Fear-Of Flying
Flight versus Fight Response
The pilot looks way too young to know how to fly this.
What was that noise?
Turbulence? Again? Oh no…
Do these maintenance guys know what they are looking for?
Do you find yourself asking these questions above at the thought of air travel?
My guess is you felt scare, your eye pupils probably dilated like in the photo. This is a classic example of flight of fear. It's a similar reaction when a nervous flier sitting on an airplane hears an unexpected noise. Their first reaction is to panic and to run from the situation or deal with it.
This reaction is hard wired into our brain and is called:
Fight Or Flight
Flight or fight response is our body's automatic response to a perceived threat. When we experience extreme anxiety from worry or from our environment our body triggers a reaction of fight or flight response. The response is the same response animals have too. This explains how animals attack when cornered. In order to overcome your anxiety or fear of flying, you need to redirect that fear & used it to work for you. Our DVD goes over energy management techniques to help you manage fear & reduce negative thoughts.
Some of us seem to be born with a tendency to be anxious. Research suggests that it can be inherited through our genes. Most of the time when we feel anxiety we know whats causing it. However, there are some circumstances that are so upsetting and threatening that the anxiety they cause can go on long after the event. These are usually life threatening events like car crashes, or fires. These people involved can get anxious about the event for months or years. This is what we call post-traumatic stress disorder. Takeoffs Crashing Weather Turbulence Panic Attacks Trusting pilots Closed-in-spaces Flying over water Nausea Afraid of heights Being trapped Strange noises Once you recognized signs of anxiety, you then must learn to control your behavior. You could learn to control your behavior through fearful fliers programs, self-help courses, or other resources from books etc. Here are some sample suggestions below.
Anxieties About Flying
Some of the reasons people fear flying is because of one of two reasons. They fear their own emotion once on the airplane. For example, they may feel getting sick, vomiting, or panic. The other reason they fear flying is because they can't understand how flying could be safe.They don't understand the industry or aviation in general. Some of the reasons what people say they fear about flying consist of the following:
Accept your feelings> Don't deny you have a problem. Expect to feel nervous.
Handle your worries> You need to trust the airline industry. But, its realistic to still be worried. You need to actively choose to stop these worries. Use supportive statements like" Turbulence is not dangerous".
breath> There are many different relaxation techniques that involve breathing. try calm breaths, such as a deep breath in & slow exhale for 15 seconds.
Take Supportive Actions> Bring an mp3 player, DVD, a good book etc. Bring anything that will distract you. Reduce caffeine, and drink lots of water to avoid dehydration.
For some people who have a fear of flying it may take them lots of willpower to go to the airport. One way to ease that anxiety is a process called desensitization. What is desensitization? Basically it involves making a person nonreactive to an event such as flying. Desensitization requires that you recreate in your mind the environment that cause you to have a fear of flying. One way to recreate this is with virtual reality or a cheaper way is to just imagine that fearful environment. Our DVD course also talks about many methods to reduce anxiety.
Once you start to feel that fear then you use relaxation techniques to dissolve it. The ideal is to keep using these techniques until you eradicate your anxiety.
Your next step is to gain as much knowledge about aviation & flying as possible. This will help you stay in the loop about what goes on in the cockpit. Lets face it, some people suffer anxiety about flying because they feel like they have no control. Having more knowledge about flying will help you gain more confidence. One easy way to gain good knowledge about flying is with a Microsoft Flight Simulator Game. These games come with tutorial programs that teach flying lessons.
The final step in the process is to build up the courage to take an airline flight. Use the Support Network that we talk about on the DVD video & course. Meanwhile, review some interesting lifetime odds below:
Cause of Death Lifetime Odds
Heart Disease
1-in-5
Cancer
1-in-7
Stroke
1-in-23
Accidental Injury
1-in-36
Motor Vehicle Accident*
1-in-100
Intentional Self-harm (suicide)
1-in-121
Falling Down
1-in-246
Assault by Firearm
1-in-325
Fire or Smoke
1-in-1,116
Natural Forces (heat, cold, storms, quakes, etc.)
1-in-3,357
Electrocution*
1-in-5,000
Drowning
1-in-8,942
Air Travel Accident*
1-in-25,000,000
Flood* (included also in Natural Forces above)
1-in-30,000
Legal Execution
1-in-58,618
Tornado* (included also in Natural Forces above)
1-in-60,000
Lightning Strike (included also in Natural Forces above)
1-in-83,930
Snake, Bee or other Venomous Bite or Sting*
1-in-100,000
Earthquake (included also in Natural Forces above)
1-in-131,890