Afraid to Fly? You are Not Alone
There were a reported 18 Million commercial air flights in the year 2000, on which over 1 Billion people traveled. Amazingly, there were only 20 fatal airplane accidents in the same year. Compared to the almost 42,000 traffic accidents that occurred in 2000, it is reasonable to state that airline travel is much safer than driving by car.
However, many people are so afraid to fly in a plane that they experience negative physical and mental symptoms at the very thought, even though they have no problem driving or riding in a car.
A critical thing to keep in mind is that, although it may appear that the danger involved with flying is the cause of the apprehension, that is probably not it at all. As with all phobias, it probably stems from anxiety, which can be triggered in many different ways.
For one, there is very little control that an airline passenger has on a commercial flight. If the cabin is hot, you can’t open a window. If it is cramped, it is difficult to make more space. We can’t hit the brakes or control the plane in any way when there is turbulence. In a car we are typically driving or know the driver personally, which makes us feel more secure than a plane, where we can’t even see who the pilot is.
With such little control, all those things that are just annoyances in our real life become bigger than life on a plane. Waiting on the runway our minds run away with the possible reasons the plane hasn’t taken off yet. The close quarters become tighter and tighter until it feels like the walls are literally closing in. A little turbulence becomes an out of control plane doomed to crash in our anxious minds.
While many are able to identify and conquer these anxieties before their conscious mind even experiences them, there are many more who encounter some form of panic when flying, which may vary in degree from tolerable, to uncomfortable, right up the scale to full out panic attack.
The good news is that, as with all anxieties, the first step to recovery is to understand why you are afraid to fly, so that it can be faced. Once that has been achieved, there are many ways to conquer the fear without drugs or expensive therapy.
