My genuine fear of flying and my plea for help to you ATS.

Originally posted by lilflyboy
Before every flight a pilot conducts a walk around of their aircraft. The engineers turn up and check out the flight logs and conduct any maintence required for flight.
Before start the usually run through as many of the systems as they can, then on the taxi out after start up they check the rest.

Trust me, I enjoy living as much as you do, and I'm not going to take something up into the air thats going to put MY life and career in danger. Let alone everyone elses. Perhaps its a selfish way to look at it, but its also safe!

You know, your words are really helping me!

Do you know at what altitude these planes fly? It's Dubrovnik to Cologne, that's 2 hours and 5 minutes of flight..

Do they fly really high or do you have different flight levels for different kinds of flights. Like long distance flights and short distance?

Can you ask a pilot questions before flight?

I starred you for you replies!

reply to post by sevensheeps


I think it was because I then knew EXACTLY what it would actually feel like being inside a falling plane

But as I said, I got over it and if I can then you can!

Re breathing exercises, when your heart is pounding, take long, slow, deep breaths. Keep doing it until it no longer feels like your heart is coming out of your chest.... I think doing this must send a signal to your brain saying 'it's all ok'! Works for me. Doesn't take a lot of practice really, try doing this every evening before you go off to sleep.. it will also help you get off to sleep faster.

Also, don't just sit on the plane staring out of the window panicking, do whatever you enjoy that distracts your mind, whether it be reading, listening to music, doing puzzles (I wouldn't recommend a film as you may find your mind wandering during boring parts)

reply to post by sevensheeps


I am afraid of flying too, although I haven't been through such a traumatic experience as yours. The day before I flew from Ohio to Colorado Springs, through Chicago, the same flight I was going to be on the next day had a freak accident and went nose down into a park in Colorado Springs, killing everyone on board. Fying into Colorado Springs and Denver both have strong wind sheer and there is often a lot of turbulence and slipping and sliding as you come in to land, which never bothered me before, but scared the hell out of me after that accident happened. It's never happened since and it has been probably around seventeen years now. So that was one of those one in a million things. Anyway, we travel every year and I take Ativan before I get on the plane and it helps me calm down. My doctor prescribed it for me for anxiety. I use it so infrequently the bottle usually expires before I run out, but it really helps for the airplane. I would talk to your doc about your fear and see if you can get a prescription for anti-anxiety tablets, like my Ativan or the Valium. Good luck! Hope this helps.

Most flights fly at different altitudes. Turboprops (the guys with propellors), fly at around 18,000ft up to 24,000ft depending on the aircraft type.
The bigger aircraft with the turbofans (the "jet engines") fly anywhere between 28,000ft right up to 42,000ft or higher depending on where they are in the world and on the weather conditions.

Most of the time it comes down to weather or what will be the most economical height for them to fly at.

reply to post by gwynnhwyfar


Hey, I would freak out to after hearing something like that about the flight you are going to take the day after.

But all these pills, they will suppress my fears and they will still be present. I need to work on my fears, I think I have to jump in a plane and go for it.


And in Holland they don't give pills that fast as doctors do in the States.

(unfortunately for me)

reply to post by lilflyboy


I asked that because sometimes I see plane videos and they are flying at what I call cloud level and others at super high heights.

I just my fear is lower when a plane is flying lower and I was wondering if these small flights fly lower then continental flights.
When you board a plane as a passenger is there a procedure for people like me? I mean to reassure me, or that I can talk to the captain. Cause in this day and age I don't know if you still can.

I remember when I was young I could go in the cockpit and look how the pilots did their jobs.
Good times

What kind of plane do you fly?

reply to post by paradisepurple


I'll try them before I go to sleep tonight!

But you know the strange part is I love airplanes, when I was young I wanted to be a fighter pilot.

The older I got, the more the fear kicked in.

And aviation only got safer but those stupid nat geo aircraft investigation just kicked in the paranoid factor.

