To feel worried about travelling on the Dreamliner?

[Emiliex1o]

A bit of background, I used to LOVE flying, but since having a little one, I find I’m constantly worrying when flying with her.

We’re due to go away soon with TUI on the Dreamliner and whilst I’ve been on one before, my flight anxiety is now out of control following the absolutely tragic incident in India and I feel so upset for everyone that was on that flight.

Does anyone else struggle with flight anxiety; if so, how do you do cope with it and would you feel comfortable travelling on a Dreamliner? Because I haven’t really dealt with flight anxiety before, I’m not sure how to approach it.

And yes, I absolutely know the stats around it being the safest mode of travel, but unfortunately, anxiety isn’t rational and doesn’t like listening to statistics!

I take low dose (2 mg) diazepam one hour before boarding. Just takes the edge off and I feel much calmer than if I had drunk alcohol - which can be unpredictable, plus I wouldn’t drink before an early flight. Unfortunately my own GP (along with many others) no longer prescribes diazepam for this purpose so I’ve now had to source a private GP. It doesn’t send me to sleep or anything, just stops the internal panic.

@backinthebox and this is the daft thing; my work exposes me to seeing and reading about road disasters daily. Heck, I even have to watch the dashcam footage and see photos and still I have zero fear of getting in a car.

So bizarre how anxiety works!

No you can't draw that conclusion from the videos and data in the public domain.

Without getting deeply into this you can use a lot of runway on a quite legitmately calculated and flown take-off and throughout the whole process you retain the required ability to stop (at lowish speed) or continue into the air with any malfunctions (at high speed)...

Edit to add: If pressed I'd say the first thing thats look off the norm on the videos to my eyes is the gear not starting to travel upwards shortly after liftoff, as to why...no idea.

there are several different models of dreamliner too and the one that crashed was an older one. Might be reassuring to check that you are on a different model.

Although we don't know what caused the crash yet, Dreamliners have an excellent safety record. I would be inclined to think that it was more to do with the airline than the plane. Air India don't have the best reputation.

The landing gear were partially retracted, as though they had started but something stopped them. It suggests a hydraulic failure which may or may not be due to double engine failure. Whatever caused it, if it wasn't pilot error, was a more than one million chances. My money is on a maintenance issue, Air India have a poor record.

Seen lots of speculation about gear, hydraulics etc but since I've never flown the thing I'm reluctant to speculate...

I have a lot of time on it's older Boeing stable mate that has similar system architecture in quite a few places, but I'm mindful that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Fundamentally in the context of this thread the 787 has been a fantastically safe aircraft and it had not suddenly become a dangerous machine.

No advice but be gentle with yourself. You can’t help that you have anxiety so remember to treat yourself with kindness and love❤️

@mummysmagicmedicine oh this has just made me cry! I always and always have beaten myself up about anxiety!

My husband doesn’t understand it either as he never has anxiety and is so easy going so I struggle in that aspect with trying to hide it a lot too!

thank you for your kind words xx

I was always scared of flying. I never flew with my parents as even though they had flown they badmouthed flying so planted the seed of fear in me. I still don't like the thought of it beforehand & have that worst outcome fear in the back of my mind but I find once you are there and flying it's absolutely fine. You are busy sorting out your DC and it passes quickly and feels 'normal'. Thankfully my DC are fine about flying so I haven't passed on any fears. Like others have said all the planes will have more thorough tests now, not least as the crew want to land without incident at the other end.

I was equally scared on the underground after the tube bombings, these things are so awful it's not surprising they affect you, especially as our basic instinct is to protect our young.

You're far more likely to be killed going to and from the airport in your car.
Idiot drivers are out of your control even if you're remarkably careful yourself and yet we hardly ever think about the risks when we get in a car.

Dreamliner = you are going somewhere cool!

I fly a lot, and have no issue with the 787 on safety grounds. Now that they've worked out how to stop the batteries bursting into flames it's about as safe as large passenger jets get.

The reason I'd never travel on one is because the fuselage was designed for eight-abreast seating in economy. However, it is possible to fit nine abreast in economy and still evacuate the aircraft within specified time limits. Most airlines, including TUI and BA, just couldn't help themselves and operate them nine-abreast with the result that the cabin width available per passenger is the smallest of any large airliner in service in the world. You get more width on Ryanair, whose 737s have a cross section which was designed in the Fifties. I regularly make a long haul trip which I cannot do direct from the UK, and although Qatar Airways would usually be the best choice for me I refuse to fly with them for this very reason.

