Fear of flying

[claret3189]

So last year was my first flight ever, i am 30. I was absolutely terrified as soon as i got on the plane i tried to turn back. I managed to get through it although take off was awful. I was glad for landing just to be near the ground.
My second flight was to dublin and i was sat on my own but somehow i managed to be okay as the flight was 35 mins in the air.
This time i am really scared again. Ive been more looking forward to the holiday but now the plane journey scares me again. I keep remembering how nervous i felt and the experience of being in the air for 3 hours.
Can anyone help

I have traveled most of my life. Absolutely loved to fly till I had kids.

Then something clicked in my head and ever since (18 years ago ) I am terrified of flying.

It’s extremely psychological with me and I have to really psych myself up before and during the flight.
I tell myself over and over again that it’s still the safest way to fly and these flights are done hundreds of times a day and arrive perfectly fine.
I try to think of the destination and how fun it will be once landed. I take books and magazines or try to watch a film. Anything to distract myself. I have also asked one of the stewards to come and speak with me during the flight for reassurance.
I also take Bach’s rescue remedy to chill me out.
Otherwise I will scream with every
turbulence.

Thank you its really not good. Take off was the worse for me tgat feeling of leaving the ground and not being able to get off. I use magazines for take off to look at spot the difference puzzles to distract me. I can see this happening forever more ha

BA and EasyJet both run Fear of Flying courses - it might be well worth booking yourself on to one of those. Alternatively go to the doctor - a friend of mine is really terrified of flying - well actually it's not the flying if she analyses it but the claustrophobia because she won't go on tubes or trains either - but she loves holidays so the doctor prescribes her a mild tranquilizer that gets her through, even on long haul. It has meant she has been able to take several holidays that had got beyond her to even consider. You don't need to suffer it if you actually want to go somewhere.

I personally dislike flying and have quite bad nightmares before flights but I wouldn't not get on the plane and usually once I've done the outbound flight I'm fine with coming back - bizarre but true. Two silly things really helped me - one was chatting to cabin crew once when taking off from LHR and him saying that it's bumpy on take-off at big airports like Gatwick, Manchester and Heathrow because the air never has the chance to settle so it's like being on a boat and going over the wake of another boat that's just passed, and the boat before that and the boat before that so the water is really choppy. Of course you can see that when you are on a boat, and understand the bumps and why the boat is jumping around a bit, but you can't see it on a plane so you have to just envisage the water, as it were. The other thing a pilot told me once is that turbulence is effectively like driving along a nice smooth bit of road then getting to a bit that has really bad potholes then you get back to a smooth bit again.

But honestly, if it is stressing you this amount I'd seriously try and find some help or the buildup will be such agony that the holiday will suffer as a consequence.

I tried everything. fear of flying course, hypnotherapy the lot. the only thing that works for me is pills. I take diazepam and over the years have been able to significantly reduce the dose so that now I am down to 1mg. Go and speak to your GP, they should be willing to help you.

Thank you all

I used to take diazepam, and can certainly recommend it. However, it's not a long term solution if you plan on travelling a lot (I fly around 40 times on average per year)...

Counselling may help, and also just getting on more flights.

Lastly, the most recent stat I've seen is that i passenger dies for every 10 billion passenger miles flown on commercial aircraft. It really is the case that it is so very unlikely anything bad will happen on any given flight.

Hope things get easier for you!