Flying without fear: how to overcome the fear of flying on an airplane? How we conquered the fear of flying on airplanes once and for all

Every minute, at every airport on the planet, an airplane with passengers on board takes off. 70% of people sitting in the cabin experience fear of flying, which is quite natural. But not everyone is able to cope with their phobia. To understand how not to be afraid of flying on an airplane, you need to understand the reasons for this fear.

Causes of fear

Fear of flying on an airplane is a natural symptom characteristic of any person. Some people know how to drown it out and ignore it, while others, “making a mountain out of a molehill,” turn everything into a phobia. This happens for many reasons, and the roots of the problem lie in the subconscious.

Reflexive fear is transmitted to people with a gene code from ancestors who were frightened by the first “iron birds”. For this reason, a person involuntarily shrinks when an airplane flies nearby;
When an airliner takes off into the sky, the human body intuitively reacts with alertness - it has been torn out of its familiar environment. Those who are psychologically susceptible to phobias begin to get nervous and sometimes seriously panic, not always realizing the cause of their fear;
Some people are afraid to fly on a plane consciously, having watched enough thrillers about plane crashes, although the real news is not full of daily reports about plane crashes. Such alarmists prepare themselves ahead of time for the tragedy of the situation;
Usually people are afraid of flights carried out for the first time - here the fear of the unknown is frightening. There is also a category of people for whom the first flight was unsuccessful due to poor health on board. Mistaking severe motion sickness for danger, the subconscious imposed a taboo on this method of movement, and psychological perception turned it into a phobia.

Note! Whatever the reason for fear when flying, you need to figure out how much of it is a phobia (or just an uncomfortable feeling of an unusual environment).

Symptoms

Aerophobia is not the only type of fear that people suffer from. There are those who are afraid of heights and confined spaces, as well as unfamiliar company. It is these fears that can cause a panic attack. To understand how aerophobic you are, you should try on the following symptoms of the problem described:

You begin to feel fear of flying on an airplane long before the trip, and are unable to control your internal panic;
Before you board the plane, you take a sedative dose of alcohol, sedatives or antidepressants;
When an airliner takes off and lands, you unconsciously squeeze into the passenger seat, your palms sweat, and your fingers frantically dig into the armrests;
During the flight, your entire consciousness is focused on monitoring the sounds of the engines. If the view of the window allows, you do not take your eyes off the running engines;
If the plane gets into a zone of turbulence, the situation puts you in shock, and you mentally say goodbye to life;
Every action of the flight attendant makes you suspicious, and you try to understand what she is hiding behind her smile.

Note! If you have even half of these signs, you are an aerophobe, for whom flying becomes a real punishment.

How to smooth the situation

When a person submits to his fears, it develops into a serious illness. If traveling by plane is not perceived as a natural event, it can be made more relaxed. To do this, you just need to distract yourself from your phobia by switching to something else.

Knowing about the upcoming flight, you can prepare for it in advance. You shouldn’t study reports about plane crashes that have already occurred; it’s better to look at the statistics of accidents occurring on Earth. Many more people die in DPT than in the air;
To prepare yourself psychologically for the flight, it is advisable to check in in advance and ask for a seat away from the windows. While the plane is loading, you calmly settle into your seat. You shouldn’t ask for space in the tail zone either – turbulence is most noticeable there;
Before a flight, it is not recommended to calm yourself down with alcohol or serious drugs - they can provoke an inadequate reaction. Coffee, which has a stimulating effect on the psyche, will not help either. It is better to always have motion sickness pills and fruit lozenges with you;
In order not to succumb to the phobia, you need to distract yourself, so you should take an interesting book or magazine with crossword puzzles on the road, download a movie with an exciting plot to your laptop or tablet, or occupy yourself with an exciting game;
Listen to pleasant, soothing music coming from your headphones, it will help drown out the sounds of the engines. You can download a relaxation music library to your player especially for the flight;
Chat with your seatmates. Talking is a good way to take your mind off your fears. Even if the same aerophobe as you is sitting next to you, mutual communication will help you cope with the problem;
If you don’t want to have small talk or distract yourself from bad thoughts with idle activities, you can just sleep. To do this, just take an inflatable pillow and a blanket (as well as earplugs and a blindfold) into the cabin. If you forgot about this option, some airlines may offer you bedding;
You don’t even have to sleep - you can just lie with your eyes closed and remember the pleasant moments of your life, think about an upcoming meeting, remember loved ones or make plans for the coming year.

Additional Information! Have you taken all the measures, but the state of panic does not go away? Then do some breathing exercises. The exercises are done like this: first, inhale deeply through your mouth, hold it in your lungs for 5 seconds, then exhale for another 4 seconds. don't breathe. Repeat the steps several times: this will help you calm down very quickly.

