Afraid to FLY program - can any FTers help?
 

Ok, presumably "afraid to fly" doesn't apply to any FTers. Our only fear is an upgrade won't clear or MQMs won't post.

Despite all the talk of spilled fuel, metal fatigue, uncontained engine failure, sleeping traffic controllers, drinking pilots, and the ever-present threat of terrorism, those of us who fly so frequently know it's the safest way to travel.

Many of us have visited the Tech Ops center and learned about their obsession with safety. We've been through a sampler of FA training, know how to manually inflate escape slides, and how to jettison the tail cone to get out the back of a MadDog. All but a few of us actually love to travel by air with it's proven safety record.

But a friend has asked me if Delta, or anybody, still offers a program for people afraid to fly, preferably in the NYC area (because if he could fly anywhere else he wouldn't need the program.) Apparently such a program was offered many years ago.

For many aviaphobes (I just made that up) it's the confinement and the loss of control. My response is if there's trouble I would rather have the trained pilot control the aircraft than try it myself (although in the simulator it's fun.)

I've tried to convince my friend that travel by air is safer than crossing Tenth Ave in NYC, which he is NOT afraid to do -- but I am. Of course, running with scissors is safer than crossing Tenth Ave in NYC but I digress.

I'll make a few calls to the DL folks we met in ATL and ask around, but perhaps somebody on FT knows if a "fear of flying" program is still offered.

Buy you and your friend refundable tickets

Go to DTW Skyclub.

Fill a chalice with liquor.

Feed your friend the chalice.

Baby steps to the Fountain in the middle.

Baby steps to the Tram.

Baby steps to the Gate.

Baby steps to the Breezeway.

If friend freaks out at any stage, stop and try again a few days later.

If friend makes it this far.....

STOP. It's too expensive a fare.

Try again with a cheaper nonrefundable fare.

(Disclaimer:
Not psychiatric or medical advice. For entertainment value only. Drink responsibly. Don't drink and drive.)

If you google "fear of flying programs nyc" you'll find a wealth of information, including this NY Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/he...gy/24fear.html

The article refers to aviophobia, so your made up term was right on the mark!

20 MG valium and a few liquor drinks and said friend won't be afraid of flying....even on an Airbus:)

the graduate
 

A long time ago I participated in a Fearful Flyer program offered by USAirways. I was a fearful flyer as were all of the other people in the group. We were charged $200 for the program which lasted about eight sessions and culminated with a flight from DCA to the vacinity of Virginia Beach and back. The former fearful flyers were dancing in the aisles.
I was amazed at how quickly the fearfulness evaporated. The program for my group was a great success. Our leader told us that most of us had other problems that flying had merely brought to the service. The "other" problems were relatively easy to address for each of us.
A few years later I learned that the program was no longer being offered by USAirways. I had been very lucky. I will always be greatful to USAirways for what they did for me.
Keep looking.

I am ok with flying but I am afraid of the Delta Award calendar. Is there a program for folks afraid to book award travel? ;)

Yes. I will be starting the Adopt-a-SkyMiles program. This will allow folks who are afraid of booking award travel to be liberated from their fear by transferring all of their miles to those who are not afraid of booking award travel. :)

:-::p:-:

Sadly, I have a very good friend, actually, my best friend who I met in college, who is not only afraid to fly (although he would deny it), but who refuses to acknowledge the fact, and who arranges his life to ensure that he never has to deal with aviation. He always has "perfectly reasonable excuses" why any mode of transportation (driving, train, stagecoach, hitchhiking, not going), is more rational than flying. The few times he has gotten on a plane and flown, he's come back to recount what a horrible experience the entire flight has been, from the drive to the airport, to exiting baggage claim.

His latest excuse is that, since he has taken up astronomy as a hobby and has a newborn son, he needs to travel with telescopes and baby gear where ever he goes, which necessitates travel in a rather large SUV (for three people?!) I will grant that I would not want to trust tens of thousands of dollars of delicate optical equipment to Delta baggage handlers, although I don't understand why so much astronomy equipment must accompany him everywhere!

Just as there are people who believe the earth is flat and man never went to the moon, there are some people who are not meant to travel by plane.

By the way, I gave him and his wife two round-trip BusinessElite tickets to Europe as a gift when they got married. This was back in the day when BusinessElite tickets cost 80K SkyMiles a piece. Of course, with the changes in the program, I now have an unlimited lien against my SkyMiles account, should he ever get over his stupid fear of flying :(

My wife was completely terrified of flying until recently.

While it may seem counter-intuitive, what worked for us was to schedule an introductory flight lesson at a local general-aviation airport. The CFI (certified flight instructor) will take some time to explain how planes work, then take him/her up in a plane for a one hour flight. The knowledge of how the aircraft works, with the opportunity to see that it can't be made to drop out of the sky like a brick is strong medicine.

I am sorry to hear of the fearful flyers. In fact feel bad for anyone who is that severely constrained by their own psych issues :( . Though I applaud the airline doing something about it (and $200 for all of that listed seems very fair).

How about hypnotherapy?

