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How to Get Over Your Fear of Flying, Once and for All

By August 2, 2021April 18th, 2024No Comments

What is The Name of the Flying Phobia?

Aerophobia or aviophobia is the term used to describe the extreme fear of flying, and it is more common than you would think. It affects many people’s quality of life, in this day and age where public transportation and travel (utilizing flying) are so prevalent for both business and personal reasons. The anxiety and fear behind flight can stem from two other types of fears as well – agoraphobia (fear of being in a situation you cannot get out of) and claustrophobia (the fear of confined spaces). 

 

What does aerophobia feel like?

Symptoms

The most obvious symptom of the aerophobic disorder is an intense fear of flying. People with this condition may avoid all forms of transportation involving flight. They also often refuse to fly alone because they feel too vulnerable during takeoff and landing. Some individuals will go out of their way to find alternative modes of transport when possible. People with this fear may experience intense anxiety with physical symptoms such as sweats, feelings of suffocation, brain fog, disorientation or vertigo, flushed skin, digestive issues, panic attacks, hyperventilation, rapid heartbeat, or heart palpitations.

Related Conditions

In some instances, people may even experience a full-blown panic attack. Anticipatory anxiety, in which you start experiencing the fear of flying long before a scheduled flight, is extremely common.

The following conditions and other common phobias share certain characteristics with aerophobia. However, because these disorders involve different causes and treatments, they should be considered separately.

  • Panic Disorder
  • Social Anxiety Disorder: People are forced to spend long periods of time with strangers in an airplane
  • Fear of heights: (acrophobia) can relate to a fear of flying. 
  • Germ phobia: Excessive fear of germs or dirty surfaces (made worse in crowded or confined spaces)
  • Claustrophobia: Irrational fear of confined spaces

Some physical disorders can contribute to a fear of flying, including:

  • Sinus or middle-ear blockage, which can cause pain or dizziness during flight.
  • Nausea and vomiting are experienced because of turbulence (travel sickness).

Causes

Possible situations that can relate to developing a fear of flying include:

  • Experiencing a flight or plane crash or watching news and media coverage of airplane crash disasters
  • A traumatic event or traumatic experiences during a flight (post-traumatic stress disorder)
  • Parents with a fear of flying: Growing up with this fear around you could have caused you to internalize this fear from childhood

Other related circumstances:

  • Your fear might also be caused by personal anxieties that you have experienced on a flight and therefore this anxiety is now equated and connotated to flying. eg. flying to go to a funeral or maybe moving away from home are both scenarios that could be experienced as traumatic.
  • Bad weather, the take-off, turbulence, landing, and travel delays are the most anxiety-inducing aspects of flying

What Can Be Done to Overcome Airplane Fear?

Here are 9 tips that might help:

  1. Don’t let turbulence shake you up.

Planes are designed to handle turbulence and to not come apart or fall out of the sky. Turbulence is essentially just hot pockets of air that the plane is moving through.

  1. Built-in safety features.

Educate yourself on planes and how they work or how planes are designed to withstand emergency

  1. Learn about plane history.

You can also watch videos of all the tests planes must undergo before being approved for flight

  1. Chat to a flight attendant.

Flight attendants are always there for you – it is their job to make you feel as comfortable during the flight as possible.

  1. Take a flying lesson.

Take a flying lesson – if not in a real plane – book a session in a flight simulator that simulates the entire flight with you sitting in the cockpit, flying the plane yourself to give you that sense of being in control while being on the ground.

  1. Choose a seat to avoid your trigger.

Choose a seat you’re comfortable with

  1. Behavioral therapy treatment options, medications, or seeking help from a mental health professional

Using hypnosis to overcome a flying phobia

Mental health professionals can help overcome a fear of flying, and anti-anxiety medications can also help.

  1. Distract yourself.

Reading, listening to music, meditation

  1. Breathing exercises

Deep breathing and becoming aware of your breath rather than your surroundings can help calm your nervous system down, decrease your heart rate, and regulate panic or anxious feelings.

  1. Fly more often.

Exposure therapy is the best way to combat a phobia – the more often you can get yourself to fly the more comfortable you will be with the idea of it.

How can I learn to cope with aerophobia?

Flight simulation is proved to be an effective treatment for flight anxiety. Your fear of flying can be overcome!

Great news! Simuflight can help you. Once you experience the adventure, amazement, and joy behind it you can let go of the anxieties it might bring up. 

We teach you the basics of flying in our state-of-the-art, internationally recognized flight simulators – so that you can learn some of the basic technicalities and experience the wonder of flight, first hand.

We provide you with a sense of control and educate you on what goes on in the cockpit to put your mind at ease when you board a plane. We also teach you about how an airplane actually stays in the air, to take away the fear of the unknown. Ignorance is not always bliss. Often people are fearful of that which they do not know much about – unfamiliar territory – and by putting you in the cockpit, behind the controls in the simulator you can start to become more comfortable with the idea and concepts behind flying.

Knowing how things work can provide you with a sense of calm as you are assured things are under control. Flight simulation can turn your negative experiences into positive ones.

Book your session now – What is included in a Flight Simulator session?

  • Briefing on what to expect on this gentle introduction to flight
  • Take off in visual daytime conditions
  • Climb to 8 000 feet (participant can get a feel of how it is to take control here)
  • Gentle turns
  • Return to landing
  • IMC conditions in the clouds to just get the feel of it
  • Discussion afterward on how the experience was.

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

1.What is the cause for this phobia?

  • Experiencing a first-hand traumatic event in an airplane or airport
  • Media coverage of airplane crashes
  • Parents with a fear of flying
  • Other related phobias (claustrophobia or agoraphobia) as well as anxiety or panic conditions

2.How can I get rid of it?

There are many behavioral therapies and techniques as well as medicine that can be used to treat irrational fears. The most effective option to face what you would fear is to go for a flying lesson in a flight simulator. 

3.Is there any treatment available?

Implementing breathing techniques or educating yourself on the process of flying can ease anxiety tremendously. Seeing a therapist or taking prescribed medication is advisable in extreme cases.

4.Are there any other problems that may arise due to this condition?

Other related conditions linked to aerophobia could include:

Social Anxiety Disorder, Fear of heights, Germ phobia, Claustrophobia, Sinus or middle-ear blockage, travel sickness (nausea and vomiting).

5.Do people suffer from this problem in real life?

Yes. Aerophobia is a real fear that is actually very common and can hinder the quality of life for many people.

6.Does anyone have a cure or solution for this problem?

It can definitely be overcome through facing the fear with various techniques in the article above.