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Same thing. I flew around the world dozens of times and my fear developed gradually over time. In the same way yours did, by experiencing some scary incidents.

Same thing. I flew around the world dozens of times and my fear developed gradually over time. In the same way yours did, by experiencing some scary incidents. I don't have a cure for myself so I obviously don't have one for you, but here are some ideas: 1. Look at how many flights work out well https://flightaware.com/live/ https://flightaware.com/live/ there's something like a million people in the air at any given time. It's extremely unlikely that your plane will be the unlucky one. Take a screenshot and keep it on your phone. 2. Think through how horrible a crash would be and then just accept that you might die like this. You're going to die eventually and this is far from the worst way you could go. Your family will probably get well compensated which is a plus. 3. Sit in the stable parts of the plane, which I believe is towards the front and over the wing. The tail flexes which makes for much worse turbulence. 4. Consider drugging yourself. I can't do it but lots of people pop an anti-anxiety pill. Your doctor will probably give you some if you tell them you can't fly. It may completely solve the problem by altering your brain chemistry. Not a good idea if you're at risk of developing an addiction. 5. Fly on the high quality airlines with big planes. They don't want to lose those $500 million planes so they generally staff them with good pilots and do proper maintenance. 6. Don't fly when the weather is bad, just because it might feel scarier. 7. Try to avoid flying at night, just because it might feel scarier. 8. Watch pilot videos on youtube to see how incredibly stable modern airplanes are. These machines are incredibly fault tolerant and capable of recovering from severe problems in many cases. They're not flimsy or weak. They're really badass.

bena 8y ago
That's fairly interesting that the fear developed over time. The conventional wisdom is that repeated exposure makes things familiar and in turn would lessen any fear you would have of the thing. I wonder if "developed fear" would be worth studying.
- lazerpants 8y ago
  As I mentioned in another comment, I find the lack of personal space to be the biggest anxiety provoking element of flying, which raises my baseline anxiety enough that I can become extremely anxious once you add the relatively small amount anxiety I experience from just flying. Under different circumstances, my anxiety is far lower and I don't cross the threshold into "anxious", for example, when I'm in business or first class, or I otherwise have plenty of room to myself. I wonder how widespread an increase in flight anxiety is as airlines add seats to planes and increasingly fly planes at max capacity.
btmiller 8y ago
> 1. Look at how many flights work out well https://flightaware.com/live/ https://flightaware.com/live/ there's something like a million people in the air at any given time. It's extremely unlikely that your plane will be the unlucky one. Take a screenshot and keep it on your phone. Can that work against a fearful mind though? Look at all of these planes flying safely! Statistically, in a strange way, the chances of a crash are only increasing in light of all of those safe flights I'm watching on Flight Aware.

bena 8y ago

That's fairly interesting that the fear developed over time. The conventional wisdom is that repeated exposure makes things familiar and in turn would lessen any fear you would have of the thing. I wonder if "developed fear" would be worth studying.

lazerpants 8y ago
As I mentioned in another comment, I find the lack of personal space to be the biggest anxiety provoking element of flying, which raises my baseline anxiety enough that I can become extremely anxious once you add the relatively small amount anxiety I experience from just flying. Under different circumstances, my anxiety is far lower and I don't cross the threshold into "anxious", for example, when I'm in business or first class, or I otherwise have plenty of room to myself. I wonder how widespread an increase in flight anxiety is as airlines add seats to planes and increasingly fly planes at max capacity.

btmiller 8y ago

> 1. Look at how many flights work out well https://flightaware.com/live/ https://flightaware.com/live/ there's something like a million people in the air at any given time. It's extremely unlikely that your plane will be the unlucky one. Take a screenshot and keep it on your phone. Can that work against a fearful mind though? Look at all of these planes flying safely! Statistically, in a strange way, the chances of a crash are only increasing in light of all of those safe flights I'm watching on Flight Aware.