^^ Yes, all of this!

Flying has high "salience" (as the psychologists say), meaning it sticks out in your memory but also in your thoughts about the immediate future, especially if you don't fly a lot. And yet driving is still far more dangerous. @backinthebox I'm sure you remember the story of the two Ryanair pilots who died in a car crash on the way to their flights last year. That's two more Ryanair pilots than have ever died in a plane accident.

Our school run with DC was nearly 20 miles each way on country roads in France, and perhaps 6 or 7 times in their school years we drove past the results of horrific head-on collisions (rural roads with one lane in each direction are death traps, especially with T-junctions). I know several people who have died in road accidents. I do not know anybody who has died in a plane crash, nor — as far as I know — do any of my friends know someone who did.

Now I'm retired I fly a lot (around 30 single flights a year, sorry about the CO2 😳) but I hardly drive at all, maybe 3,000 miles a year. Guess who pranged the car yesterday?

And the UK has very safe roads in comparison with the rest of the world. Only 35 people a week die on UK roads. On the day of the crash, when 270 people died in India due to aviation, about 450 died on the roads in one single day (because 450 Indians die on the roads every day). Worldwide it's over one million per year. As a public health problem it's not far off being comparable with Covid, especially since Covid mostly kills older people and so skews the QALYs. And yet we've all basically completely discounted it.

Ugh, I really feel for you. My anxiety would be off the chart too, although really it is unfounded.

some tactics I do when my anxiety is ramping up on a flight, particularly when we are taxi-ing and taking off, and when we are in turbulence:

1. breathing excersises with my eyes closed. Breathe into diaphragm for 4 seconds, hold it for 10, breathe out. Envisage something solid like a beautiful field or beach…anythjng land based 😂
2. repeat the mantra that no plane has ever fallen out of the sky due to turbulence
3. do a brain training type thing like Wordle, soduko etc while listening to calming music or noises on some noise cancelling headphones
4. sit with my eyes shut imagining lovely places on Earth I’ve been while listening to natural noise type playlists (wind, water etc) on noise cancelling headphones. Basically I try and block out cabin noise otherwise I end up focusing on all the tiny noises going on and off, and I get paranoid. Sometimes I open my eyes and am almost surprised to see I’m still in a plane 😂
5. because you are travelling with children lots of this may not be possible to do because they will be wanting your attention. You could consider not sitting with them and letting your husband deal with them (mine would never have tolerated this, but yours may be more understanding).
6. if not, talk to your gp about anti anxiety medication. Maybe they can prescribe something just for the trip

TUI Dreamliners are amazing planes, and both TUI and the Dreamliner model have excellent safety records.

I’m a bit of aviation geek and in the last couple of years I’ve flown twice on a really old BA 777 with the registration G-VIIO. If you google that plane you’ll see it was out of service for months after it caught fire in 2015 and has been repaired, I was a bit nervous about flying on that but it was fine.

Since you've mentioned it I guess for completeness it should be pointed out IO was a lowish speed abandoned take-off due engine fire, everybody got off pretty much OK, a few injuries and the usual problem with some passengers taking bags down the slides...

If I remember correctly it was the captain's retirement trip....kind of took the shine off that a bit.

I know several people, myself included who have done one of these courses & they really work. https://www.allencarr.com/fear-of-flying/
Surely worth £40 & 2.5 hours of your time!
(I don’t work for them or anything/not making money from recommending them)

I am a very nervous flyer. Can't remember when it started. Definitely worse since I had children. I've had hypnotherapy and it did help. Wine helps although I know that's the wrong answer!

I've been so bad in the past that I have cried on take off. So embarrassing. There are a few podcast by pilots which go over all possible problems and how they are trained to fix it. It's very reassuring. I find listening to these before I fly really help and follow FlymanSimon on Social Media. Good luck. 2 weeks to go for me and I am feeling the dread already!

Can be a good idea to let the cabin crew know that you are a nervous flyer.

If it's a good team onboard, they will do their best to help and make you comfortable.