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How I lost my fear of flying (2011)

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Re: How I lost my fear of flying (2011)

#21

Post by mpalczewski »

gmanis wrote: post #12

This is my greatest fear and has lead my life into a completely different direction. From a promising young CS graduate working in tech in US to someone who’s had to leave many opportunities to family members unable to travel with me, it is very debilitating. I have tried exposure therapy, learnt a lot about flying, used sim games, and no amount of statistics has helped so far. Maybe the fear stems from underlying un…

I tried a bunch of that too. I even had jumped out of an airplane, and I took flying lessons and still panic attack every time I flew. Though flying lessons did help, skydiving was awesome but terrifying and didn’t help at all.

What finally helped me, was Allen Carr easy way to enjoy flying and the happiness trap. Not sure which book did it but I’m flying now with what I would call a normal level of anxiety most of the time.

Re: How I lost my fear of flying (2011)

#22

Post by gmanis »

mpalczewski wrote: post #21
gmanis wrote: post #12

This is my greatest fear and has lead my life into a completely different direction. From a promising young CS graduate working in tech in US to someone who’s had to leave many opportunities to family members unable to travel with me, it is very debilitating. I have tried exposure therapy, learnt a lot about flying, used sim games, and no amount of statistics has helped so far. Maybe the fear stems from underlying un…

I tried a bunch of that too. I even had jumped out of an airplane, and I took flying lessons and still panic attack every time I flew. Though flying lessons did help, skydiving was awesome but terrifying and didn’t help at all. What finally helped me, was Allen Carr easy way to enjoy flying and the happiness trap. Not sure which book did it but I’m flying now with what I would call a normal level of anxiety most of t…

Thank you for sharing your experience. I would definitely take a look at Allen Carr.

Re: How I lost my fear of flying (2011)

#23

Post by dahart »

Dang, I thought there might be good advice here, but I’ve tried reading good books and that doesn’t work for me. Xanax does work, but I’d much rather cure my anxiety than suppress it with drugs. I’ve heard flight simulators and/or earning a pilot’s license can do the trick, can anyone confirm?

It’s not a rational fear or a safety concern, I’m comfortable getting on a plane. I’ve been on thousands of flights. I used to skydive. I’m well aware of the tolerance the plane has for turbulence. Yet, whenever we hit turbulence my blood boils. I don’t know how to stop it.

I’ve been happy to not fly during the pandemic, and happy about the growing awareness of the environmental impact. Together maybe they mean I won’t need to fly, but just in case, I still want to conquer this irrational reaction.

Re: How I lost my fear of flying (2011)

#24

Post by leetrout »

dahart wrote: post #23

Dang, I thought there might be good advice here, but I’ve tried reading good books and that doesn’t work for me. Xanax does work, but I’d much rather cure my anxiety than suppress it with drugs. I’ve heard flight simulators and/or earning a pilot’s license can do the trick, can anyone confirm? It’s not a rational fear or a safety concern, I’m comfortable getting on a plane. I’ve been on thousands of flights. I used t…

For me working on my pilots license and meeting more commercial pilots made it worse.

It exacerbated my control issues and seeing how complacent commercial pilots get because it is so routine for them adds to my nerves.

I am very comfortable with the survivability of mechanical issues. Not so much with the human factor and egos.

Re: How I lost my fear of flying (2011)

#25

Post by ycombinete »

dahart wrote: post #23

Dang, I thought there might be good advice here, but I’ve tried reading good books and that doesn’t work for me. Xanax does work, but I’d much rather cure my anxiety than suppress it with drugs. I’ve heard flight simulators and/or earning a pilot’s license can do the trick, can anyone confirm? It’s not a rational fear or a safety concern, I’m comfortable getting on a plane. I’ve been on thousands of flights. I used t…

I get more afraid of flying with each flight. It’s bizarre. I was totally fine flying, then slowly, with each flight it got worse.

I wouldn’t say I’m a “nervous flyer”, but on takeoff I feel afraid. And then occasionally during the flight I kind realise how absurd the situation I’m in is and it really freaks me out.

Re: How I lost my fear of flying (2011)

#26

Post by dahart »

sokoloff wrote: post #11
apples_oranges wrote: post #6

I went from fear of flying to now planning to get my pilots license. I believe I am naturally a person which sees many aspects of a thing and many possibilities, take that and my (probably basic) understanding of airplanes, computer systems and people, I always could immediately construct series of events in my mind that led to catastrophy. What if the pilot is depressed because his wife just died? What if the coffee…

I’m a pilot and have strong fear of heights. (It’s hard for me to change the outside floodlight bulb that is maybe 10 feet off the ground.) Fear of heights literally never presented in training or subsequent flying. The pathway is different, at least for me, but I’ve known many other pilots who are afraid of heights as well so it seems semi-common.

Skydiving is something I thought would help me get over fear of heights, among other fears. It didn’t work- the height at altitude is abstract, it wasn’t hard to jump out of the plane and let go, I guess because the landing wasn’t imminent.

The first time I jumped was out of a Cessna and the procedure was to hang from the strut and let go. I was so worried I wouldn’t be able to let go that I asked the pilot for 30 extra seconds on the jump approach so I could just hang there and get used to the idea. He obliged, but I only lasted a couple of seconds before I thought no biggie and took off. I dropped so early I didn’t quite make it back to the drop zone and had to walk for a while.

A couple hundred skydives later, too many flights to count, and some occasional cliff jumps and bike dirt jumps, I’m still to this day terrified about climbing down ten feet from my roof on a ladder. But I no longer feel like I need to overcome it, and in a weird way I’m glad it’s still a “thrill” to stand on the edge of something tall.

Re: How I lost my fear of flying (2011)

#29

Post by phlalexsh »

dahart wrote: post #26
sokoloff wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a pilot and have strong fear of heights. (It’s hard for me to change the outside floodlight bulb that is maybe 10 feet off the ground.) Fear of heights literally never presented in training or subsequent flying. The pathway is different, at least for me, but I’ve known many other pilots who are afraid of heights as well so it seems semi-common.

Skydiving is something I thought would help me get over fear of heights, among other fears. It didn’t work- the height at altitude is abstract, it wasn’t hard to jump out of the plane and let go, I guess because the landing wasn’t imminent. The first time I jumped was out of a Cessna and the procedure was to hang from the strut and let go. I was so worried I wouldn’t be able to let go that I asked the pilot for 30 ex…

That last sentence is inspiring.

Re: How I lost my fear of flying (2011)

#30

Post by nzmsv »

gmanis wrote: post #12

This is my greatest fear and has lead my life into a completely different direction. From a promising young CS graduate working in tech in US to someone who’s had to leave many opportunities to family members unable to travel with me, it is very debilitating. I have tried exposure therapy, learnt a lot about flying, used sim games, and no amount of statistics has helped so far. Maybe the fear stems from underlying un…

Try reading "Panic Free" by Tom Bunn. It approaches the fear of flying from a psychological perspective, has concrete cookbook style suggestions, and definitely appealed to the engineer in me.
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