, Challenger, two decades ago when our plane, about 150 feet up on a landing approach, narrowly missed being hit by a student pilot who was having trouble figuring out how to turn right or left. Our pilot took evasive action but it was the closest near-miss of the year, about 50 yards, at the time. I was shaken.
Joining a Class
So, I checked into a fear of flying class. After years of flying, I was well on my way to joining that club of 25 million. U.S. Airways used to run a class until financial, not safety, fears terminated it. We met weekly at Baltimore Washington International airport and pilots would let us circle the plane, kick the tires and begin to realize that our planes were safe with a lot of built-in redundant systems.
Many of the classmates, often over 50, would not even enter the plane while it was sitting on the ground at the beginning of the 10 weeks of classes. By the end, they willingly participated in a flight to Pittsburgh.
The idea was to cede control to someone you have confidence in—the pilot—and to a plane which would not let you down, and to stop worrying—the hard part.
I felt a lot better and was prepared on a flight into Washington National Airport in a driving rainstorm when the pilot announced he could not land on first attempt and came back a second time. I knew he would, as the athletes like to say, "get the job done."
Events like that are enough to make an old, or young, passenger a bit wary, that is until you stop to think what could happen in other means of transportation, such as driving in a car. I have never been injured in a plane but I ended up in the hospital with a badly broken arm after a drunken driver hit me head-on. And I never thought for a minute of turning in my driver's license after that accident.
Catherine Watson of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tried a class that Northwest Airlines ran.
"I've never been a nervous flier, let alone a fearful one. But every traveler I know," she says, "including me, gets a touch uneasy when the plane does something unexpected."
Stormy Weather
In her case, the plane hit heavy turbulence half way home from Hawaii.
She wrote, "I repeated a newly-comforting phrase, 'It's just a wavy day on the ocean of air.' And smiled and relaxed."
She had learned that in the fear of flying class.
The Fear of Flying Clinic at San Francisco Airport offers two weekends, including an orientation flight twice a year. The staff includes commercial aviation pilots, Federal Aviation Administration officials and employees of major airlines.
Online Resources
Fear of Flying Clinic
Books
Find these books online at Borders.com.
The Fearless Fliers Handbook: The Internationally Recognized Method for Overcoming the Fear of Flying
Debbie Seaman, Seaman Debbie, Ten Speed Press, November 1998
Conquering Your Fear of Flying
Maeve Byrne Crangle, Gill & MacMillan, Limited, September 2001
Flying without Fear
Duane Brown, New Harbinger Publications, March 1996
preview