On a different note, many FT friends seem to have an allergy to / fear of FOs. I assume the medical term is therefore Phophobia ...? ;)

Already taken...irrational fear of Vietnamese soup.

Oh, it's not a fear or allergy. They're sickly and diseased, which is why they have their own boarding zone--so we don't have to bump elbows on our way down the jetway.

I still have a little fear of flying. Every couple weeks or so, while on a plane, I'll realize the only thing between me and the ground is a little piece of metal and tens of thousands of feet. Or that I cannot see what is directly in front of the plane, but for all I know, we are about to slam into a mountain or a farm animal that is floating ala The Wizard of Oz.

Two things helped me get over this.

First, I learned how an airplane works. It's not floating in the sky, as I previously believed. Understanding how the plane stays in the sky helps me get over the occasional panic attack.

Second, I remind myself that the trained pilot who doesn't have a death wish can see in front of the plane, and has information about everything that's going on in the airspace, so the fact I cannot see in front of the plane shouldn't be worrisome.

Planes don't fall from the sky. Plane accidents are big news because they don't happen often. The pilot wouldn't have his job if he didn't know how to fly the plane.

Exactly... and I'll be another one to admit that I don't like turbulence even though I pretty much know exactly what's happening. I've also been told by one FA that they were amazed at my calmness during one really bad storm on a prop from JAX to TPA. I just sat there and closed my eyes and pretended that I was at an amusement park and this was a surprise ride where you never knew what was going to happen... I even surprised myself on that one how little the storm bothered me.

I was lucky to be the only passenger on a flight years ago and way before 9/11. After takeoff, the pilot left me stand in the doorway and put the speaker on so that I could hear all ATC communications (I believe that United still has a channel where you can do this) throughout the flight... The flight was pretty smooth, but the pilot did show me some maneuvers as well as let me decide how we were going to come into Dayton (gradual or dive type descent)... Since I love dive type descents (on non bumpy days), I chose that one... That trip is one of the most memorable flights that I've ever had and I learned so much.

Since then, I've been dating a man who was a structural engineer for one of the major aircraft firms and did stress testing on planes. Before he retired I got to visit some of the sites and had permission to see planes being built and stress tested... That became another eye opener on what these planes can take.

Good for you on trying to help your friend... Hopefully your friend can get over this fear.

I would go with Alot of Xanex - plus scotch

As one who has gone too far more than once, just here to let you know you went too far on that one...:td:

I'm afraid to fly US....

And have WN trauma...

I second the suggestion to take what is called a "Discovery Flight" offered by most flight schools. The CFI will review how planes work, and then take him up for an intro flight. Your friend will be able to control the plane to the degree he's comfortable. Perhaps the most eye-opening and reassuring part will be for the CFI to cut all power to the engine. He needn't tell your friend ahead of time. He can just do that, and then tell your friend, "now we are flying as if we lost all engine power." When your friend sees how much the plane glides, he'll overcome what is likely his greatest fear, which is plummeting to earth out of control.

I suggest the CFI not perform any spin maneuvers.

Just don't explain glide ratio's and lift to drag ratios. A 747 will glide further than the Cessna as it has a glide ration of 18:1 vs the Cessna's 10:1 (Miles/for every 1 mile of vertical height). The problem is the Lift to drag ratio. The 747 will hit the ground waaaay before the Cessna because it has far more drag.

Can't you fix that with balut and San Miguel?

Balut and San Miguel will quash any number of fears...^

I took a "fearful flyer" course on Pam Am 34 years ago. Boy am I old!!!! I would not get on a plane and cancelled many wonderful trips, because of my fear. I still don't love flying, but I go. My solution...upgrade to F or BE and have a drink before take off.

Weird as it sounds I was really scared of flying back in my Skydiving days... I'd shut my eyes and do breathing exercises until the a/c was at - say - 1000ft... (an altitude where "getting out" becomes a rational response to a problem...:D)

With all the normal flying I've done in the last 10 years the fear has almost completely faded...

I have a theory about fear of flying however... that goes on from what joan24 said...

Such fear varies depending on which cabin one is in... and the quality (in world terms) of said cabin..

So... In Y on most airlines... High fear levels

In Y on some (opinions vary as to which.. NZ and SQ for me) Low fear levels

In old style C .... Very low fear levels

In "world class" C (SQ/new NH/new OZ etc) No fear

In (world class ) F "What, we HAVE taken off?":D

My fear now is that I will be in Y! In fact my teenager asks me "are we in Y or C?" Why am I the last to get upgraded?

+1
and anything built in France

Short of a formal program, my 100% serious suggestion is to point your friend at the "Ask a Delta Pilot" thread in this forum that W0X0F_2p2, a Delta pilot, very generously maintains in his spare time as an unofficial resource.

On one hand, W0X0F has been kind enough to answer basically every question you could imagine about how aviation works - weather, avionics, safety, air traffic, and the business side of flying have all been covered at some point. By the time your friend finishes that material, he or she will have a much better understanding of how flight works from a mechanical perspective, and demystifying that is the first piece of the puzzle.

