Overcoming flying phobia after bad experience

gemini_girl

I never minded flying too much, in fact I quite enjoyed it. Then that changed 6 years ago.
In 3 months i was on 3 bad flights. The first was to cape town, last 3 hours of flight we were seat belted including flight attendants because the turbulence was horrendous, very bad air pockets etc. I was convinced we were going to die.

2 weeks later we flew to perth from sth africa, about 20 mins before landing the captain informed us we were having an emergency landing because the right wheel had deflated during the flight & told us thats why the fire engines would be on the side of the runway. You couldve heard a pin drop as the plane landed, terrifying! In fairness to the captain he landed the plane fantasticly.

About 2 months after this we flew sydney to bangkok through a terrifying storm, again convinced we were going to die, there were blue flashes coming into the plane from lightening across the skies. We landed safely that night & got to our hotel in bangkok to be told another flight that had left Bangkok had crashed in the same storm near phuket (88 died as far as i remember)

I have flown 3 times since & have cried the whole flight there & back such is my fear that i am going to die & especially the type of death I would have.
3 months ago I took a flying lesson to learn how planes operate etc & while I went up in this tiny 2 seater I held my breath for the 30 mins & was scared sh*tless the whole time, it didnt help at all.

I have 2 kids now & we've never gone on a family holiday because of my fear. I want to get over it but just thinking about going on a plane makes me feel sick & cry with worry that not only will i die but my kids will die a horrendous death & it will be my fault!
Has anyone any advice please?

merryberry

OP i feel ur pain thou thankfully i've never experienced anything a severe as u have described. For me, I just cannot relax in the days leading up to the flight. I have to say i'm not as traveled as you seem to be and I have only ever flown within Europe. Just one incident of significant turbulence flying high above the North Sea but nothing more than 5-6 minutes...for me that was more than long enough.

I cannot relax on the plane and I just get this amazing feeling of elation once the plane lands.

I use flight simulators because it was not being in control that bugged me or just had to know the mechanics of flight and what pilots do in certain situations. I try to go a week before a flight but then again I only fly once a year. Unfortunately they don't replicate turbulence but the instructor was very helpful.

Munstermissy

Not the best flyer myself, was also involved in an emergency landing into Stansted. I was nearly going to get the ferry home the next night but I knew if I didn't get back on the flight I would probably never fly again.

I go into a blind panic when it is turbulent but try and calm myself down by breathing calmly etc, that and think of the pilot that landed the plane on the Hudson River in New York a couple of years ago!! Positive thoughts work for me to calm me down.

gemini_girl

I was thinking of maybe trying hypnotherapy. I think my bad experiences have left a big mental block for me. Its that feeling that I am going to die when the plane starts going in & out of air pockets & turbulence etc. I dont want my kids to miss out or have a fear of flying either

thedarksh1te

I've had a similar experience - one bad flight involved huge air pockets, plane was hopping up and down, enough for things to fly off your lap, people were screaming and I had said my prayers! Anyway but we landed perfectly fine. I had another six flights booked after that - one just as bad and the others were fine! Anytime I felt any kind of chop I'd hold on for dear life expecting a 100 ft drop!
So I decided to read more flying/planes etc on airliners.net and started a mini obsession with aviation now to the point were I've educated myself much more on flying/turbulence/pervious crashes etc!
I can honestly say I still don't like flying but I read about the changes implemented after previous crashes and the procedures involved in flying it really has put my mind more at ease! Captains also have their own websites nowadays and people can asks them all kinds of questions about turbulence/ problems / crashes etc and it's nice reading the replies from the pilots/captains! Askcaptainlim.com for example!
Hope this helps and it's helped me (I was having nightmares I was inside a plane for a time) and I'm in Australia now and I didn't get here by boat!