Fear of flying

J

James O’neill

Filing Flight Plan
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Aug 20, 2018
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James
I’m interested in getting my private pilots license.. but, I’m not really comfortable being up in the air. You might ask, why would someone who doesn’t like to fly want to get their license? I’m not sure I have an answer for that other than, because it’s just something I want to do, and possibly overcome, in time.
I don’t freak out when I’m up in the air, it’s just that thought of “what if?”, what if I were to crash, was it worth it?
Advice?
 
Go do some spins with a experienced instructor, you’ll find it’s a irrational fear.
 
Passion and desire for something must be greater than the fear of it otherwise a different pursuit may be warranted. Only you can decide.
 
SkyDog58 said:
Passion and desire for something must be greater than the fear of it otherwise a different pursuit may be warranted. Only you can decide.
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THAT. OP read some of my posts from early 2017, i had a lot of irrational fears and took me a long time to get over 'em, but i did. you can too, if your passion and perseverance is bigger than your fear. takes time and not cheap, but definitely doable
 
James331 said:
Go do some spins with a experienced instructor, you’ll find it’s a irrational fear.
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Ummm... I hope this was tongue in cheek. While that can work for a student well in to training who is still nervous, for a total novice the experience of suddenly seeing the ground fill the windscreen might be just enough to scare them off for good.
 
I’ve ran into a few guys actually who say they have a fear of heights but yet they’re pilots. Sounds weird, but it can work.

It’s a problem that can only be overcome by putting yourself into the fire.
 
Ryanb said:
I’ve ran into a few guys actually who say they have a fear of heights but yet they’re pilots. Sounds weird, but it can work.
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I don't have a fear of heights, I have a fear of falling. Being in an airplane is Ok for me because I trust the airplane to not let me fall.
 
Zeldman said:
I don't have a fear of heights, I have a fear of falling. Being in an airplane is Ok for me because I trust the airplane to not let me fall.
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I have the same fear and it took me forever to convince myself that after I bank, the plane wouldnt hurl itself to the ground
 
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I have a fear of heights (to some extent) And falling. But I skydived and fly airplanes!
 
Ryanb said:
I’ve ran into a few guys actually who say they have a fear of heights but yet they’re pilots. Sounds weird, but it can work.

It’s a problem that can only be overcome by putting yourself into the fire.
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I don't like being near the edge of a roof or a cliff, so I guess I have a fear of heights. But I'm not afraid of flying. Flying is different, more like driving on a mountain road (not a great analogy, but the closest I can come up with).

Now this is all referring to flying with myself at the controls. It's different if someone else is PIC, unless I fully trust them and/or am rated in / could competently land the plane if something happened to them. I guess I have a need to be in control.
 
James O’neill said:
I’m interested in getting my private pilots license.. but, I’m not really comfortable being up in the air. You might ask, why would someone who doesn’t like to fly want to get their license? I’m not sure I have an answer for that other than, because it’s just something I want to do, and possibly overcome, in time.
I don’t freak out when I’m up in the air, it’s just that thought of “what if?”, what if I were to crash, was it worth it?
Advice?
Click to expand...

I can't stand on the edge of a building, bridge, structure or tall fence without thinking I am about to die. I've been to 17k regularly in my T lance and don't even think about it. Can't explain it. I hate heights, love flying.
 
James O’neill said:
I’m interested in getting my private pilots license.. but, I’m not really comfortable being up in the air. You might ask, why would someone who doesn’t like to fly want to get their license? I’m not sure I have an answer for that other than, because it’s just something I want to do, and possibly overcome, in time.
I don’t freak out when I’m up in the air, it’s just that thought of “what if?”, what if I were to crash, was it worth it?
Advice?
Click to expand...

That was me and skydiving. I never thought it was particularly safe but I wanted to do it once and part of that was because I wanted to face my fear of it full on. So I did it, once. And it was fantastic. Doing something after overcoming the fear of it is particularly exhilarating.

But being in airplanes, the more you are in them, the more comfortable you get. And as you learn about what can go wrong and what you can do to prevent it or deal with it, then you gain confidence.
 
