Tips to handle fear of flying

SoSolid said:
Ok the next time you see a Russian airliner at Heathrow please remember that statement.
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I beg your pardon? I assure you that our proud brothers working at the glorious peoples Antonov manufacturing factory, under the supervision and guidance of the Peoples marxist workers Union in the glorious commune of Karlgradski are well trained and far better than those Capitalist pig engineers in the West. Comrade Stalin, the mightiest leader of them all, who regurlarly threw opponents of the People out of them, would testify to that.
 
jamesrw said:
Hi, I am flying on Thursday and I'm not a particularly great flyer. Can anyone give me tips on how to calm myself for this.

Short of spending most of the time before take off in the bar, is there anything else I can do?

I'm flying with BMI baby on a 737. I'm taking everything I need as hand luggage as I can't afford to lose anything.
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DIAZEPAM FOR THE WIN !
 
Actually, Russian (or Soviet or whatever) engineering surpases the EU and US, it's just that they don't have money, and with lack of money comes lack of research, maintenance, etc. so problems do show up.
 
I agree Pyro. You find me a Boeing plane that allows you to throw out 1,000 Ukrainian peasants all in one go and I will eat my hat.
 
Ok clearly the people defending russian engineering have not seen the 40 year old Tupolev planes that they regularly use. Aeroflot has one of the worst safety records in the world and the Ilyushin brand of aircraft are shocking.
 
SoSolid said:
Ok clearly the people defending russian engineering have not seen the 40 year old Tupolev planes that they regularly use. Aeroflot has one of the worst safety records in the world and the Ilyushin brand of aircraft are shocking.
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Aeroflot mostly fly into Heathrow in A320/A321s now. There is the occasional IL96 but they seem to be few and far between now.
It's the dodgy cargo flights that come and go to/from Russia that you need to be wary of. They're usually in ancient aircraft and the pilots are almost certainly lacking in any sort of flying skill. I could swear that some of them are full of vodka at times :p
 
I'm sorry but the old ones are the best........

Sit at the back of the plane - you never hear of planes reversing into a mountain. (really sorry)

I only dislike the landing. The noise and force of the braking never seem to be sufficient to stop the forward momentum, so you get thrown forward slightly. Especially when flying into Glasgow as you appear to come in sideways on a bad day.

Hey, it could be a lot worse - you could be going over to France on a hovercraft - yukk.
 
Don't get drunk.

Just feel comfortable that the only thing you can do is just not try and think about it, get on the plane, take deep breaths, I'd suggest taking a CD Player/MP3 player to listen to during flight (they ask you not to during takeoff and landing), this would definately calm me down to no end.

At the end of the day the only thing you can do is get on the plane and give it your best shot, I can't imagine there's anything effective someone could recommend at this short notice that would make things much easier, it's all mind over matter!

That being said if someone told that tomorrow I had to have a big tarantula crawl all over me I'd be pooing my pants right now.
 
The journey to the airport will be 1000's of times more dangerous than the flight (if not millions).

If he had a phobia of flying then nothing would get him on the plane and he would be sick just thinking about it.
 
I hope you don't sit next to me on a flight. I'm one of those people who read books such as "Terror In The Skies" and "Black Box Voice Recordings".

But being serious, i'm sure at one point or another, people were scared when in a plane. When i was first on a plane, it the point on the climb when you hit air pockets and the planes seems as if its falling out the sky, then the airflow over the wings increases again and climbs normally - but i now see it as fun and exciting! Most probably because i'm training for my PPL in a wee 2 seater Cessna that gets chucked about by the wind.

I'm currently studying Aeronautical Engineering at University, so i know a few things about planes - and when it comes to cold hard facts - its true that air travel is much safer than driving. Aircraft have numerous backup systems for each system and can even fly on one engine (or none) and still land safely.

But i would listen to the earlier statements of advice. Just relax and try to take you mind off of it. Take in the scenery, read a book... any of the ideas mentioned earlier. You're in good hands.

At least have the satisfaction of having a pilot who could easily have 20,000 hours of flying experience who's been doing the job for over 30 years against driving with motorists such as 17 year old **** who think they own the road with their 1982 Corsa. Who is the most likely to crash and cause injury/death to others..
 
Thanks for the tips. I have flown several times before, and to America once. I am generally ok on them, but I am on absolute edge the entire flight, so an mp3 player is out of the question. I think a newspaper is the best move.
 
Barrington said:
At least have the satisfaction of having a pilot who could easily have 20,000 hours of flying experience who's been doing the job for over 30 years against driving with motorists such as 17 year old **** who think they own the road with their 1982 Corsa. Who is the most likely to crash and cause injury/death to others..
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Well to be honest my mate is a pilot and I nearly poo myself when he's driving his car at 90mph around country lanes.
 
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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Fear of flying is irrational - flying's not a problem. I don't think the fact that he's in an aircraft is what's bothering this guy.

He has a fear of crashing :)
 
I think the new series of Air Crash Investigations on National Geographic would be my reccomendation. Interesting story on tonights episode where a 747 lost all 4 engines. Moral of the story: don't fly over errupting volcanoes!
 
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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Yeh, it can be a fear, it's only a phobia or anxiety disorder when you have an irrational response to it.
 
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