Anyone conquered their fear of flying?

[Crackers]

Any help greatly appreciated as it's become a problem

[Smiffy]

Yup, I hated flying, panic attacks and the usual malarky, I became an aircraft maintenance engineer apprentice and had to fly a shit tonne.... ended up getting over it pretty quick just from all the exposure and learning what all the noises were... perhaps do some reading or sit down with someone who can guide you through all the noises and it will help honest

[Davey]

You SHOULD fear flying. It's NOT natural to sit in a big man-made tin can and defy the laws of gravity! That shit just aint right!


(hope that helps)

[Rhino]

Fists with your toes!

TBH, the more I fly, the worse I get :\
I guess you just gotta make your peace.

[mekon]

Fists with your toes!

LOL, nice one McClaine.

Don't read books on aircrash stats. Yes get accustomed to noises and understand what they are, exposure helps. I still hate flying, but think of what it stops you getting to if you're paralysed by fear.
I hate flying due to a nasty accident in Malaysia in a small jet and a very rough landing. Just realise you'd have to be pretty fucking unlucky, don't fly Aeroflot if you saw the pilot in the bar. Don't fly Garuda, or some other bumfuck of beyond national airline piloted by farmers or ex airforce or army pilots.

[Crobbo]

If you're not too worried about money get a few flying lessons?

[Aufitt]

Book in to Heliwest for a flight course ,
about $400/ hr. even an Auto-rotation thrown in for good measure in a little Robinson R22.
Trust me on this... It will either make you or break you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL1r5GoG4tc

[Mo-Fo]

Asolutely love flying and love watching Air Crash Investigation.

Not that that helps you ;-P

[captainpaul]

Statistically, flying is the safest mode of transport.
And a hell of a lot safer than going into a pub in joondalup for example😜

Never fly Garuda.

Best thing to do would be, go to Royal Aero Club at Jandakot, pay around $150 for a trial flight. You sit in captains seat and you fly the aircraft.
The flying time counts towards your flying hours in pilots log book should you decide to take up lessons for private pilot or commercial pilot in the future.

[mcmurray]

^ good advice.

[Rhino]

I don't think a trial flight would do much if you're in the mindset of 'shit is going to go wrong' and being uncomfortable.

In a small aircraft, you expect to get buffeted around.
Whilst you may come to accept that, you also expect that large jets should 'fly through' that sort of stuff without much of an affect.

So when they do cop a big hit and some nasty turbulence, you can't help but be uncomfortable.
That's what goes through my head anyway.

Coming in to land over the escarpment in Perth is always turbulent. I hate it.

My worst experience was in South Africa. Either on approach to Jo'burg or Capetown, I can't remember.
On descent, we entered some cloud (broken cloud, which before entering, you noticed how high you were as you could see land intermittently).
As soon as we hit the cloud, the plane felt like it was being pushed down. For about 5-6 seconds. It felt like minutes.
We were all strapped in but it would have been enough to get you off your feet or out of your chair I reckon.
When we got through the cloud, we were visibly/noticeably lower. It put the shits right up me and many others on the plan.

[Rogwick]

I've never had much of a fear of flying (I sometimes get nervous in smaller aircrafts) however I had an aerobatic flight lesson/experience, got thrown around a bit and pulled 2G (which is little compared the red bull pilots) since then everything else including V8 supercar hot laps seems mellow.

[mekon]

Statistically, flying is the safest mode of transport.
And a hell of a lot safer than going into a pub in joondalup for example

Never fly Garuda.

Depending how you make that stat...

Major safety devices in an airplane

Realizing that a poor safety record in the aviation industry is a threat to corporate survival, two major manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, both have placed huge emphasis on the use of aviation safety equipment. Some major safety devices now required in commercial aircraft involve:

Advanced avionics - Computerized auto-recovery and alert systems.

Landing gear - that can be lowered even after loss of power and hydraulics.

Evacuation slides - aid rapid passenger exit from an aircraft in an emergency situation.

Turbine engines - durability and failure containment improvements.

