Anyone else here have a problem with flying?

[Lysander]

I feel a bit odd for making this thread but at the same time I want to share. For years I never had any problems with getting in a plane and went to various countries - Italy, France, Spain, Poland, USA etc with no problems at all. Then in 2005, after regular travel to and back from Holland, I started to gradually develop a fear of flying to the point where I was taking the ferry to places rather than a plane [which takes a LOT longer].

Since then I have been on planes once or twice - to Holland again, and back over to the USA - but I don't find it enjoyable at all. I'm off to Portugal tomorrow and wondered if anyone here had tips for getting through the flight.

 

[Lysander]

Don't drink alcohol.

Oh, why not? On my last flight to the USA it really helped.

I have considered the course and may look into doing one depending on how bad things get. Not too bad, hopefully. I'm trying to isolate the source of my concern and it seems to stem from

a] not understanding how a plane can stay up
b] worrying about strange noises the plane makes which may mean a vital part has failed [possibly ridiculous, but there you go]
c] turbulence and the plane losing control
d] any other cause of power/engine failure

I know that a lot of these are daft - and probably perfectly common as well. But they seem to be the main things I get worried about.

 

[Lysander]

I didn't untill I foolishy watched every single season of 'Air Crash Investigation'

Yes. I did something similar, it really wasn't helpful.

It's gotta be the noises. And how flimsy airliner wings look when you are in the air!!!

Exactly - they should be sturdy but they wobble about all over the place!

 

[Lysander]

Even had the oxygen masks drop down on the way back from Brussels a few weeks ago, I still don't mind. (Yes it was a real emergency- cabin depressurisation), but we landed OK.

How did you cope in that situation? What was going through your head?

Landing is my favourite part because it means the torture is over.

Me too. I love the final part of the descent, landing, seeing the flaps go up and feeling the plane brake. Best part of the whole thing.

 

[Lysander]

I can talk to you about all of these if you want, and explain anything you want clarified. Add me to msn if you want. Just about to head off to work (off to Bristol, Manchester and then Newcastle!) so won't be on it until later this evening or tomorrow.

What time would you be on this evening? I won't really have a chance tomorrow, unfortunately. Thank you so much for the offer.

 

[Lysander]

You clearly haven't heard of runway overshoots

I have done. And have seen plenty of videos, thank you very much. Your lack of tack in this thread renders any future comment you make ignorable.

 

[Lysander]

To the OP: I completely understand how you're feeling. I've recently had the onset of virtually the same feelings. I was due to go on a mate's stag do to Tallinn in Estonia at the end of March. Almost without warning about 10 days before the flight I started getting nervous and negative thoughts which grew & grew to the point where I wasn't sleeping, hardly eating & couldn't concentrate on anything at work or at home.

I went to the doctor's the day before the flight to talk about it & he gave me some Valium, including one to 'try' on that day to see if it helped at all, which it did a little - but only to the point of getting 2hrs sleep. I ended up calling my mate the night before the flight (flight was at 6am) and telling him that I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Just some of the thoughts that went through my mind were pretty horrible. For example, I had the feeling that if I got on the plane it would crash & it'd somehow be 'my' fault (killing my mates etc.), that it'd be 'just my luck' after 1000s of safe flights by the Worlds' airlines that it'd happen on my flight etc.

The weird thing is that I have flown previously - flights to Spain, Majorca, Canaries, a Transatlantic trip to DC and most recently to Munich in 2006, just not very often (once every 2 years or so) & I've never been what you'd call a 'great' flyer. Also, I'm a pretty big aviation enthusiast - I go to airshows/displays and enjouy reading about (mostly military) aviation. I'm not sure if it is a case of too much knowledge about aircraft & their systems is a dangerous thing - knowing all the things that can potentially go wrong.

I guess at the nub of it are several things: a fear of being in an enclosed space (like claustrophobia), a feeling of not being in control and having to sit there and stew about things in my mind (I'm not very good at all at not thinking about things and have a hard time relaxing), a lack of trust in others' abilities (ground engineers, designers, pilots etc), and ultimately being in an aluminium tin can stuffed with fuel at 31,000 feet..

I'll be honest and say I still think about it quite often, like most things there are good days when I don't think about it & bad days when it's hard to shake. It can be hard to have the 'flying's great, I love it' fraternity not understanding where you're coming from & that somehow you're a leper for not willingly jumping on a plane every 5 mins

Sorry to ramble on, just my 2p's worth

Very helpful post, thank you, and I'm glad that you were able to share that since it is very similar to me. I'd like to conquer this and maybe talking about it here will help me and others - I'm sorry you didn't make it to the stag do but I totally understand.

I'm back from Portugal now, and both flights went totally without incident: they couldn't have been smoother. That's not to say I didn't feel uncomfortable - I hated the flight back especially and couldn't wait for it to finish.

I have worked out, through these two flights, that my main concern is not really anything I talked about earlier in this thread but a mechanical or technical failure that jeapordises the aircraft, which is unprepared for and which the crew have no control over. Taking this into consideration, I don't know if any 'course' would allay my fears.

I find flying fasincating and love learning about it too. However, my natural macabre interests also mean I have seen a lot of air crash videos and heard many black box recordings, which of course haven't helped. I'm going to get through this nevertheless.