Professional help

If fears of flying have been present for a long time, and traveling by plane is a frequent forced reality, you cannot do without the help of a specialist. It is worth paying serious attention to your psycho-emotional state, devoting enough time to it.

Find an experienced psychologist who will help you figure out why you are afraid of flying and teach you how to deal with your phobia correctly. You can’t get rid of this with just a conversation - you’ll have to undergo a course of psychotherapy before you begin to perceive flying more naturally and stop being afraid of flying;
Part of the treatment is the use of flight stimulators, which allow you to become accustomed to flying using virtual simulators. This point is good because in grounded conditions, in a specially equipped room, a feeling of the reality of flight is created;
The doctor will help you choose medications for the upcoming trip. Here you need to take into account that the proposed pills are not a solution to the problem, but only part of the therapy, and they do not relieve the phobia on their own.

Medicines prescribed by a doctor for a flight can be divided into 2 types: cumulative and rapid-acting. The first group includes those that are accepted in several stages - immediately before departure, and then every half hour or hour. The second group of drugs has a sufficient concentration of sedative so that 1 tablet is enough for several hours of exposure.

Treatment is carried out with sedative and anti-anxiety medications that inhibit nerve impulses and relieve muscle spasms and cramps.

Important! The doctor himself decides which drug to treat an aerophobe, based on the individual characteristics of the patient, his state of mind, the causes of fear, and the severity of the problem.

You should not constantly resort to these means, since most of them can become addictive. This method of treating aerophobia should be short-term and applied to those who do not travel by plane very often.

The person himself can prepare for a future flight in advance. About 3 weeks before your upcoming trip, you can start taking glycine or valerian extract daily in the doses indicated in the instructions. This will help reduce nervous tension and avoid stressful situations.

Laws of physics

Some people are terrified of flying precisely because they are cut off from the Earth. Not everyone understands the principle of aerodynamics, so they don’t fully understand how such a heavy metal colossus with a bunch of passengers on board and a large amount of luggage can stay in the air for several hours.

If you are flying for the first time, to calm your imagination and stop being afraid, it is worth familiarizing yourself with some design features of aircraft:

Airliners are equipped with powerful engines that can not only lift a plane into the air, but also hold it for a long time among the clouds;
There is no need to be afraid that the engines will break down: the plane has at least 2 of them. If 1 motor fails for some reason, the 2nd one will take over its function. Even if both engines fail at once, the plane will be able to land carefully, like a glider;
The wings, which are quite firmly attached to the body, help the airplane stay and glide in the air. The chance that they will fall off in flight is reduced to zero;
All systems equipped with airliners have duplicate programs. As soon as a failure occurs, the backup system immediately comes into operation (and there are at least 4 of them in passenger aircraft);
You don’t have to worry about the risk of getting into a plane crash due to the pilot’s poor health - the planes have a reliable piloting system that allows you to carefully land the car according to the program built into it;
The flight of each aircraft is controlled from the ground by air traffic control services, with which the pilots are in constant contact. Pilots will be immediately notified of all unusual situations and changes in weather conditions;
The turbulence zone, which not every plane encounters, should not be scary. The aerodynamic parameters of the design are calculated taking this into account natural phenomenon, so that the aircraft has a sufficient margin of safety to withstand such shocks;
There are professionals on board who do not consider themselves kamikazes. They calmly carry out their duties, as they are confident in the reliability of the “steel bird”.

Additional Information! For an extraordinary situation to occur, fate will have to try, because each plane is carefully checked by technical services before departure. They use special diagnostic devices, so that faulty equipment will not be allowed even on runway. Customs inspection at the terminals has been strengthened, which prevents dangerous baggage from getting on board.

Don’t be shy to admit to others: “I’m afraid to fly on an airplane.” Among your friends there will be people who have already flown several times. They know what to do to overcome their fear. Take their advice to heart.

You will also be impressed by the reviews of third-party people who have learned to subdue their fears:

Dmitriy:“I used to be afraid of flying on an airplane, although I could not understand the reasons for this. On one of my business trips I fell in love with beautiful girl. Now I fly to her on a date every Friday. During the flight, I only think about the upcoming meeting, making plans for how we will spend our time. Now, while I’m on board, I’ve never had a feeling of anxiety or panic”;
Olga:“I am constantly overcome by some kind of fear. I am not comfortable in enclosed spaces, I am terrified of getting into a plane crash. Because of this I lost a lot profitable job– in our business, even minutes matter. Airplanes allow you to quickly solve problems - the most the best option mobility. I used the car exclusively, losing time and clients. As a result, I had to see a psychotherapist and undergo special training. Even now, I am periodically driven by unconscious emotions, but I try to control them. Realizing that phobias are a game of my subconscious, I took the risk of using the airline’s services and have already managed to make 2 flights.”