Is flying the safest way to travel?

When compared against all other modes of transport on a fatality per mile basis air transport is the safest - six times safer than travelling by car and twice as safe as rail.

When measured on a passenger-distance calculation, air travel is the safest form of transportation available: these figures are the ones mentioned by the air industry when quoting statistics on air safety.

However, when measured by fatalities per person transported, buses are the safest form of transportation and the number of air travel fatalities per person are surpassed only by bicycles and motorcycles. This statistic is the one used by the insurance industry when calculating insurance rates for air travel.

For every billion kilometers traveled, trains have a fatality rate 12 times larger than air travel, while automobiles have a fatality rate 62 times larger. On the other hand, for every billion journeys, buses are the safest form of transportation.

By the last measure air transportation is three times more dangerous than car transportation and almost 30 times more dangerous than bus.

Where is the safest place to sit on an airplane?

A 2007 study by Popular Mechanics found that passengers sitting at the back of a plane are 40% more likely to survive a crash than those sitting in the front, although this article also quotes Boeing, the FAA and a website on aircraft safety, all claiming that there is no safest seat.

The article studied 20 crashes, not taking in account the developments in safety after those accidents. However, a flight data recorder is usually mounted in the aircraft's empennage (tail section), where it is more likely to survive a severe crash.

taken from:
Is flying a safe way to travel?

I know, I'm not helping....

[roadtrain]

I used to love flying - then when i was cashed up $$ - & bored one summer - i booked in - & did a solo skydiving course -

Now i hate flying - & when i sit there - i think - S*** - under that floor there - theres kinda like - 30 000 feet of nothin -

I know what it feels like - to fall thru 14 000 feet - of nothin - & i ain't got my chute on !!!!

Completing a Will - helped a bit - cause at least if she goes in - most of your assetts will be sorted - Yeah - i think that helps a tiny bit -

[vas]

No one should have a fear of flying, just a fear of crashing- Vas

[fatoxious]

my girlfriend has it bad, just flew to the states. her doctor gave her a valium prescription. said "you can't OD on this, take half, it it aint working keep going up in halves till you hit 2 full pills. then have a glass of scotch. you'll be asleep for sure" what a doctor eh...

[Phildo]

1. Get hot girlfriend/boyfriend.
2. Book flight.
3. Join mile-high club and beat fears of flying through positive association.
4. Profit.

[I Fancy Holidays]

1. Get hot girlfriend/boyfriend.
2. Book flight.
3. Join mile-high club and beat fears of flying through positive association.
4. Profit.

Phildo to the rescue!

[MMiikkee]

What part of the flying is affecting you specifically Crackers, is there a certain time in the flight you feel the most fear?

Sometimes it claustrophobia, for others it's vertigo, and others it's weather and turbulence, others just think it's gonna crash due to too many dodgy movies.

Dunno how to fix claustrophobia, but for vertigo look out the window or straight ahead on takeoff and landing, NOT DOWN!!!

Most passengers freak out due to turbulence because it is a different sensation we don't get on the ground. It's all normal though 'cos of all crap mixing and moving around the atmosphere (aka. weather). If you think understanding it may help then read up a bit on weather patterns and aerodynamics, it might help understand why we get bucked around from time to time.

Mechanical issues are the least of your worries. Particularly in the modern aircraft today there is a crazy amount of system redundancy. All the planes with 2 engines will happily climb away and get you back on the ground if one stops working. All over the world the pilots get trained for this and regularly retested, and the engineers check that all the bits stay attached pretty damn frequently.

P.S. If any chicks want to try Phildo's method, let me know. Bring along another lady friend along for the trip and i'll give her 50% off

[kenty]

If you have problems flying in aircraft the LAST thing i would do is suggest a helicopter flight, or a flight in a Cessna.

Its an exposure thing, normally the more you do it the more you realise your safe, if you really need to maybe try taking sleeping tablets before flying to try and calm your nerves.

as Mr. mike said aviation is the safest industry, and you will find that there are rarely any incidents on major airliners, and when they do its a minor event.