Another idea..... Is there a
really good CFI you trust?
Sit down with them and have a good conversation on what items relating to flight are causing this anxiety. You already have proposed the possible solution by talking about it. And with the
really good CFI, he or she should be able to help you learn why those fears exist and what "risk management" activities can be done to reduce the fear and anxiety.
If it's regarding weather and bad weather, teach you how to get a good weather report and briefing, and teach you how to take the information and make appropriate decisions.
If it's regarding "the airplane will fall out of the sky", repeat the lesson on aerodynamics, lift, stability, etc. Then take you flying on some really good weather days (clear sky, light wind) and let you re-experience flying, stability, and that the airplane wants to fly and that you are the one in control.
If it's regarding stalls, then repeat the sall lesson, but do it in appropriate steps, sorta like this story from
"The Flight Instructor's Survival Guide: true, witty, insightful stories illustrating the fundamentals of instructing" by Arlynn McMahon
Therefore, when a pilot says that he’s afraid of stalls, steep turns, spins or anything else we have to complete during training, I am sympathetic. It may not be a logical fear, but a pilot’s fear is very real to him, thus it will affect his performance and the quality of his training experience.
Ricky had completed flight training elsewhere and came to our school for his first flight instructor job. I first became aware of his distaste for stalls during our standardization training, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until he started working with clients. Suddenly, it became common knowledge around the school that Ricky didn’t like stalls and students should schedule with someone else for those lessons. As chief instructor, this was not acceptable to me. Ricky’s instructor had not been thoughtful in his introduction of stalls. From the way Ricky described his earliest stalls, they were robust. I knew if Ricky was going to succeed in a flying career, we needed to work through his worst fear. It was time for me to change hats, out of chief mode and into instructor mode.
We started about 4,000 feet AGL in a C172. His hand trembled as he retarded the throttle to about 1,000 RPM. We maintained level flight and allowed the airspeed to bleed-off. When the aircraft started to descend, we kept slowly adding back pressure, as if we wanted to maintain altitude. Soon the stall warning was blaring, but when the stall broke it was not with a big attitude change; it was subtle.
I didn’t allow a recovery. Most instructors, when first introducing stalls, are too quick to recover. Directing Ricky’s attention to the nose of the aircraft and seeing its relation to the horizon, we spent enough time for him to see the attitude— something he’d not been able to experience before. At the introduction, students need time to perceive the stall.
We maintained the stall. Ricky was encouraged to deflect the ailerons to see how sluggish and unresponsive they were. He experienced the use of rudder pressure to keep the nose straight. Convincing Ricky that he could still control the plane while it was in the stalled condition built his confidence.
By placing the nose slightly below the horizon, Ricky was able to feel the airplane immediately begin to fly again. He experienced how the ailerons were immediately responsive. We repeated this a few times: nose slightly up— stall; nose down— recover. In this way, he could see that the recovery from the stall had nothing to do with power— it was all in the attitude. He enjoyed several recoveries and soaked in the feel of the aircraft. Soon, he was able to detect the subtle feel of the approaching stall, even before the stall warning horn began to buzz.
Fear kept Ricky focused on previous, scary stalls or worried about the future and how the next one might react. I worked to keep him in the present. Slowing down his stall experience helped him to realize that right now, he was okay. He was in control. Still in the stall, I pointed at the beautiful sky and reminded him how lucky we were to be smack in the middle of it. However, the vertical speed indicator painted a high rate of descent.
To recover from the descent, we added power. Power was not part of the stall recovery; it was a recovery from the descent. This demonstration lasted about three minutes. We lost about 2,000 feet, but it gave Ricky the time needed to see the physics at work. By breaking the stall into baby steps, he felt safe and secure in trusting that the aerodynamics were consistent and would work for him.
For Ricky, it was a gentler, kinder way to learn about stalls, but it was also more realistic. In flight, stalls don’t naturally occur with the high attitude that most instructors use in teaching stalls. Hanging the airplane by the prop does nothing to teach a student how to perceive an unintentional stall.
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Talking to a therapist CAN help. But you could also wind up spending mucho dinero on someone who has no background in aviation and cannot comprehend the source or the possible solution.
Spending time with a
really good CFI, you will be working with a professional who has had experience with all sorts of students, and has learned what helps these students overcome their fears and anxiety.
Other pluses by going with a
really good CFI??? Just $50-70 per hour and no way in heck are they gonna be "accidently" billing your insurance company (which is discoverable by the FAA).
I also think the CFI route will be more practical, since in addition to talking, you're also going to be doing. Which reinforces what you talked about and "proves" to your older rational brain what it needs to know to tell the emotional brain all is going to be okay.