If the phobia is not treated

When it is impossible to avoid flying, and you are terrified of it, problems not only of a psychological nature begin. If you do not learn to cope with fears, the phobia completely absorbs the person, turning him into a gloomy neurasthenic.

Before an upcoming flight, a person begins to be overcome by panicky thoughts, as a result he is tormented by nightmares, or he cannot sleep at all;
Becoming irritable and sleep-deprived, the aerophobe lashes out at people close to him, causing family relationships to deteriorate;
Those who hide their fears find it even more difficult to endure flying. A phobia driven deep into oneself leads to the development of heart disease, hypertension, and heart attacks;
If the need to fly is related to professional activities, every attempt to delay the flight or replace it with another type of movement affects career growth. Psychological shocks on this occasion make the aerophobe a patient in the neurological department;
The fear of using airline services impoverishes your vacation - not every resort can be reached quickly and easily by rail(and even more so a car).

Important! Any type of phobia will progress quickly if you subordinate your psyche to it and refuse the help of professionals.

Hoping that he can cope on his own, a person resorts to using powerful psychotropic drugs or alcohol. The more often the need to fly arises, the faster the bad habit develops. Such doping does not make the situation easier, but makes it even worse.

Alcohol in conditions of low pressure and dry air in the aircraft cabin can cause lightheadedness (sometimes with vomiting). The body is in a suspended state, and even a small amount of alcohol at an altitude of several thousand meters from the Earth can cause severe intoxication, which results in loss of strength. This immediately worsens a drunk person’s mood, and panic sets in with even greater force.

Video

If you realize that you are subject to a phobia, you should not be embarrassed or hide it. Each person has his own complexes and fears, which are better to get rid of, rather than drive them inside himself. Aerophobia can be overcome if you carefully study your fear, delve into design features aircraft engineering and understand the principles of aerodynamics.

Thousands of people use airline services every day, making multiple flights throughout the year, and continue to live, love, and work in peace. They learned from their own experience that the risk of being a victim of a plane crash is microscopically small. This should be a powerful argument for you. So should you be afraid of airplanes?

Even the most fearless person experiences discomfort from time to time when he sees the plane on which he is about to fly. And a particularly strong attack of aerophobia is observed when you take that cherished step up the ladder, which separates you from the ground and hands you into the hands of changeable fortune.

“What if the plane crashes?” - everyone without exception asks themselves. However, this question remains for many people just another philosophical problem, but for some people the answer to it becomes the cause of a panicky fear of flying, which they cannot drown out. Such fear can seriously ruin life, because air travel, which often lasts several hours, is an integral part of the lives of many people.

Air travel means business trips, visits to distant countries, and visits to relatives. How can you overcome aerophobia and finally allow yourself to live fully?

Do you have aerophobia, mild anxiety, or something else?

First you need to figure out whether you have aerophobia or not. Almost all people experience some discomfort and anxiety during flights, but all these unpleasant emotions cannot yet be called fear of flying. True fear of flying forces a person to avoid flying, and if a flight is unavoidable, then during it the unfortunate person’s nerves will be on edge.

Also, very often, people confuse aerophobia with other “phobias”, for example, claustrophobia, acrophobia (fear of heights), fear of the unknown and the inability to influence an event. In practice, there are mixtures of such fears and one article will not do it.

The most severe cases of aerophobia and other “phobias” can be treated by a psychologist, fortunately in Russia there are specialists working in this field. Pilots, flight attendants and other personnel for whom daily flights have become a part of life are often invited to lectures, while psychologists teach their students to control fear.

If the fear of flying is not too strong, you can cope with it on your own. But! First, let's talk about what methods you should not resort to.

What not to do if you are afraid of flying

Firstly, you should not use alcohol as a sedative. This can only exacerbate anxiety, and coupled with dry air and low pressure on board, even more so. On high altitude the effect of alcohol increases and even small portions can lead to intoxication, loss of strength and mood and quickly cause a hangover.

Secondly, there is no need to study information about the aircraft in too much detail, or scour the Internet for information about accidents involving this aircraft model, no matter how much you would like to do so.

When taking a step on the ramp, remember that the airplane is one of the safest vehicles today. How often do you hear about plane crashes?

Yes, this sometimes happens, once or twice a year, and if you consider how many flights are carried out around the world every day, it turns out that accidents with planes are very, very rare.

Imagine this: every second there are from 4,000 to 10,000 aircraft in the air! There are tens of thousands of flights every day. More than 5 billion people fly on airplanes every year, that is, figuratively, the entire population of the Earth. The total number of victims of plane crashes is 300-400 people. ALONE does not return from a flight! out of 12 million people. That is, in Moscow, relatively speaking, one person dies per year!

But the capital loses about 30 thousand people annually in various road accidents, i.e. 30,000 times more. It's much more dangerous to take a bus; you're not afraid of buses, right? If a passenger boarded a random flight every day, it would take him 21,000 years to get into an accident.

