Ask HN: How to overcome fear of flying?

Yep. I loved to listen to that communication even as a non-pilot... all the way from the ground where sometimes I could hear the discussions about trying to leave the gate (or getting a gate on arrival if we were late) and all the way in between. I use to go out of my way to fly United just because of that feature.

Probably the cheapest value add the airline had, even for the relatively few that probably cared. Oh well....

Some of the people I envy the most never fly anywhere! The ferryman down river has an idyllic existence, his one outing beyond the nearest town is to a boat show although he has been known to nip across the English Channel on his other boat to stock up on booze. He has the most wonderful family and pretty much everyone in the locality knows and loves him. He does drive so not all of his life is at single digit speed, however, after a chat with him or his son you do have to wonder why be so busy on these new fangled modes of transport?

Maybe embrace your lack of enthusiasm to fly, it really is not mandatory or even necessary for a happy life. Develop your own perspective on the world and avoid wasting your life sat in airports being frisked by people in uniforms. Take trains, ride a bicycle and question whether you really need to find out about the rest of the world from 30000 feet. Perhaps let the world come to you instead, rather than go on holiday to India spend some time with the Indian folk you work with or live nearby to. Same for every other country, see this approach as better, more cost effective, financially and in time.

There are no pearly gates however, if you just don't fly because that is nothing to do with how you live your life then you need not feel guilt and shame for being complicit in destroying people's right to peace and quiet, not to mention the environment.

Flying isn't what it was, there is no romance in it, it is not special. In the days of Concorde, Trident and when the 747 was new flying wasn't for everyone, you had to be someone to be doing it. You could smoke at your seat then and buy huge bulk packets of cigarettes 'duty free' right there, on the plane. Better? Not necessarily. More exciting? Definitely.

There really is nothing 'time saving' about flying. You can live life to the full without spending a week or two of your year being processed by planes, getting to airports and putting up with delays. Plus there is the time required to pay for all those days flying and the taxi trips. Then if you are not working whilst being processed by Big Aviation then you are not earning. Give the whole lot up and if you do the maths then it is more like a month rather than a few days that you get back per year, time to enjoy living rather than being jet-lagged/flying. Plus those are guilt free happy times - you aren't trashing the skies - and you will be pleased you had this fear of flying thing. Obviously only chuckle to yourself at the antics of those ordinary people doing there ever so busy but tediously dreary flying stuff as they will never give up the Kool Aid.

The plane didn't leave the ground - the engine blew up as we were accelerating for takeoff. That's now something I now find reassuring: takeoff seems to be a time of maximum stress on the engines - if they're going to break (or explode), hopefully it will be before the plane leaves the ground!

This was 20+ years ago now, but I remember being awed by the performance of the pilots and flight attendants. The plane braked hard right after the explosion, so the pilots clearly noticed it and took immediate action, even though I heard later that people in first class were so far away they didn't initially know why takeoff was aborted. In the moments that followed, one pilot was giving first aid and I saw him run down the aisle - blood on his hands and shirt - to get more help and medical supplies. Yet he was calm and professional throughout.

Some people yelled to "stay calm" or "don't panic", and people listened. Announcements were clear when there was no further danger and how we were to exit.

We were kind of dumped in the terminal at the end of it all, though. I remember an announcement that there were no additional flights that day, so we couldn't get rescheduled until tomorrow. Seriously? There were ambulances, news vans, and Red Cross vans at the terminal almost immediately. The airport was clearly completely closed down - I don't know for how long. And no baggage claim, of course: it took about a week to get our luggage back.

In the weeks that followed, the FAA sent a questionnaire that was extremely detailed. They wanted essays about every aspect of the flight and it took a long time to complete.

A couple of years later, I was on a cruise and met a young pilot who'd just got his first job with an airline. I mentioned this experience, and he said, "No kidding! We totally studied that accident in school!" I find that very reassuring... aviation seems to learn from mistakes and experience better than any industry I've worked in.

soar helped me a lot. the whole thing with the "strengthening exercise" is pretty hokey and just totally ignorable IMO, but the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise single-handedly solved my problems with turbulence. i do it whenever the plane shakes and it damn near puts me to sleep every time; and over time i find that i don't need to do it as often, because i've gradually become calm by default in turbulence. which is great!

it's totally a night-and-day difference, i used to be terrified of planes and now they're just a mild irritant.