More importantly, though, they'll have a much better appreciation for who's behind the controls of the aircraft. I think, at least for myself, my biggest concern is instinctively whether I should trust the folks in charge of the plane... let's face it, the safest strategy when driving on the road is to assume all the other drivers around you are idiots, and that is proven to be the case in unfortunately far too many situations - so it's natural to be concerned about the same thing when flying.

In aviation, it's completely different, though - pilots flying commercially for a major airline like Delta have years of practical experience and undergo frequent requalification training. Perhaps even more reassuringly, they come to the airline with extensive experience as hotshot military pilots of high performance aircraft as well. These guys and gals really are the most qualified out there for the job, the best of the best in their field.

Putting a face on that generic pilot persona, it's impossible to come away from reading W0X0F's well thought out, articulate posts without forming an impression of him as competent, thorough and trustworthy - exactly the qualities that reassure me as a frequent passenger.

Your friend may even want to consider registering an account and posting a question of their own - that thread is a golden opportunity to clear the air of any lingering concerns or reservations they may still have about air travel, too.

Forgot to mention, there's also an online course put together by - I think an AA pilot? It's free and available at http://www.fearofflyinghelp.com/ .

I'd give the content a C+ - I read through it a while back and found it comprehensive in covering the issues, but perhaps a bit more condescending in tone than I would have written if I was making something similar. But if your friend has already self identified themselves as a fearful flyer and is actively seeking assistance, it might be valuable for them.

I forgot to mention that my wife is now a pilot. :D

I just had a flashback to my CPO initiation.

I have those on a regular basis...still can't look a raw egg in the eye. And that was over 30 years ago...

My ex wife to this day still refuses to fly.
we never went to any vacations beyond 750 miles drive, she woould rather drive than to fly.
I tried to talk to her, but she refused to even talk about it, or to admit she had / has a problem with flying.

My new gf is a gamer, and she would fly anywhere in the world.

As a kid I didn't much care about flying. I had a fear of it because it was an unknown. Went up on an ultralight plane (think wing, tail, engine), it was pretty cool. Then I went up on a helicopter. No problem. But the next week that helicopter crashed. Followed by the TWA 800, Swiss Air crash in Halifax, an American Airlines crash in Columbia and there was an Egypt air crash. Needless to say I wasn't going to get near a plane.

We had a school trip to Australia. I had to fly. It was a mess. Got prescribed something (i think it was valium) for the flights. But they wore off before all the flights were done, and I couldn't take more.

Flash forward a few years, wanting to get over the fear of flying I decided to go skydiving. Somehow it worked. Its not the take off that'll kill you, and I proved to myself that I've landed without the plane. Plus its cool to say that you've taken off in an airplane more than you've landed in one.

Funny about skydiving. I was going for my private pilot licence when I was 18 and ran out of money. For the hell of it I started skydiving in Lebanon Maine because it was close and cheap. I was HOOKED. Ended up with 1.2 hours free-fall time by the time I retired my log book. The thing is I always expected that when I exited the aircraft I would feel like I was falling and get freaked out by the height. It is, as you know, nothing like that at all.

I think I am going to drive out to Perris this weekend :):)

The best fear of flying program is:

http://www.amtrak.com

or http://www.nationalcar.com or http://www.hertz.com

I have to wonder if the white-knuckled types who scream like five year old girls when the airplane encounters turbulence also scream out loud when they hit a pothole in their car.

I also wonder if those afraid of flying drive timidly, or if they are the ones blabbing away on the cell phone and not watching the road.

The truth is, most fear of flying is based on ignorance, as those with the stories of conquered fears demonstrate--a little knowledge cured them. So I don't think fear of flying is a typical phobia. Fear of heights, fear of spiders, fear of snakes, etc. are rarely "cured" with an "aha" moment of realization something is actually safe. Also, these other fears have a much longer history than fear of flying.

I would add fear of flying and fear of heights are two different things. I know people who are afraid of flying who have no acrophobia, and pilots who are acrophobic.

I actually think people somehow talk themselves into fear of flying. But these people also tend to have no fear of other forms of transportation.

Fear is not a rational thing and knowledge doesn't necessarily cure it. If you've never had a fear of flying, please don't judge those who have. It is real and no fun . Most of us don't scream out loud or cause any disturbance.

Speaking of ignorance, your post is full of it.

I am a very well-educated guy who flies frequently and who has flown all of his life. I understand the physics and engineering governing flight very well. One of my best friends from undergrad is a Delta pilot with whom I talk often about flight (particularly regarding pilots' training for exceptional circumstances). And I'm also an uncomfortable flyer.

Your first mistake was to assume fear is a rational condition. Or that something as simple as 'knowledge' will fix it. I'm also not sure how you can exclude aviophobia from such common fears as arachnophobia. You can't.

There are a lot of reasons that people don't like flying. Sure, some people don't understand the principles of flight. Others don't understand what would happen in an emergency situation. There are also terrorism concerns. Or potential problems with the plane that have nothing do with pilot preparation and safety checks on the ground. Just because those sources of problems are unlikely to ever occur in a given passenger's lifetime does not mean they are not legitimate sources of anxiety.

Sorry, I'm not one to attack people on the interwebs but yours was a woefully uninformed post.