A visual map of daily flights around the world

A little physics and common stereotypes

While studying the issue of aerophobia, we came to the conclusion that about 65% of people who suffer from this ailment (and this is a disease) are afraid of turbulence, the twitching of an airplane in the air, and generally believe that this joke can easily fall from a height of 10 km, failing into the "air pocket". We are preparing an article especially for such passengers - “Turbulence and the elementary laws of physics.”

Another popular opinion is that airlines, especially Russian ones, fly in shambles, and that pilots and flight attendants are a mixture of kamikaze suicide bombers and alcoholics. It probably came from the 90s and early 00s.

This is wrong. All Russian airlines, carrying out regular Passenger Transportation, have international quality and safety certificates: IATA, ICAO and IOSA. This means that service and maintenance, as well as condition aircraft and qualifications of flight crews meet international standards.

Take a break!

“Yes, but that doesn’t console me. After all, I'm so unlucky. I won’t be surprised that the plane I’m on will crash,” this is how, despite all the statistics, many passengers “comfort” themselves.

If, despite all logical arguments, such thoughts creep in, then all that remains is to resort to relaxation methods. For example, you can listen to music or sounds of nature, read a book.

In general, somehow distract yourself from what is happening. As practice shows, many people are calmed by delicious food and drinks, so bring some chocolate with you. But it’s better not to drink coffee on the plane, because caffeine can further inflame your already excited nervous system. Instead of coffee, it is better to take a herbal sedative tablet with some water.

All the above methods do not help you? Then close your eyes, focus on your breathing and imagine the purpose of your trip. Is this a wonderful country you want to visit? You are already on the way to realizing your dreams! Will this trip help you advance your career? Then now, sitting on the plane, you are taking a decisive step towards future well-being.

The plane is the most safe transport on the ground!

And finally, a few more facts about airplanes:

The plane stays in the air as confidently as any car on the road, and the ship at sea.
On an airplane, absolutely all systems are duplicated, and some even have 2-3 spare duplicates.
Often on a plane 4 brake systems, 3 landing gear systems, 3 fuel systems, 3 fire protection systems, 3 control systems, etc.
U passenger plane, least, two engines. Failure of all engines at once is negligible. For example, on average, a single engine failure occurs every 2 million flight hours, which is 228 years of continuous operation!
According to existing requirements for aircraft passenger aviation, the aircraft, if one of the engines fails, must retain the ability to fly without descending (at normal flight weight and in normal weather conditions) and safely make a normal landing.

For example, on the popular Boeing 737, the scheduled time for an emergency flight on one engine is 2 hours.
The engine is one of the most expensive parts of an aircraft. His price about 10 million dollars, so they are very carefully monitored and looked after.
Each plane crash has its own cause, and often not just one, but a combination of circumstances. Each such case is carefully studied and measures are taken to ensure that it does not happen again.
Every year, total passenger traffic increases by 10%, and the number of accidents decreases by 15%

Considering all this and statistical data, we boldly say that an airplane is the safest means of transportation on Earth!

Air travel has firmly and reliably entered the lives of modern people and plays a key role when it comes to the speed of movement from one place (city, country) to another. But sometimes the most fearless and experienced people, who have flown on airplanes more than once, experience subconscious, inexplicable fear from just the sight of the aircraft on which they are about to fly. Aerophobia is most acutely observed in those moments when a person climbs a ladder, which transfers him into the arms of a metal monster plowing the endless expanses of air.

Of course, everyone, without exception, who has ever flown on a plane, has asked the question “what if the plane crashes”? Naturally, this rhetorical question, or rather an assumption, remains for many passengers the subject of short-term thoughts and memories of famous science fiction films about disasters with a happy ending, and for some - the reason for ongoing panic fear of flying. This fear significantly spoils the lives of people whose lives involve frequent or periodic air travel.

Business trip, going on vacation to warm countries, visiting distant relatives - these and other reasons can be a reason for an air flight that lasts several hours, and with the help of which a lot of time is saved. But how can you overcome aerophobia and get rid of this depressing feeling?

Really aerophobia or minor anxiety?

First you need to determine whether you have aerophobia at all. Every person during the flight experiences some feelings of discomfort and anxiety, but if he can control these negative emotions and does not allow them to take over him entirely, then they cannot be classified as aerophobia.

True fear does not give a person a single chance for self-control, that is, it completely absorbs him when a person is faced with the need to travel by air. Then this fear controls the person, forcing him to avoid flying in any way. If traveling by air cannot be avoided in any way, then the nervous tension of such a person during the flight reaches its limit.

In especially severe cases, it is better to seek help from psychologists who specialize in problems of this kind. There are already specialists in Russia who can provide such services. Therapy sessions are often attended by pilots, flight attendants and other workers whose lives are directly related to daily flights. Psychologists, with the participation of airline representatives, teach those with aerophobia to control their fear.

