Fear Of Flying

DigiGal

:eek:

So I have had an extreme fear fo flying for about 10 years now, last time I got on a plane I had to be held down by 4 people after taking vallium!

It never really affected me much until now.
I got my letter from college today and there was a bit about our compulsory field trip abroad with choices such as St Peteresburg and NY

I said when I got to college I would include myself in everything and push myself to have new experiences, move out of my comfort zone so to speak!

So I'm here looking at the form and remembering my last holiday, how I couldn't sleep for weeks for the fear of flying, the nightmares about plane crashes (incase nobody has noticed 09 isn't great for air trave:eek:)
How it ruined the whole holiday as I was worrying so much. Since I was young I've ahd dreams about dying in a plane crash!
I hate those feelings and said I'd never fly again but its holding me back from the world!!

Now when i say fear I don't mean light phobia, I mean extreme, hysterical fear!!

Has anyone any advice as to overcoming my fear, stopping myself worrying about the flight, not embarrassing myself on front of teh whole airport etc etc...or will I just ask to go on The Dublin trip instead???
Thanks for your help guys!!

Kintarō Hattori

I'm sorry I don't have any magical advice other than to say it is safer to travel by plane than to say go to the shops in your car. It really is incredibly safe as everything is regulated, checked, double checked and then triple checked. Did you know that on a long haul flight a captain and first officer can't have the same meal- just in case they were to both fall ill.

Why not pop up to Dublin airport (or whichever is closest to you and look at the planes taking off and landing. It might get you used to them a little. If you decide to take a trip try and get a seat with plenty of space around it, you might feel less trapped.

Roanmore

DigiGal wrote: »

:eek:

(incase nobody has noticed 09 isn't great for air trave:eek:)

Maybe you need to look into the stats, then you will see that 09 is no worse than other years.

I don't think it matters what I or other posters say to re assure you about air travel, it's up to yourself, only you can get over your fear. The more you make yourself comfortable air travel the better.

Qprmeath

http://web.me.com/flyfearless/Flyfearless/Welcome.html

This website may help you,

Doop

small thing, mightened help much, i dont love flying at all, and clearly dont have as much of a problem as you have. But if you can try putting it out of ur mind, untill ur on the plane starpped in then, i would always make sure ive something to read, and force myself to read during take off, i couldnt tell ya straight after what it was i read, but id find it a distraction, also i would generally find being at the front of a plane is better than the back.
probably no help at all but thats my 2c!

Naked Lepper

get noise cancelling headphones for your ipod

turn it up full blast when you get on the plane and close ur eyes

it will drown out any noises during take off and u wont even realise u are in the air

once the plane levels off im sure u can calm down n have a few beers or something

maybe do the same again for landing

there really is nothing to worry about and it is merely an irrational fear

take off is the most dangerous part so once you are up then you should relax a bit more

think about it this way, if you buy a lotto ticket you have more chance of winning the lotto than being in a plane crash, and lets face it.. whats the chances of winning the lotto, you cant really bank on winning it when you buy a ticket.

McCrack

To beat a fear of flying you need to understand and learn about aviation. There's plenty of information on the interweb and books too. I would strongly recommend visiting Weston and getting an hour up in the sky in a light aircraft with an instructor.

Do these and your fear will go.

DigiGal

Hey guys thanks for all the really helpful advice.
I was wondering what you think about this...

My OH says I should ease myself in by going on the London trip this year and then progress each year flying further and furtehr or should I throw myself in the deep end!

Webmonkey

Or even dublin to cork OP.

paymemymoney

Hi OP,
Very common. I have flown for years and about 6 years ago after a bad flight developed astrong fear of flying. Problem was I was flying every week for work. I read as much as I could about flight and aviation and this worked. Took about 6 months but I began again to love flying and look forward to it. In relation to a short flight and weaning yourself in , unfortunately short hop flights can experience turbulance (which is perfectly safe) and it is not always the best thing to acclimatise yourself with. British Airways & maybe Aer lingus do a fear of flying course. If all else fails try hypnosis.

Wotzit

Hi OP,

my sympathies to you... I'm not too happy up in the air so here is the best tip I can give you - EARPLUGS. I found I was at my most terrified at take off, the noises of the acceleration and the wheels shifting back up into the plane (I'm sweating a little bit writing this! - how irrational is that!:eek:)... but I found that popping in some good quality earplugs drowns out so much noise and that really helps. You just go into your own world. I notice somebody has suggested the ipod but I thought you weren't allowed to have electrical items turned on for take off and landing? Either way, drowning out any sound and closing your eyes works!

I also found the Alan Carr 'The Easy Way to Enjoy Flying' quite good. Turbulance can also send me into hysterics (bet you'd love to be sitting beside me eh?) and the Alan Carr book explains why turbalance happens. But the previous poster was right, I've found the turbulance is worse on short haul.

Also watch the flight staff. I've often been crying with fear at some jolt on the plane and look over at the air hostesses laughing and pouring people drinks. If they don't look worried, you shouldn't worry.

I hope you decide to go on the oversea's trip - you are inevitably going to keep coming across situations in your life when you need to step on an airplane. You may aswell prepare yourself for it fully and just take the bull by the horns and do it. You won't regret it.

Wotzit