Fear of flying?
 

Last year was the first time I flew heavily for work. I logged just over 40k miles in the back half of the year... and I just can't get used to it. I broke down and got a prescription for Xanax but honestly it doesn't help that much.

It's really a shame because I love to travel. My company puts me up in nice hotels, I love zipping through the premium security line, relaxing in the BR and the thrill of the occassional upgrade.

The AS flight attendants are always very kind and reassuring. I've read all the statistics on how safe air travel is but it's little consolation when we're getting tossed around at 10,000 feet.

So anyway I'm curious - any aerophobs out there? I'd love to hear from you but I'm guessing it's unlikely with this group. Maybe a better question would be, anyone here that WAS really afraid of flying but you're not bothered by it now? How long did it take?

Thanks!

Sefoley27- I was horribly afraid of flying up until the last year so don't feel bad for admitting it on here. It took a lot of xanax and just logging time in the sky to feel better.

If Xanax doesn't do anything you need a larger dose, and also take it 30 minutes before stepping on the plane. That way you start your travel in a calm state of mind.

What changed reality for me was being on a propjet flight last year that hit a freak wind shear. That was something I hope to never experience ever again. It made me realize that everyday turbulence is NOTHING to worry about. It's basically the equivalent of a car driving over small speed bumps. Nothing to worry about at all! It takes time but now I rarely even take Xanax unless I want to sleep through a long flight.

Also, Alaska has a great fleet of planes. Even if something went mechanically wrong a 737 can basically land itself, at least that's what I've been told :)

Hope you start to enjoy flying more. Good luck!!

I love flying and am terrified at the same time. I don't take Xanax. I've actually found a double dose of Dramamine helps me just fine. I find that during bumps if I just close my eyes, listen to some music and think in my mind that this is no different than driving on a bumpy road, I have very few anxiety issues.

Fear of flying?
 

Around year 2000, I had some fear of flying, and 911 didn't help. Flooding (essentially having a lot of flights close together) helped me. most larger cities will have a psychologist that takes interest in helping out. Call a psychologist clinic and they can direct you to who has a sub interest in that area.
Rand Walker, Ph.D in Moscow does a good job in this area and even though he's a little isolated likely from you, he's quite talented, and usually can give you tools you need in one or two visits.
He works with Gonzaga Golf and numerous sports teams (U of Idaho, WSU) in area and is quite talented. If your serious about getting better, he usually can help. Some meds help, but can be a band aid in end too.

Everyday turbulence used to make me very uncomfortable, my palms would sweat and I would have to brace myself in my seat before I could calm down.

I began flying on a weekly basis as well as working on my GA license at the beginning of 2012 and the anxiety went away. I think it was a combination of hitting real, shearing turbulence in a single engine aircraft and understanding how pilots work their aircraft through it as well as seat time in a commercial jet.

I always tell someone who's afraid of flying to spend $200 and take a "introductory pilots lesson" with a local company, it will change your perspective on flying in a commercial jet.

I used to be so you arent alone. For me it was the army days. I got to clean up carnage from an AWACS wreck in Anchorage which was far from fun. Plus I seen a few helos go down so my early days of flight experience were some what mind tarnishing. After I started traveling frequently I was fine after about 10 flights and now it is just fine. Even helped keep a young guy calm one day that was freaking out every time we got some choppy air. Thats not to say there arent oh *@#$ moments now and then but you are going to have those. After a while you are going to learn that 99% of the bouncing and turbulence you feel is nothing at all. If possible sit forward of the wing as the affects are less pronounced. Now not much bothers me except when I landed over cook inlet in Anchorage with moderate/servere turbulence and wind shear. That day I was sweating like a pig and is something I can do without ever experiencing again. Dont bother scouring you tube and stuff to see what moderate or severe turbulence is like. Most people that put up videos have no idea and they tab them as such but theyre just light

My issue has always been twofold: a combination of general motion sickness and anxiety from not knowing what was going on in the cockpit when the weather got rough.
Besides growing out of most of my motion sickness, education is what has helped me the most when flying. I have spent hundreds of hours in PC flight sims, doing anything from messing around to operating GA or commercial flights to the best of my knowledge. Learning how a cockpit operates, either through flight simulations or from another source such as Youtube videos, has been a huge help in making flying more comfortable for me.

Thanks all! I appreciate all the posts. Like Kaphias said a lot of it has to do with not knowing what's going on up front. Another airline (United, I think) let's you listen to the pilot communication through the headset, which I think would help a lot. Or maybe alshrink is right, and I need a good head doctor. Or maybe Cowbell2011 is right, and I need more Xanax!

There's a groupon that I see all the time for the intro to flying lessons. I might start there because I really do enjoy flying -- except for the part where I think the plane is going to crash. I consider myself a very logical person but for some reason with flying logic eludes me!

Thanks again.

I was flying SEA-ATL on Alaska just a few days ago. About 90 minutes before landing we hit a patch of severe turbulence. It was probably the second worst case of turbulence I've ever experienced - everyone was asked to stay in their seats, FAs stopped serving, and the season flyer next to me even said "rougher than usual".

Apparently, the pilot (from what I understand) tried to fly lower to avoid the turbulence and that resulted in us being late. We weren't flying over mountains, it looked like flat land below. It was nerveracking.