You can cope with fear on your own if it does not reach the level of panic in you. But! First, let's learn about methods that should not be used.

What actions should you avoid if you are afraid of flying?

Some try to drown out their panic by drinking alcohol. This should under no circumstances be done, as it is fraught with a number of negative consequences.

You should also not scrupulously, down to the smallest detail, study information about the airliner and search the Internet for stories about disasters involving this model, even if you really want to.

At the end of the day, you need to know when you climb up the steps that an airplane is the safest form of transport on the planet. And these are not empty words. This fact impartial statistics demonstrate, and as we all know, they are stubborn things. That's why reports of plane crashes are very rare, and that's why they attract everyone's attention.

When you compare the number of daily flights and passengers with the number of plane crashes and deaths, you will see for yourself that plane crashes are very rare.

Over the course of a year, more than 5 billion people manage to use the services of companies, of which 400-500 die. That is, only one out of 10 million passengers sets off on their last journey. It’s like, for example, in Moscow 1 person dies a year. But in the capital’s car accidents, 30 thousand people lose their lives every year! It turns out that in order to become a direct participant in a plane crash, you need to board a random flight every day for 21 thousand years. Who has that much time?

“It didn’t reassure me. It’s the plane that I’m flying on that will crash, because I’m the unluckiest person in the world,” this is how many passengers “cope with their fears,” despite the statistics.

Daily flight map

Common Stereotypes

In the process of studying aerophobia, we concluded that 65% of people suffering from this disease experience fear when shaking the plane in the air, turbulence, and believe that the ship can crash from a height of 10 km, falling into an “air hole.” To refute this hypothesis, we will soon write an article - “Elementary laws of physics and turbulence.”

Also, according to a public survey, it is believed that Russian airlines operate very old planes, and the pilots and flight attendants are complete alcoholics. This is wrong!

All airlines in Russia operating domestic and international flights, have certificates of conformity: ICAO, IOSA and IATA. Which confirm qualified service and maintenance of aircraft. And also, highly qualified crews that meet international standards.

And don't worry if the plane you're flying on is 10, 15 or 20 years old. IN largest airline of the Delta Air Lines world, half of the airliner fleet is over 20 years old. In Russia there are practically no airplanes over 25 years old. However, ships that are 25 years old or more are quite normal; the service life of aircraft is very long.

Switch your attention!

If logical arguments do not help, and such thoughts bombard your mind, only relaxation methods remain. You can listen to soothing music or sounds of nature, read a magazine or book, in short, somehow take your mind off what is happening.

Years of flying experience show that many people can be calmed by delicious food and drink, so bring something suitable. Drinks containing caffeine and other nervous system stimulants should not be drunk, as this will agitate an already tense nervous system. Therefore, it is better to take a herbal sedative tablet and drink it with water.

If none of the methods helped you, then you need to close your eyes, breathe slowly and focus only on the positive aspects that this trip will bring. Is this a picturesque country you're heading to? Then you are one step away from realizing your dream! Are you looking forward to a promotion after your trip? Right now you are rapidly approaching your well-being.

The plane is the most safe way movement on the planet!

A few final facts about the “iron birds”:

All systems have spare versions, and some have 2-4 duplicates. They often have 4 brake systems, 3 fuel systems, 3 fire protection systems, 3 control systems, and 3 landing gear systems.
Minimum two engines, the simultaneous failure of which is negligible. Engine failure occurs approximately once every 2 million flight hours, which is 228 years of continuous operation. If one of the engines fails, the aircraft is able to fly without descending (without overload and in standard weather conditions) and land safely. For example, a Boeing 737 can fly for 2 hours in emergency mode.

According to modern world standards for passenger aircraft, if one of the engines fails, the ship must maintain the ability to fly without loss of altitude (under standard weather conditions) and land safely.

For example, on Boeing airliner 737, the planned emergency flight time (on 1 engine) is 2 hours.

Before each flight, all aircraft undergo technical inspection by a whole team of professional specialists.
Plane crashes usually happen not for one reason, but due to a combination of many circumstances, which are carefully studied and effective measures are taken to prevent them from happening again.
Every year, passenger traffic increases by 10%, and accidents decrease by 15%.

All this confirms that on planet Earth the safest vehicle- this is a plane!

According to available statistics, the fear of flying on airplanes is inherent in more than half of all air passengers. Of course, such fear manifests itself in varying degrees, but the very fact that every second passenger experiences fears about flying made me start searching for information on how to overcome aerophobia - the fear of flying on airplanes - and get pleasure from it, not stress. I’ll note right away that I myself am not afraid of flying, but I still feel a slight nervousness during every takeoff and every landing, although the tips below really help get rid of most phobias.

