Fear 'O Flying

[emmersandjack]

Dont' know if anyone will object to me posting this here, but I really need some suggestions. I am over the top afraid of flying. Generally, my fam and I fly once a year. Every time I start freaking out from the moment until we leave. Once hubby books the trip, something starts tickling my freak out center. The freak out center in my brain generally takes things slow-only kicking in about once a week and increasing it's frequency as the trip nears. Anyhoo, I have done just about everything. My friend is a pilot and tries to reassure me all the time. i have other friends who work at the airport and try to explain procedures and airplane maintenence. I have researched fear of flying websites and blah blah blah. My 3 year old will be flying with us and if i can convince my hubby maybe my 5 month old as well;so i can't really liquor myself up or medicate.

Please, oh please. Someone please tell me they have some miraculous mind over matter technique that will easy my psychotic, unrealistic mind.

Thank you all in advance!!!!

 

[maelstrom]

See if your doctor will give you a short prescription of xanax or valium to ease yourself for the flight.

 

[mkt]

Remind yourself that you're safer in the air than you are in your car

 

[taylorb]

Good Morning, I totally understand your fear. I do the same thing with freaking myself out and I'm don't really understand the reasoning. We drive to Disney from CT and I would like to be able to fly so we can vacation in other parts of the US. I'm going to try hynosis after this next trip to the world in December, I've read a lot about it and that it can help with this type of fear also anxiety, weight and smoking. Maybe check into something in your area. I've also read that reading, watching a movie (I have a freind that brings her own dvd player) or listening to music will help, anything to keep your mind off thing. Good Luck, Taylor

 

[JustPlainBill]

I understand your fear, as my wife and I haven't flown in 20 years!
We don't have the fear that consumes some people, our fear is more like the kind you get when you walk out onto a fire escape in a high rise building 20 stories up and hope the thing doesn't give way.
I understand the logic when people say "it's safer to fly than to drive." Our logic goes a step further and reasons....My probability of surviving a car wreck is more likely than surviving a plane wreck.
This is why we choose to drive when we can. I will fly if I need to but will avoid it if I can. Personally, leaving my wife out of it, I love flying in and of itself, especially the take offs. The risk that is there is one that I have a hard time swallowing and can't justify when it comes to my family, so we're driving to WDW, June 2007.

 

[WaltzingMatilda]

Sorry to bump, but this caught my eye. I can relate so completely to your fear. Every time I book a flight, I go into instant panic mode. This subsides after about a week, then, just as you say, resurfaces as the departure date grows closer. I literally start to lose sleep. I imagine every scenario imaginable and then some. Nightmares, the whole nine yards, compounded by the fact that I'm taking my child on the plane with me. I too have read the statistics (but I always think, well what if some other poor slob's number is up and I'm going down with him?), and as another poster mentioned, I have better chances of survivng a car accident than a plane accident. I think about all this stuff until I'm in tears at the airport and security is laughing at me.

And then I get on the stupid plane and somehow survive. Of course, on the second to last day of the trip I'm obsessing about the plane ride home, which is a whole other issue. Now I've just had the best time of my life and I'm about to die.

On our last trip down I lobbied hard for the drive...wound up half of us took the train (me included of course) and the other half flew. The train from Pennsy is 22 hours and Amtrak is NOT happy to have you...I'm not saying that death is preferable to the train ride, but it's not fun. And, just as an aside, I worried about terrorists on the train (it has happened), derailment, etc. and that was much more drawn out than 3 hours in an airplane.

The two things that have helped me on planes in the past are my stuffed Opus (he's a pengiun = flightlesss bird) and a Bible ("Fear no sudden disaster", the Good Book says). I know these things are not for everybody, but they helped me (I pretend that everyone thinks it's cute when a grown woman gets on a plane carrying a stuffed animal).

Long winded, sorry! I am taking a plane next time, but after that, we're moving to Florida. And we're driving when we do.

Good luck and God Bless! :wave:

 

[Uponastar]

Remind yourself that you're safer in the air than you are in your car

We're driving down on Thursday. :lookaroun

 

[rockydek]

Have you ever used the Auto train in Lorton VA , Amtrak.
Its easy and less stressful and also reasonable.

 

[CleveRocks]

If you are religious, then you believe God is all-powerful. If you are religious, you believe that God decides who lives and who dies and when. If you are religious, you believe that God can make anything happen.

If you believe all of this, then you also believe that God doesn't need to create an airplane crash in order to bring you home to Him.

So if you are religious, you believe that you are no more in peril in an airplane than you are in your own living room.

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

WaltzingMatilda: Opus rocks. And CleveRocks is right.

God doesn't need to create an airplane crash in order to bring you home to Him.

If you buy into the Bible, God takes you when He's ready. It spans most major religions: your time is your time, be it on a plane or a couch.

I too have a problem flying. I make sure to have headphones and a dvd player (unless I'm on JetBlue, which I almost exclusively fly for the DirectTV) and I usually get a drink. Midol + alcohol = almost as good as Xanax. I have taken Amtrak's AutoTrain, and while a great way to move your car from NY to FL (five hour drive to VA, then 20 odd hours to FL) when it won't make the 18 hour drive, I was more freaked out on the train than I've ever been on a plane. Flying is always faster if you are less than a six hour drive from wherever you're going.

If you cannot medicate for your trip, I suggest getting some meditation/pathwalking tapes and learning how to meditate deeply. Once you become comfortable with deep meditation, slipping into a mid or low level meditative trance becomes second nature, and three or four minutes of meditation usually buys me about an hour of calm. Worth the investment. Another good distraction to the OP: your five month old. Bring it. You won't have time to worry about yourself. And as for the sleepless nights leading up to the trip, either take Simply Sleep or Advil PM (one is usually enough to help you stay asleep) or talk to your doctor about a week's worth of Ambien or Lunesta.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

If flying freaks you then consider taking the car, coach or train. No point working yourself up when there are alternatives. After all, once you get to WDW you're only going to worry about travelling home

 

[JustPlainBill]

The Bible can be interpreted different ways. I don't necessarily believe that I will be "taken" at any certain time or that my number will come up on a predetermined date and time. I believe that what happens to me is based on the choices I make or the choices that others make that will effect me (Adam and Eve, remember, Eve chose to disobey God, etc. etc.) Faith, I don't believe has anything to do with it, it boils down to trust. Do I trust the other guy to do his job properly to risk my family? The fact that someone can get into a car drunk and steer his car into mine doesn't make sense to me that it is what God wanted. My little brother becoming a drug addict, getting AIDS and dying at the age of 24...was that predetermined? There is a certain degree of risk (high or low) for every decision we make. I believe there is a plan for all of us, but it is up to us to choose to go along with it. Does God want me to go to WDW this summer? I don't know, but I'm going and I'm driving the 1,200 or so miles to get there, not flying. I hope it is the right choice, if not...my fault, not Gods.
The original post here reflects an anxiety that I share and understand, and I take no comfort when I'm told directly or indirectly that my faith is the problem.

 

[Peaches Magee]

I am the SAME way with flying! I dread it. I feel like everytime I get on a plane, I am going to meet my impending doom! I have taken xanax and one drink in some past flights and its helped. Last flight I did from FL back to TX I had to fly just me and my 3 year old son, and therefore couldnt liquor or drug up. But I felt like I put it aside a bit for him and I wasnt as nervous then. I mean take off was the usually, uneasy breathing, eyes closed and gripping something firmly, while praying to every religious figure and lost loved one I can think of to watch over us and keep us safe. But my son was excited about the plane so I did a little better from just his energy.
But if you can, I say get some xanax...it is something that is just not easily controlled I know. Mind over matter is pretty tough to even out when you have that fear. People that don't have it or never did, just don;t understand the feeling. I know exactly where you are coming from. You aren't alone. :animwink:

 

[disneygurl_94]

I know what you mean!!! It's really scary for me too...or the takeoff at least (I think it's just something about leaving the ground). But once you're up in the air, just try to look at how cool everything looks when you're above the clouds. It usually helps me! Good luck.

 

[mpoppins76]

Sounds like there's alot of people w/ the same problem...I am the same way. 2 glasses (or more :slurp: ) of Merlot make a world of difference for me. I always allow extra time at the airport before my flights to make sure I have enough "liquid courage". I'm also very supersticious w/ flying. Embarrassing (yet somehow funny) example: Was having lunch, and wine of course, before a flight at a pub and when I was signing my bill the total w/ the tip I was GOING to leave came to $13....so she got an extra $1 tip :lookaroun

 

[Monty]

I have possibly more justification to be afraid of flying than most, but I'm actually very comfortable in a plane.

I have alway had the attitude that I need to concern myself with the things in life that are under my control and trust others to do the same. A highly training pilot is up front and it's his job to worry about getting the plane to where we're going. I let him do the worrying.

Telling you that statistically, you're safer flying than most every other method of transportation likely won't help, but it is true.

Have you looked into hypnosis? There are many who have found it works for them, without the unfortunate negative effects of "liquid courage".

 

[mattjs]

You could try this site and use the program they offer -- http://fearofflying.com/

It's gotten a lot of good press: http://fearofflying.com/media.shtml