Are you afraid of flying?

[kiwichu]

Did you know you're ten thousands times more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the airport, rather a plane crash. Air travel is extremely safe. I've flowen on many planes, the Saab 340A my favorite.

I can understand how people have a fear of flying, but I conquered my fear by playing flight simulator.
I was also over 11 km above sea level once.

 

[Zexy]

I am afraid of many things, thankfully flights are not really one of them. Not only can I kinda rationalise that a car crash is a more likely cause of death, but the thing that REALLY makes me not fear them, is knowing me and no one I really care about could have done something to prevent it if it happens.

 

[Insanish Danish]

I didn't get on my first flight until May 2018, when I was 26, and prior to that I was absolutely terrified at the thought of flying. I managed to avoid it my whole life until some friends and I flew to Orlando for a con. Once the plane actually took off, I loved it; I couldn't believe I had spent my whole life being afraid to fly. But I'm a super anxious person by nature so I'm still proud of myself for finally taking that step.

 

[Aulos]

Yes, I do find it kinda frightening. I don't fully understand the technology, so being up in the air just feels unnatural and unnerving.

Funny, my first flight was back in 2004. We ended up in a tornado warned area and had to circle around for a long time, coming down was very turbulent. My next flights were in later 2004 and 2005 and weren't as bad. My fears of flying don't really come from the experience of the first flight, they're more, well, just generally what I said in the first part of this post.

I didn't end up flying again after 2005 until last year. I know, quite a gap, right? There are more flights in my future as I take a trip to check out the area I'm planning to move to. I'm nervous, as it will be a lot longer than the flights I did last year. I've got a Pokemon game on standby ready to play for this trip to distract me. lol

 

[Herbizarre]

Never been on a plane at all, so I can't say if I have flight fright. Do people with fear of heights get the fear of flights, though ?

 

[Zexy]

Never been on a plane at all, so I can't say if I have flight fright. Do people with fear of heights get the fear of flights, though ?

Not sure about others, for me those are two totally different things. One is about fear you will misstep and fall off a cliff or something, the other is being afraid to entrust your entire life to some other people.

 

[Tactician Karina]

I don't fear flying, but I don't like it. I always feel so cramped in the seats and I don't like sitting next to people I don't know for hours, also a lot of the food I've eaten on flights either taste terrible, or I got sick from. I prefer car, train, and boat rides much more, though the same issue of sitting for hours crops up too. I'd say the only thing that scares me about flying though, is the high risk of DVT; sure you can get it without flying, but from what I've been told by my doctor, it's a higher risk during plane travel. So, unless I need to travel by plane (especially in regards to extended family, as I need it to fly to Europe), I'll always use another mode of transport.

 

[Neo Blaze]

I've only been on a flight once in my life and it was a short flight to Italy and back. I don't remember being afraid at all back then, I was like 13 thought it was rather cool to finally go on a flight. That was like 15+ years ago though, but I don't think I'd be afraid of flying now if I went on another flight. Maybe if I went on a longer flight the discomfort of sitting in a seat for hours would annoy me, but I'm used to long passenger seat car rides so I don't think that would be much of a problem either when it comes down to it.

 

[Zexy]

I just realised I might actually be slightly more afraid of boats than planes. Not to the point I would not get on one of course, considering how many boat trips I have been on, but they do tend to give me phases of more nervousness while planes have not done that. However my longest flight was like 3.5 hours Athens-London while boats have gone like 12 hours+ Piraeus-Samos/Crete or so.

 

[Calvinッ]

I've only flown four times in my life, to Spain and back, and America and back. Both of them were over a decade ago now but I don't recall being afraid of flying then, nor do I think I would be now. They were relatively easy flights with no turbulence, I was young enough on the Florida trip to just easily sleep through half of it.

I just realised I might actually be slightly more afraid of boats than planes. Not to the point I would not get on one of course, considering how many boat trips I have been on, but they do tend to give me phases of more nervousness while planes have not done that. However my longest flight was like 3.5 hours Athens-London while boats have gone like 12 hours+ Piraeus-Samos/Crete or so.