As a rule, the fear of flying arises and increases immediately after a person learns about a plane crash from a news report or by reading about what happened on the Internet. And despite the fact that airplanes are the fastest and convenient transport to overcome medium and long distances, people begin to think that it might be better to go by train or even abandon a previously planned trip, because air transport is the main way to deliver tourists to popular resorts. Below are the basic recommendations that will help you get rid of most phobias about airplanes and allow you to relax during the flight without thinking about bad things. After all, it’s always pleasant, but the air flight itself should also be a pleasure.

Remember the flight statistics

One of the most effective ways to get rid of the fear of flying on airplanes. You can have different attitudes to statistics, but in this case it is very eloquent and indicates that airplanes have remained the most in a safe way transport. Just think about the numbers: every day the number of air passengers exceeds 3 million people, and this number is constantly growing. But the probability of getting into a plane crash is estimated as one chance in 500,000. If we compare it with road transport, which everyone actively uses and does not particularly think about the dangers, then the probability of dying in a car accident is 30 times higher than when flying.

Trust the professionals

Again, a comparison with vehicles. Remember, are you afraid to drive a car when another person is driving? I think not really, unless it’s a person who received it a couple of days ago and is starting to get dangerously reckless. But in most cases, the cars are driven by amateurs, not professionals. So why is there a fear of flying on airplanes if you are at the controls? passenger airliners Are there always experienced professionals who have undergone many years of theoretical and practical training, which allows them to be prepared for various kinds of accidents and unforeseen circumstances? In addition, modern airliners are equipped with intelligent electronic systems, which in some way control the actions of pilots and minimize the possibility of “human factor”.

Talk to your neighbors on the plane

If there is a fear of flying on airplanes, it is worth admitting it. Share your fears with people close to you who are flying with you, or just with your seat neighbors on the plane. All psychologists claim that “letting out” fear will allow you to feel much freer and give you confidence in the successful outcome of the flight. In addition, people around you may give you some useful tips about how to more effectively get rid of the fear of flying. And perhaps you will feel a little calmer if you find out that other passengers also have some fear.

Learn how an airplane works

Often the fear of flying on airplanes arises when a person first finds himself next to this type of transport or takes a seat in a passenger airliner and notices how huge it is. At this moment the thought may arise: “How will this multi-ton metal giant rise into the air and fly?” I advise you to read on the Internet or talk to a person who can clearly explain to you the principles of aerodynamics, tell you in an accessible language about how the mechanism for lifting an airplane into the air is carried out, how the wings hold the airplane during flight, etc. It is possible that knowing these details will significantly reduce your fears.

Air pockets and areas of turbulence are common

Take it for granted that a possible hit air pockets and turbulence zones during flight are not considered something out of the ordinary. You don't panic when the car shakes on uneven roads or the vehicle sways slightly when overcoming an obstacle. There is also no need to worry about this in advance, because it is quite possible that during the flight you will not encounter any of these phenomena.

Choose your seats on the plane in advance

Don’t forget that today you can choose in advance the seat on the plane where the flight will be most comfortable for you. For example, if you are afraid of motion sickness, then choose seats in the front part of the aircraft cabin, and if your fear of flying on airplanes is complemented by your fear of heights, do not take a seat near the window. You can read more about the advantages and disadvantages of certain seats in the airliner cabin on the page.

Arrive at the airport on time

To the best of your ability, arrive at the airport in time for passenger check-in for your flight. The time allocated for this process depends on the specific airport (its size, number of flights, country and city), but is usually 3 hours. You should not delay check-in, as there is a possibility of missing your flight. Arriving at the airport in advance risks the fact that you will have too much free time for thoughts about what might happen during the flight to enter your head.

Alcohol and coffee are not the best in-flight drinks

Despite the widespread belief that drinking alcohol can more effectively overcome the fear of flying, this is far from the case. Due to the limited volume of air in the aircraft cabin, drinking alcohol, coffee and other tonic drinks can lead to a deterioration in the general condition of the body: due to dehydration of the body, dry mouth may occur, dizziness, and mild nausea. Therefore, during the flight, to quench your thirst, it is better to opt for regular juices, soft drinks and plain drinking water.

Find something fun to do while you're flying

Most modern airliners that carry passengers over long distances are equipped with individual screens built into the headrests of the seats in front of the passengers. These screens are connected to the aircraft’s multimedia system and allow you to find many interesting activities during the flight: you can choose from an extensive list and watch a movie, listen to music from the music library, play electronic games, simply watch the flight map, get acquainted with information about the aircraft’s speed, altitude flight, temperature in the cabin and outside, expected time of arrival at the destination airport, etc.

If you have chosen a charter flight that allows (or any other country), there may not be individual screens, so I recommend downloading an interesting book or movie to your phone or tablet in advance, or buying a classic book or favorite magazine for the trip. Many people do crossword puzzles or scanword puzzles during the flight, listen to the player, knit socks, etc. The main thing is that the chosen activity is really interesting for you and distracts you from bad thoughts, helping to effectively get rid of the fear of flying on airplanes and allowing the flight time to fly by more unnoticed. Wish you have a nice flight and always soft landings!