James O’neill said:
I’m interested in getting my private pilots license.. but, I’m not really comfortable being up in the air. You might ask, why would someone who doesn’t like to fly want to get their license? I’m not sure I have an answer for that other than, because it’s just something I want to do, and possibly overcome, in time.
I don’t freak out when I’m up in the air, it’s just that thought of “what if?”, what if I were to crash, was it worth it?
Advice?
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Hey James! After three years of working at it I finally completed my PPL this past July! I took an intro flight precisely because I was afraid of flying, and I found that while my legs were jelly after I was done there was something that I loved about it and couldn't quite put my finger on. I wasn't exactly sure I wanted to go back but my instructor signed me up for my next lesson and that was that. Guess what? I'm doing my tailwheel right now and then I want to try some basic aerobatics training. I'm TERRIFIED! But I'm also looking forward to it because once you confront one of your dragons and slay it, it becomes addictive.

If you'll allow me to be a bit poetic, when it gets scary, think of all of the people who devoted their lives so that you could have the opportunity to get in a plane and learn to safely take it airborne. Men and women as far back as Ancient Greece dreamed of flying! Think of them occasionally so that they might go aloft with you in a way. I found that motivating.
 
I'm deathly afraid of drowning, and hate getting wet. In grad school, I took up small-dinghy sailing, and even became a sailing instructor.
How much sense does *that* make? :)
It wasn't a conscious "let's conquer my fear" kind of thing. It was just a lot of fun, and hard to explain why.

Now I get the same feeling from flying. It's focusing for both the body and mind. Can't worry about work when I'm up there. Just like when I was out on a little boat.
These things don't always make sense.

And dealing with the "what if's" of possible emergencies are part of a pilot's training. A big part, actually.
 
Lachlan said:
I'm terribly afraid of being broke and homeless. So I bought an airplane to help me overcome the financial fear of the unknown.
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Who needs home when u have a plane?
 
azure said:
I don't like being near the edge of a roof or a cliff, so I guess I have a fear of heights. But I'm not afraid of flying. Flying is different, more like driving on a mountain road (not a great analogy, but the closest I can come up with).
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Unit74 said:
I can't stand on the edge of a building, bridge, structure or tall fence without thinking I am about to die. I've been to 17k regularly in my T lance and don't even think about it. Can't explain it. I hate heights, love flying.
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But would you fly a plane with no pilot side door with no seat belt or parachute? Probably not. In an airplane, you feel secure and you feel safe due to the security that the equipment provides. Remove certain aspects of that security such as the door and seat belt and the fear of heights will most likely return.
 
Ryanb said:
I’ve ran into a few guys actually who say they have a fear of heights but yet they’re pilots. Sounds weird, but it can work.
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I'm one of them. But being in a plane isn't the same thing as being up high on a rooftop or mountain, etc. Two different things.
 
SkyDog58 said:
But would you fly a plane with no pilot side door with no seat belt or parachute? Probably not. In an airplane, you feel secure and you feel safe due to the security that the equipment provides. Remove certain aspects of that security such as the door and seat belt and the fear of heights will most likely return.
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Likely. Think @piperracing flows something with no door or canopy or anything, I ain’t getting anywhere close to it
 
I have a grave fear of sharks but it doesn’t keep me from flying.
 
I will confess I'm a little afraid of it... just about every time I am a little bit afraid. Afraid of making a mistake, of something going wrong with the airplane, of a situation arising I can't handle. I think it's good to be a little bit afraid- to have some respect for how dangerous what you're doing has the potential to be. It keeps you thinking things through, makes you careful. As long as it's not crippling and you can put that fear towards something useful that keeps you making good decisions I think it's good.

If you go down this road, you will learn emergency procedures. Instead of "what if I crash" you will start thinking more along the lines of "ok, if the engine stops I'll do this, if the airplane stalls I'll do that". Even if you get into a situation where you're inevitably going to crash you'll be taught to keep flying- it's often possible to control the airplane well enough that the crash is survivable rather than certain death. They'll tell you to fly all the way to the scene of the crash. You'll find pilots study other crashes and near-crashes and are constantly thinking through what they'd do in different situations. Although no-win scenarios happen they're rare, most of this will be under your control... much of it before you even leave the ground and you'll learn about how to make those decisions too. That's one one of the most wonderful(or horrible depending on your personality) things about it- statistically speaking you're probably going to live or die by your own choices so if you make good ones- or just ones that err on the side of caution you can make things pretty safe.
 