That's interesting, but I think I would be the same. I know I have travelled on boats but I don't recall the memories of it too well. I do have a slight fear of the deeper ocean, so that has an impact on it I would think but it's not something I'd be going out of my way to do over picking a plane. (Suppose unless I was travelling to Ireland, or one of the isles around the UK as I would use a ferry)

 

[impervious_gakko42]

Aw hail nah I LOVE planes! Don't really have the money to travel anywhere, but I like sitting at the aeroport and watching them take off/land. The idea of taking a flight somewhere just so I can get on another plane immediately afterwards and come right back home sounds like a lot of fun to me.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

Not as much as I am deathly afraid of heights.

 

[kiwichu]

Never been on a plane at all, so I can't say if I have flight fright. Do people with fear of heights get the fear of flights, though ?

Well when I was at flight school, the newbies, some of them had a fear of heights. However, being assured how safe air travel is combined with understanding the mechanics, and working on aeroplanes and understanding aerodynamics, meteorology etc, it puts minds at ease. You'll be very surprised.

 

[colours]

i dont think i've been on a plane in a solid 15 years or so @__@ i guess these days i'd be pretty afraid, but i think the more likely scenario is that i'd probably just sleep the whole way.

 

[Zexy]

Just realised it has been 9 whole years since my last time on a plane wow. Still do not think I would have much fear in attempting it again, but perhaps get dizzier? I had more tolerance to lightheadedness back then compared to the recent years.

 

[Sheep]

Absolutely hate it. I've flown probably 30-40+ times at this point and people keep saying I will get used to it the more I experience it, but it never does get any better. I have anxiety during takeoff and turbulence most of all. Takeoff is uncomfortable for me since the plane stopping on the runway and then going incredibly fast to get off the ground is nerve-inducing, and turbulence is well....turbulence, most people don't enjoy bumpy shaking while in the sky and I am certainly one of them lol. It's bad enough that I've decided to just take medication during it. Not perfect and I still get nervous but it's a little more bearable. Sadly I have a 30-hour flight combo coming up in less than two weeks and 7 total flights during the trip. :'D

 

[DawningWinds]

I don't think I've ever been on a plane before, but it's not that I wouldn't be comfortable with it, it's that the situation has never called for it. Since I haven't been I'm not sure how much the various discomforts would effect me, but even if they did significantly, I don't think I'd be  afraid, moreso that the experience just... wouldn't be very fun.

 

[kiwichu]

Absolutely hate it. I've flown probably 30-40+ times at this point and people keep saying I will get used to it the more I experience it, but it never does get any better. I have anxiety during takeoff and turbulence most of all. Takeoff is uncomfortable for me since the plane stopping on the runway and then going incredibly fast to get off the ground is nerve-inducing, and turbulence is well....turbulence, most people don't enjoy bumpy shaking while in the sky and I am certainly one of them lol. It's bad enough that I've decided to just take medication during it. Not perfect and I still get nervous but it's a little more bearable. Sadly I have a 30-hour flight combo coming up in less than two weeks and 7 total flights during the trip. :'D

Please. Let me explain. Turbulence is nothing more than wind currents. Just like there are ocean currents, water and air are two forms of the same thing. Turbulence is a bit unnerving yes, especially at times when it gets severe.

However severe turbulence usually only occurs around thunderstorms an unsettled air variations that naturally occur in the atmosphere. In very rare occasions, even at 39000 feet above sea level, you can encounter clear turbulence. Just fyi, not deadly. Trust me.


Ok, usually in the most modern passenger jets the pilots usually have to spoil up the engines on the runway to 40%, and make sure all the hydraulics, oil, and fuel pressure is increasing... Then you start rolling and once the wings generate enough low pressure to become airborne, you become airborne! :3

Unfortunately I never completed year 2 or 3 off my flight school. The cost went into the small hundreds of thousands.

 

[Sheep]

Please. Let me explain. Turbulence is nothing more than wind currents. Just like there are ocean currents, water and air are two forms of the same thing. Turbulence is a bit unnerving yes, especially at times when it gets severe.