P.S. Are you afraid of flying on airplanes and what helps you overcome your fear of flying? You can tell in the comments your personal experience may be useful to many tourists!

Illustration copyright iStock

Many of us view air travel as a necessary evil, but for some it is downright painful. The correspondent found out how to overcome the fear of flying on an airplane.

Although plane crashes are rare, their consequences are widely reported in the media.

Repeated news stories of wrecked planes and blanketed bodies fill some of us with such terror that the thought of boarding a plane becomes unbearable.

Take, for example, the recent tragedies passenger planes Malaysian airline Malaysia Airlines. disappeared somewhere above Indian Ocean, and in the sky over Ukraine. Two years later, both cases are still periodically mentioned in the press.

Last year, a suicidal pilot flew into an alpine slope.

At the end of October of the same year, a flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg crashed during a flight over the Sinai Peninsula due to the activation of an explosive device on board.

Experts, pointing to statistical calculations, insist: aerophobia is irrational - after all, the likelihood of dying in a car accident is much higher than in an aviation accident.

According to the data International Association air transport(IATA), in 2015, over 3.5 billion people used commercial air transportation services.

During this period, 68 aviation accidents were recorded, including four crashes that claimed 136 lives. Together with the Germanwings and Kogalymavia disasters, the total number of victims was 510 people.

Illustration copyright iStock Image caption Aircraft accidents like those on Malaysia Airlines only increase some people's fear of flying.

According to the World Health Organization, 1.25 million people died in road traffic accidents worldwide in 2013.

In general, motor transport is approximately 100 times more dangerous than airplanes. And the two most common causes of death are cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

And yet the number of aerophobes is not decreasing. According to a survey conducted in 2010 by Boeing, in the United States, for example, 17% of the population is afraid to fly.

Some are afraid of a possible plane crash, others cannot cope with the fear of a confined space from which there is no exit until the plane lands.

Celebrities also suffer from aerophobia. Film director Wes Anderson, who directed The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Tannenbaums, prefers to travel to Europe by sea.

Late rock musician David Bowie opted for ships and trains after his plane from Cyprus was caught in a thunderstorm in the early 1970s.

Bowie resumed flying in the 1980s, but stopped flying again after suffering a heart attack and the birth of his daughter Lexi.

And film actress Kate Winslet, as they say, always flies with her husband on different planes, so that in the event of a plane crash their children are not left orphans.

A surge in aerophobia was recorded after the events of September 11, 2001

"Unfortunately, there is no single cause for aerophobia - there are many potential sources," says Matthew Price, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Vermont in the US who studies anxiety disorders.

Some people are afraid to fly because they've never done it before or because of past bad experiences with air travel, he said.

"This may include past flying experience, news reports of plane crashes, or fear of confined spaces," Price says.

A surge in aerophobia was recorded, for example, after the events of September 11, 2001, when terrorists used hijacked passenger planes as weapons.

According to psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, in the year following those tragic events, thousands of Americans chose to switch to cars.

As a result, the number of air passengers fell and the number of car crash fatalities rose by 1,595, as people underestimated the risks associated with driving and overestimated the likelihood of dying in an accident.

It could be a fear of losing control, a fear of enclosed spaces or even a fear of developing a phobia, says psychologist Robert Bohr, who is a pilot himself and provides psychological counseling to the Royal Air Force.

Aerophobia can also be caused by factors not directly related to aviation - for example, stress at work, a troubled marriage, or the illness of a child left at home.

Illustration copyright iStock Image caption Some people are so afraid of flying that they prefer to travel by water.

One of the factors that can increase anxiety is related to measures to ensure the safety of air passengers. These include airport security screenings and pre-flight demonstrations of emergency equipment.

Anti-terrorism security measures at airports may leave some of us fearful that terrorist act, and a safety briefing before takeoff can remind you that accidents do happen sometimes.

Therefore, people prone to panic often try to ignore the instructions of the flight attendants. However, this is a mistake.

“Pre-flight briefing helps passengers plan to exit the plane in the event of an emergency, which improves their chances of survival,” explains Bohr. “If you ignore it, you are more likely to have your brain unable to find a way out when danger arises.”

So, after the recent emergency landing Emirates plane at Dubai airport, during the evacuation, many passengers began to grab their hand luggage. As a result, the risk to people has increased.

“During safety briefings, flight attendants emphasize that in the event of an evacuation, you need to leave your belongings and leave the cabin as quickly as possible,” says Bohr. “But people sometimes behave unpredictably in the face of sudden danger.”