I appreciate all the advice given.
Im probably the last person you’d expect to have this fear since I drive hazardous materials for a living.. I haul gasoline and diesel by commercial truck.
I have a similar “thought” in the back of my mind with gasoline that something could go wrong... take a corner too fast etc.
Something about piloting a plane myself is so intriguing though.. But I worry every time I’m a passenger on a commercial flight to a vacation spot. I’m sure it’s irrational. and I’m sure it’ll be fun pursuing this and overcoming this fear.
 
I have a fear of water, and never learned to swim because of it. And all because of that damned movie Jaws!

When I was a little kid, I begged my parents to take me to see Jaws. Everything was going fine until that scene underwater where the guy is diving next to the sunken boat and a human head comes floating by a hole in the side. Well, that did it. I never had a desire to swim or get in the water after that. I don't even like getting in bathtubs or hot tubs. I just don't like being "in" water.

But I'll get on a boat no problem, as long as there's a life jacket handy. Now, if the boat ever sunk and I was IN the water, I'd probably freak out.

I keep telling myself one of these days, I'll take an adult swim class and learn to swim, but haven't done it yet. Oh well, flying is much more interesting to me, and fun.
 
LoneAspen said:
I have a fear of water, and never learned to swim because of it. And all because of that damned movie Jaws!

When I was a little kid, I begged my parents to take me to see Jaws. Everything was going fine until that scene underwater where the guy is diving next to the sunken boat and a human head comes floating by a hole in the side. Well, that did it. I never had a desire to swim or get in the water after that. I don't even like getting in bathtubs or hot tubs. I just don't like being "in" water.

But I'll get on a boat no problem, as long as there's a life jacket handy. Now, if the boat ever sunk and I was IN the water, I'd probably freak out.

I keep telling myself one of these days, I'll take an adult swim class and learn to swim, but haven't done it yet. Oh well, flying is much more interesting to me, and fun.
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If u really want to freak out, watch open waters
 
SkyDog58 said:
But would you fly a paraglider over shark infested water?
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Of course not but over water isn’t the issue anyway, it’s during flight. I know, it’s rare but I’ve seen a documentary where sharks have been pulled up by waterspout and flung through the air. Its always a threat but as long as one does proper weather planning, it’s a well managed threat.
 
SkyDog58 said:
But would you fly a plane with no pilot side door with no seat belt or parachute? Probably not. In an airplane, you feel secure and you feel safe due to the security that the equipment provides. Remove certain aspects of that security such as the door and seat belt and the fear of heights will most likely return.
Click to expand...

Refusing to fly in an airplane that has no doors and no seatbelts is a rational act. In that case falling to your death is a likely outcome. Compare that to something like flying in an ultralight or a hang glider where you are securely attached to the aircraft but have the visual perception that you're hanging out in space. In that case our lizard brains take over and tell us that we are in an unsafe situation, even though our rational brains can tell us there's no more risk in flying a hang glider than there is in a light GA airplane.
 
And what plane are you describing please?o_O



SkyDog58 said:
But would you fly a plane with no pilot side door with no seat belt or parachute? Probably not. In an airplane, you feel secure and you feel safe due to the security that the equipment provides. Remove certain aspects of that security such as the door and seat belt and the fear of heights will most likely return.
Click to expand...
 
I have a good friend who developed an absolute phobia about flying after 9/11. Saw therapists for it and everything. Someone suggested to him that taking flying lessons may help him, so he did. He was training for his PPL at the same time I was at the same school. We both also went on to get our IR and he wound up buying an airplane. Definitely got over his phobia. Good luck to you.
 
FormerHangie said:
Compare that to something like flying in an ultralight or a hang glider where you are securely attached to the aircraft but have the visual perception that you're hanging out in space. In that case our lizard brains take over and tell us that we are in an unsafe situation
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I was far more nervous running off the mountain the first time than I was for my solo in the 172.

IMG_1093.JPG
 
azure said:
I don't like being near the edge of a roof or a cliff, so I guess I have a fear of heights.
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When you are near an edge like a roof or a cliff, do you feel as if an invisible force is trying to pull you over the edge? If so, that would be a fear of falling.

When I was instructing I had a student that is a psychiatrist (he could prescribe meds) that explained it to me and helped me get over that fear.

He was fascinating to talk with. He would come in and I would say, "Ya gotta help me, doc, I think I am suffering from Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressive. He would laugh and then explain to me what it is and how to recognize symptoms.

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/fibrodysplasia-ossificans-progressiva.
 
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