However severe turbulence usually only occurs around thunderstorms an unsettled air variations that naturally occur in the atmosphere. In very rare occasions, even at 39000 feet above sea level, you can encounter clear turbulence. Just fyi, not deadly. Trust me.


Ok, usually in the most modern passenger jets the pilots usually have to spoil up the engines on the runway to 40%, and make sure all the hydraulics, oil, and fuel pressure is increasing... Then you start rolling and once the wings generate enough low pressure to become airborne, you become airborne! :3

Unfortunately I never completed year 2 or 3 off my flight school. The cost went into the small hundreds of thousands.

Oh yeah, I'm definitely aware that it's not dangerous in 99.99% of cases, but sadly phobias tend to make you think irrationally anyway. If explanations could be enough at getting rid of it I'd probably not be scared of anything aha. Thank you for the help though, it's appreciated

 

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

I can count the number of times that I’ve been on an airplane on one hand, which I suspect greatly explains the strong aversion to flying that I’ve had for most of my life up until now. That and, well, other things. Let me explain…

The first few times I was on an airplane were when I was so young that I barely remember the experiences. That said, I do vaguely remember at least one of those said experiences being a pleasant one, with one existing memory that I have being looking down from the window to see everything from high up and how amazing that was, especially for a very young me, haha.

That said, those were pretty much the only times — besides maybe one or two more times that I don’t remember — that I ended up taking an airplane for reasons that I have absolutely clue about, with my family preferring car-based travel after a certain point instead. And being the overly inquisitive person that I grew up into, I found myself looking up airplanes and paying especially close attention to the various crashes and accidents that happened in the past and how said incidents tended to have few or no survivors for predictable reasons, which spooked me. That, along with the general fear that I had back then (and still do to some extent) of dying in some catastrophic accident — and especially on some form of transport — made me not particularly excited about the idea of getting back on an airplane again.

Things have changed as of very recently, however, due to pretty much just one thing: the fact that I’ve come to associate airplanes and flying with the very real possibility that I might be moving overseas in the near future. And with that, they’ve also become associated with the chance of a new life, along with all of the optimism that comes with that. Therefore, well, it really doesn’t matter if I’m afraid of flying anymore because it’s going to have to happen whether I like it or not, haha! But besides that, doing research on flying as part of my planning for this potential next great step in my life perhaps served as a kind of expose therapy from my fears of flying… or perhaps just fact-finding? Because now, I’m not just no longer afraid of flying, I’m actually kind of excited about the idea now, haha, with that kind of child-like wonder that I felt back when I was on a plane for the first time. Perhaps just sitting down and actually just thinking about the actual odds of dying in a plane crash versus other things helped a lot, too. Some fun facts from all of that thinking: there are thousands of flights that happen worldwide each day, right? Even if a plane crash happened once every single day of the year (which, of course, doesn’t happen) with 300 people on board each time, that’s still less of a probability of dying versus the number of people who die every day in car crashes in the United States alone, not even worldwide (so I guess that means that my fear of dying in a car crash is at least not entirely absurd, haha). Plus, when it comes to planes, you have a pilot with thousands of hours of training controlling things with almost no other planes around 30,000 feet in the air versus random people of varying levels of competence driving cars alongside other random people driving their cars, often poorly or even aggressively, or worse yet under the influence of some controlled substance. The only real danger of riding a plane is that on the rare chance that something bad does happen there, then, no, you’re probably not going to survive, oof, whereas there’s at least a slight chance of that being possible in a car, however remote and however unpleasant the aftermath might be.

Still, I’m again actually kind of liking the idea of riding a plane now. Not to the point where my fear is “conquered”, per se — I’m probably still going to think at least once about the possibility of disaster if I feel a bump in the plane or something — but to the point where it doesn’t completely consume my thoughts anymore. And that’s always good! Also, besides everything that I’ve already said, there’s just something about the concept on hopping on a plane and getting to see the world beneath you from a window seat as you’re whisked away to another side of the world within hours. It really appeals to my sense of adventure and wanderlust, I think. The places that you can go by plane, right? Haha…