I need to fly overseas and visit my aunt who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and who was as much a mother to me as my own mother. I am so terrified to get into a plane that I fear I cannot go. Is there anything I can do? I dread those air pockets when the plane falls hundreds of feet! I mean, how can air keep thousands of pounds of metal in the air?
Estimates are that about 5% of individuals are terrified of getting into a plane and flying somewhere. Yes, there is a possibility of mechanical failures as with any type of machinery; the occasional bird is sucked into an engine; and there have been mid-air collisions and terrorists acts. They occur infrequently, fortunately. Fear is the emotion that alerts you to actual or potential danger. Unfortunately, the brain-body response to imagined fear is the same as to actual danger. For many, fear of flying is related primarily to imagined fears. Knowledge is power. When individuals learn there is no such phenomenon as “air pockets” (how could a vacuum of no air exist in the midst of air?) and understand more about how air keeps planes aloft, they can learn to manage their fear. The best explanation I’ve ever heard is one by Tom Bunn: an airline captain, licensed therapist, and president and founder of SOAR, Inc. I enjoyed “The Jello Exercise” video and learned a great deal. You might want to check this out.
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