Price and Bohr agree that best way overcoming aerophobia - training in controlled conditions

Fortunately, aerophobia is treatable, and there are plenty of treatment options. Some people find it helpful to listen to music on headphones or drink alcohol. Others take anxiety medications.

Price recommends breathing exercises. Inhale slowly and deeply through your mouth and breathe through your belly, so that your belly expands while your chest remains relatively motionless. Then exhale slowly through your nose.

"Sometimes repeating a calming mantra, such as 'Calm, Calm,' can help," he says.

Perhaps even more effective for those who have never flown before or have had negative experiences with flying is to learn more about how planes fly, Bohr says.

You can look for answers to various profile questions. For example, how are heavy metal objects able to rise into the air at all; how air traffic controllers prevent airliners from getting too close to each other; what causes chatter.

In this case, the goal is to understand the cyclical nature of the anxiety state, be able to recognize its increase, understand how it sometimes causes feelings of panic, and most importantly, learn to cope with it.

Illustration copyright iStock Image caption You can use virtual reality to help overcome aerophobia

One possible treatment method is self-study books describing strategies for dealing with stressful conditions. Or you can visit a specialist.

“You don’t necessarily need to spend a hundred years on a couch in the company of Sigmund Freud,” says Bohr. “One visit may be quite enough. Aerophobia is quite treatable, but if ignored, it usually does not go away on its own.”

Price and Bohr agree that the best way to overcome aerophobia is through controlled training. As they say, you need to face your fears.

A person is able, through systematic exercise under the supervision of a qualified specialist, to gradually accustom himself to the different stages of flight.

Usually such training is carried out on board a real aircraft. During the flight, the patient (for quite a lot of money) is accompanied by a therapist who maintains a conversation with him in order to relieve the feeling of fear.

Another option is to use virtual reality technologies. In this case, you can survive different stages of the flight without leaving the medical office.

In the past, a similar effect was achieved using computer simulators - an image was displayed on monitor screens passenger compartment aircraft, and the hum of aircraft engines was supplied to the speakers as soundtrack.

Slow, deep breathing, a goofy smile from all over my face and straightened shoulders helped me overcome my fear - I felt comfortable Luke Johnson, journalist

But now a new invention has become available - a virtual reality helmet.

Price reviewed a number of scientific studies examining the effectiveness of virtual reality in combating aerophobia and concluded that this method does work.

“For example, thanks to virtual reality, a patient can experience a long takeoff,” says Bohr. “In a real airplane, the takeoff phase takes only tens of seconds, but in virtual world The therapist can extend it."

If you're feeling particularly stressed while driving to the airport, waiting to board a plane, or while cruising, a therapist can help you get used to these steps in a controlled environment.

You can also instantly change the time of day, weather, yours seat in the cabin and even the mood of the crew - depending on what exactly worries you most in reality.

To monitor the level of anxiety, biometric sensors can be connected to the patient's fingers. That's exactly what phobia therapist Michael Carty did when journalist Luke Johnson, who publishes on the Wearable website, decided to try virtual reality treatment for aerophobia himself.

This method works with the patient's subconscious; A virtual reality helmet is an additional tool that works in conjunction with other therapeutic techniques.

Illustration copyright iStock Image caption Some aerophobes use computer flight simulators to understand how airplanes work.

Johnson writes: "If you use a helmet irregularly, intermittently,

the effect is even stronger. The patient does not have time to get used to virtual situations, which helps to work out really disturbing scenarios with greater concentration.”

Johnson was subsequently surprised to discover that he could control his aerophobia much more effectively in real life than he could before undergoing therapy.

“Slow, deep breathing, a goofy smile all over my face and straightened shoulders helped me overcome my fear - I felt comfortable,” he writes.

Barbara Rothbaum, a psychiatrist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, USA, says that the virtual reality method works no worse than therapy using a real airplane: “In both cases, 93% of all patients coped with aerophobia after just eight sessions.”

During the first four sessions, the patient is taught anxiety management techniques, she explains. For example, how to recognize and eliminate harmful and irrational thoughts such as “We are definitely going to crash.”

During a 45-minute session, you can take off and land as much as you like without leaving the doctor's office.

Sessions five through eight use virtual reality technology to help patients experience the flight situation in a controlled environment and reduce anxiety.

“Apparently, the technique is equally effective when using a real aircraft and a virtual environment,” notes Rothbaum. “But the advantage of virtual reality technology is its practicality - it is cheaper and simpler.”

“Plus, during a 45-minute session, you can take off and land as much as you like without leaving the doctor’s office.”

However, some people try to deal with aerophobia without seeking the help of a therapist.

American businessman Clay Presley was among the passengers on board a plane that crash-landed on the Hudson in 2009. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but after that incident Presley developed aerophobia.

How did he overcome this condition? He became a pilot himself.

This recipe, of course, is not suitable for everyone, but perhaps some aerophobes will use it.

It might be useful to read: