Recently I have had the opportunity to come face to face with one of my phobias. I am terrified of flying yet I had planned a trip where I would be travelling by plane three times within a one week. I really thought long about it before I booked my flights. I have opted for going by train as an alternative in the past but it takes much longer and I didn’t want to miss out on valuable time with my family. I internally chastised myself with an inner voice that said, “You are a big girl. You are going to get on the plane and it is going to be fine.” But my other scaredy-cat voice chimed in, “Are you nuts? Three plane rides? Don’t do this!” In the end, logic and a desire to get to my destination quickly, won the argument between my competing inner voices. I went ahead and scheduled the flights.
One of the difficulties in explaining a phobia of plane travel to others is that most people don’t get what the fear is about. They assume you are afraid of dying which is only part of the fear. One of the common things people say in response to your fear, in order to make you feel better, is that you stand a much better chance of dying in a car accident than up there in an airplane. I am sorry but this factoid doesn’t help me one bit! Yes of course I am afraid of dying but more so I am afraid of heights, the speed of the airplane, and the physical sensation of flying. I can’t stand the feeling of take off, being in the air, and the landing. So basically this covers all parts of the ride. In addition, turbulence is my main fear factor up there. The main reason why I stopped any travel by plane for about a decade was that I had experienced a very turbulent plane ride coming home from a vacation in Florida. We hit some bad weather and somewhere during that hellish flight I vowed, “Never again.” It took some years before I could gain enough courage to fly again but always in the back of my mind was that fear that I would experience another turbulent flight.
Well guess what? This time around I did get to experience turbulence once again. Not fun. But I did learn some things to help that I would like to share with you.
• It helps to understand that turbulence rarely causes any danger to passengers.
Turbulence can feel very frightening but it seldom poses any real threat to your safety. Turbulence is the bumping and shaking you feel due to fluctuations in air currents. Turbulence is usually associated with flying through storm areas but it can also occur in clear weather. Pilots are trained to deal with turbulence and to avoid it as best as they can. It may feel as though the plane could break apart at any moment but rest assured that airplanes are built to withstand all sorts of weather and subsequent turbulence. It seems that most injuries due to turbulence occur because a passenger is not wearing their seatbelt. Always make sure to obey the signs telling you when to keep your seatbelt fastened and also the verbal warnings from air stewards and stewardesses.
