How to Deal with Your Fear of Flying
What is Fear of Flying?*
Without getting too technical, the fear of flying, is an anxiety disorder. Such fears can come about during a flight, or even well before a person gets to the airport. Often, the fear has more to do with elements of the flying experience that has little or nothing to do with the risks associated with the flight. Depending on the person, the fear of flying includes one or more of the following elements:
- Fear of heights
- Fear of being over water
- Fear of the dark (flying at night)
- Fear of the unknown
- Concerns about accidents or from deliberate attacks
- Being in an enclosed or crowded space
- Being idle for long periods of time
- Loss of personal freedom
- The security screening process
- Concerns about turbulence and other weather conditions
- Not understanding the activities associated with a normal flight
- Loss of control, or being dependent on technology or people
- Underlying issues from past psychological or physical trauma
How Many People Are Afraid of Flying?
The airline industry is clearly aware of the fear of flying and how it affects the traveling public. Research is somewhat sparse, with one of the most important studies on fear of flying dates back to 1980, when two Boeing researchers found that 18.1% adults in the U.S. was afraid to fly, and that another 12.6% of adults experienced anxiety when they fly. In short, about one in three adult Americans were afraid to fly. The study was also interesting in that it provided details about why they avoided flying. About half reported that fear was the reason, but only about six percent considered flying unsafe. A more recent poll conducted by Newsweek Magazine in 1999 found that 50% of the adults surveyed who flew on commercial airlines were frightened at least sometimes.
How Does Fear of Flying Affect People?
How people react to fear of flying is as diverse as the reasons why people have anxieties around the flying experience. A common reaction is to avoid flying as much as possible. There are a number of celebrities, including John Madden of video game and American football fame, who go to great lengths to arrange their personal and professional lives to avoid flying. Other reactions include the kind of physical effects associated with a white knuckle flyer, such as sweating, rapid heartbeat and breathing, and nausea. Other reactions can be more dangerous for the passenger and other on the aircraft, such as using drugs or alcohol deal with the experience, or being abusive to other passengers, the cabin crew, or to airline representatives.
Statistics and the Fear of Flying
Often, the aviation community points to the statistics associated with flying risk to illustrate that flying is safe and that passengers should not be afraid. For most who have anxieties associated with flying, these statistics are meaningless because in most cases, the fear is not associated with flight risks. For those who are concerned about flight risk, statistics are also not that useful. Even if the chance of something bad happening is a million to one, the people concerned about risk is focused on whether their flight is going the be the one that doesn't end well.
What You Can Do About It
If fear of flying is affecting you in a way that you don't like, there is no reason to accept it as normal. If you want to take positive steps to deal with it, there are plenty of options available. One of the first steps to recognize that you may have a problem. The Fear of Flying Warning Signs page has a very basic checklist to indicate if you may have significant anxieties associated with flying. You can review the story behind the SOAR fear of flying program, one of the few programs designed to help people deal with fear of flying that is actually designed and led by an airline pilot, Capt. Tom Bunn, who is also a trained therapist. Additional resources are on this page, as well as from SOAR
Recommended Fear of Flying Courses
Licensed therapist and airline pilot Captain Tom Bunn offers a variety of courses that can help you deal with the stress and anxiety that comes with a fear of flying. For a demonstration of the available products, click on the links or video demos below.