I used to be, but one terrifying flight to Madrid where the plane plunged so quickly the cabin reached zero gravity with coffee cups floating about only to be jarred back into reality by a roller coaster ride with people screaming and praying cured me of it. I guess I had to say to myself "if I survived that flight, then I really have nothing to worry about."

Maybe it's as a Buddhist monk once told me, to meditate on one's death is one of the tools to achieve true peace.

Sorry, not much to contribute here. Never really been afraid of flying/turbulence. I figure if my time is up then its up. Nothing wrong with that happening on a flight as opposed to on the ground or in a car.

I've never really suffered from air anxiety, but I have gotten a little spooked in moderate turbulence before. I find that sitting ahead of the wing (where I can't see it flexing) seems to help.

Also, it helps to know two things:

1. Pilots of U.S.-based mainline carriers are so intensely well prepared for problems that you simply do not need to worry that the pilots will make a mistake or do something unsafe. Pilot error is something that just does not happen on mainline flights. I am less confident of this when flying regional aircraft (especially turboprops flown by 1,000-hour wonder boys not even old enough to shave), but on mainline aircraft, it is simply not a concern.
2. It is virtually impossible for an aircraft to be damaged (certainly to the point of catastrophic airframe failure or something like that). In the event of turbulence or inclement weather, the pilots will slow the aircraft to "maneuvering speed," which is basically the speed below which it is physically impossible for any turbulence bumps or anything to snap the wing because the forces won't be strong enough to do any damage. Also, my flight instructor (I took lessons awhile back) once gave me a very sage piece of advice upon encountering some turbulence and mildly freaking out: "These airplanes are pre-stressed to the point that your seatbelt would snap and you would be plastered against the ceiling long before anything happened to the airplane." Additionally, I do not believe there has ever been an instance of any aircraft incidents due to clear-air turbulence. The only reports I have been able to find were on-board injuries due to people walking around the aircraft or sitting without their seatbelts on when encountering sudden turbulence. No aircraft has ever to my knowledge crashed due to structural failure after encountering clear-air turbulence. (I'm not as sure about this when it comes to encountering inclement weather, but at least on mainline aircraft of U.S. carriers, I trust the pilots' judgment to keep us out of anything that would endanger the aircraft and the lives of the passengers.)

When I do encounter a little anxiety during turbulence, I just keep repeating these two things to myself and am usually able to at least relax a bit.

It has been a weird change for me over the years. As a kid, it was a guarantee that if we were to fly through turbulence, i would get sick. I hated flying, I hated getting on an aircraft. I used to get car sick a lot when I was a kid, and it was almost instantaneous within a few paragraphs of reading, I would start to feel queasy and had to stop.

I now fly 300,000 miles a year, not including my hour building I am doing with flying and never get sick.

I got fed up with being sick on an airplane, so I went to my local FBO and asked to be on an introductory flight lesson. We took off from KDUH and flew around for almost 45 minutes. It wasn't a great day for flying, middle of the afternoon during the summer. A lot of thermals and bumps along the way. But as we were coming in for landing, I felt at ease. Maybe because I had control of the aircraft? I really don't know. But, something in my mind was triggered that flying isn't so bad.

When you start instrument flight training, you learn to fly using nothing but your instruments. This required the use of a vision-limiting device. All of a sudden, I had no outside visual reference point and all that I could look at was the instrument panel. What made it even more fun was the simple fact that the instructor would place me in an unusual attitude by flying us up and down turning left and right to get my orientation out of whack because my head is now facing straight down into my lap.

Funny thing about my instrument rating checkride (where you sit with a Designated Examiner and he/she says if you pass or not) was at one point my worst nightmare, now was just an added obstacle. My checkride was in complete IMC, with winds aloft at 3,000 feet (where most of the checkride would be taking place) 45 knots gusting 57. For those of you instrument trained or at least know what I am talking about, that wasn't an easy checkride. Holds, usually in a racetrack pattern, were more triangle shaped and super quick on the way out and super long on the way back in.

It was super bumpy, and three years before this checkride I would have had my sic-sack out and in use, but not any more. I was in control of my fear and could easily fly through any crappy weather, although I would let the commercial guys do the worst of the crap and leave my cessna on the ground!

No medication needed, no excess of liquor needed any more.

I find that the people who have the worst anxiety of flying don't ask questions or care to find out why things are the way they are. Ask a pilot, they are more that happy to answer your questions.

Understanding what clear-air turbulence is, what a low pressure system is, what a gust front is, how the jet-stream will affect you, all sound like the questions a meteorologist would ask. But in reality all affect flying. It doesn't hurt to look at websites that incorporate both weather and piloting, just so you can get a basic understanding of weather and how it will affect you.

Knowledge is an amazing thing and having the right understanding of things that can affect your flight will go a long way in helping ease your anxiety, especially if you know what to expect.

OP, since this is really more of a general question than anything specific to Alaska Airlines, I'm going to go ahead and move it to the TravelBuzz! forum. Exposure to the wider community of FlyerTalk members there may help you to get some additional advice from others who may not otherwise have seen this.

Regards,
jackal
Co-Moderator
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan forum

My wife is/was a petrified flyer. She got to a point where it was effecting her work due to having to travel a great deal on business. She sought out professional help from a therapist who specialized in hypnotherapy. I had my doubts but it actually worked.