Tips to handle fear of flying

Sp00n said:
So a fear of spiders is irrational? The fear of the little bugger's biting you is perfectly rational in my eyes.
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I don't think there are any spiders that bite in the UK are there? Certainly not that you'd find in your house anyway. I have arachnophobia and I'm not scared of them because I'm worried that they'll bite, but because I hate how they look and move. I'm not 'scared' of anything in particular, hence that is an irrational fear.

platypus - yes, air travel is safer than being in a car, but if you're in a car you can get out more easily, you have a LOT more control. Being stuck 30,000 feet above the ground for 8 hours with no control over an aircraft or understanding on how to fly one does not instill everyone with confidence.
 
Are you traveling with anyone, if not, get your mates to talk to you, that'll calm you down (or if your mates are ******** they will taunt you and make it worse!). Just read up a bit about how planes work. I mean the bits like the landing gear and brakes, that way you won't be fazed by sudden loud bangs and other noises, you'll know exaxctly what's going on. If you can, sit next to a hottie and let her know you are afraid and need to squeze her hand and need a bit of reassurance ;)
 
Get some Rescue Remedy from Boots or a pharmacy, natural calming effect and tastes like whisky if you get the one that you put drops on your tongue.

Tbh Alchohol is NOT good as its a depressive and could make you worse. Plus if your wasted they wont let you on!
 
jamesrw said:
Great, do they use knackered old planes as well?
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They're not brand new but they're mechanically fine, otherwise they'd not be allowed to fly. The cabins could do with new carpets, seats etc. It's the budget arm of an airline that's struggling a bit so there isn't a lot of money for niceties - the seats aren't the same colour in all the planes for example.
 
Crash statistics

Model Rate Events No. Flights Rank

Aerospatiale Concorde 12.5 1 0.08 Million 19
Airbus A300 1.13 9 8.0 Million 12
Airbus A310 1.85 5 2.7 Million 13
Airbus A319/320/321 0.67 4 6.0 Million 7
Boeing 727 0.66 46 70.0 Million 6
Boeing 737 0.62 47 76.0 Million 5
Boeing 747 1.62 24 14.8 Million 14
Boeing 757 0.56 4 7.2 Million 4
Boeing 767 0.46 3 6.5 Million 3
British Aerospace BAe 146 0.89 4 4.5 Million 10
Embraer 110 Bandeirante 3.73 28 7.5 Million 17
Embraer 120 Brasilia 0.71 5 7.0 Million 8
Fokker F-28 2.35 20 8.5 Million 16
Fokker F-70/F-100 0.67 3 4.5 Million 7
Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 0.91 5 5.5 Million 11
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 0.76 42 55.5 Million 9
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 1.97 15 7.6 Million 15
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 0.45 9 20 Million 2
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 5.71 4 0.7 Million 18
Saab 340 0.33 3 9.0 Million 1

http://www.airdisaster.com/statistics/
 
Just take solace in the fact that if your plane collides with another, the explosion and impact will kill you immediately, and you'll never feel any pain. :)
 
Rest safe in the knowledge that an eejit like me is working on Thursday and might be controlling your flight ;)

The worst thing you can do is drink if you are nervous. I deal with these situations all too often. A nervous passenger gets full in the bar, 5 minutes into the flight he/she loses their nerve and goes buck mental. The flight then has to land to offload the unruly and dangerous passenger.
Don't drink and fly. One or two isn't a problem but don't get on a plane when drunk.

It's a very safe method of transport. No matter what happens, safety always comes first in aviation.
 
jamesrw said:
Not being in control, not being able to get out at will, the fact you are travelling at speeds that if something happened it's likely you would not survive.
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This is exactly why i find flying so relaxing...There really is absolutely nothing you can do so all responsibility is lifted from your shoulders..
 
Sorry I dont know whats to fear. I absolutely love it when the engines fire up and you get thrown back into your seat and bomb it down the runway. :D Brings a grin to my face every time. :D
 
Rosbif said:
Sorry I dont know whats to fear. I absolutely love it when the engines fire up and you get thrown back into your seat and bomb it down the runway. :D Brings a grin to my face every time. :D
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Same here, there is something about stupid amounts of acceleration that just makes me grin as I was a little kid again. I also find the fact that I'm in a metal cylinder being propelled by 4 donking great big engines to fly me somewhere so improbable that I grin at that as well so I probably look as if I'm insane on any flight, maybe that is why the people around me are nervous. ;) :D
 
You're more likely to get killed/injured travelling to the airport. :eek:

If it's anxiety about flying then you are not alone.

Google anxiety / relaxaton techniques .

Deep breathing , try to chill abit and listen to music.

As posted before , avoid alcohol .
 
Lysander said:
I don't think it's a phobia, because a phobia is an irriational fear. If you're scared of flying, you're scared that something's going to go wrong and the aircraft is going to crash, which I don't think is totally irrational.
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I'm scared of heights. That is an irrational fear, even though something could go wrong and I could fall to my death. See a correlation here? :)
 
Bes said:
Take a Nytol before you get on board?

Seriously you have more chance of being involved in an accident on the way to the airport than you do on board... just think how many flights there are going to/ from the UK every day from every airport and when was the last time an aircraft to/ from the UK was involved in any kind of major incident- let alone a crash? Years! You'll be fine :)
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Thats true, but however youre probably likely to survive a car accident than one occuring at 30,000ft :p And also the law of averages states one might be soon! :eek:
 
Well if you go out, atleast it will be with a bang :)

No seriously you will be fine, you dont have to worry about anything, you can do nothing wrong, all you have to worry about doing is sitting there which isnt hard.

And when your taking off at some point it is quite fun, that might overcome your fear.
 
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