Does it sound familiar?

reply to post by sevensheeps


Oh no, don't watch that programme! No wonder you're so terrified, especially given your previous nightmare experience

I too have always loved planes, always have my eyes to the skies, they're just so powerful and impressive somehow... So, use your love of planes to get through this - keep reminding yourself how lucky you are to be able to experience such amazing techology, which is safer now than ever before.

Also, really try hard to enjoy the experience, after all how often do you find yourself with time to relax with nothing to do except sleep, read, watch a film, listen to music, enjoy a snack and an alcoholic beverage or three... Disclaimer - some of these will not apply if you're travelling with a low-budget airline

Yes a pilot (captain) or the copilot (first officer) does a walk around of the plane - looks at the tires makes sure everything that is supposed to be is closed - tires are ok - etc.

The weight and balance is checked. Turbine engines hardly ever fail catastrophically and are well monitored for pressures speed and temp. On large commercial aircraft computers monitor and alert for engine and system problems. It actually takes a lot to bring a plane down.

Fuel is confirmed - navigation is preset. A plane such as a 757 can taxi takeoff fly and land controlled by the autopilot.

Yes it is possible for an wing to fall off but it will recover.

One trick with my old Cessna was during a stall -- a stall is when you raise the nose so high the air starts to burble on the wings and the wings loose lift and the nose falls -- stalls are things people do when they are learning to fly -- they are also kind of fun. We used to put the plane into a stall the nose of the plane would fall down. You could let go of the stick and take your feet of the pedals. The plane will recover it self to straight and level flight. This process is actually called phugoid oscillation. You have actually seen this in the balsa gliders you had when you where a kid - remember when you threw the glider the nose would go up the fall the glider would dive as it picked up speed the nose would rise and the process would repeat.

Planes actually want to fly and the pilot wants it to fly too - he is after all the first one to get to a crash site.

Think of turbulance as a roller coaster ride -- I actually hate roller coasters but like a little turblance.

Also most every move you have ever seen about flying is wrong.

Yes it is possible for an wing to fall off but it will recover.

reply to post by spyder550




Really?

reply to post by sevensheeps


Fall off as in loose lift due to turbulence sometimes on wing will loose more lift than the other and that wing will dip.

I guess fall off is an unfortunate turn of a phrase, mea culpa.

Though if you want to see an incredible piece of flying and the beauty of having tons of excess horsepower.

www.youtube.com...

They can fly if they loose a wing! (sometimes)

Spyder... what are you talking about?!?!

Your stall recovery is to let go of the controls?! That might be ok in tiny tiny planes but your going to get yourself into a whole lot of trouble if you fly anything bigger.
The whole point of stalling exercises is not to go out and have some fun, it is to learn and recognise the symptoms of a stall, so that you can then recover the aircraft BEFORE it gets into a stall situation.
We learn how to recover after the stall only if you are stupid enough to ignore all the warning signs and let the aircraft get into that state.

Very few airports have the capability for autoland like you just said. And none that I know of provide the ability for an aircraft to autotake off!
Most international airports provide approach instrumentation called an ILS. It is a very accurate navigation aid which an aircraft flies pretty much down an ice cream cone shaped radio beam. Most modern airliners now only require the captain to take over and close the throttles at around 50ft.

That video on youtube that you just posted was a fake, you can see that somethings not right when you look at the aircraft and just the way it bounces as it lands. If a wing comes off of an aircraft, it will usually begin to snap roll and go down. The chances of this happening are stupidly thin. The beam that holds the two wings on is something akin to what you will find in a high rise building.
If you need futher reassurance, take a look at the test that aircraft get put through as they are designed and the loads that a wing will take before the beam breaks.
Usually it can take up to 8 or 9 times the weight of the aircraft. If you get an airliner up to those sorts of G limits, then there is something else that has gone wrong!

The only proof that I have seen of an aircraft flying without a wing is a F-15 fighter jet from the Isreali Air Force after a mid air collision took off the left wing. Since those things have so much power he was able to get the plane moving fast enough to generate enough lift on the one wing and keep the control surfaces effective enough to maintain control.

It all depends on the airline. Im only flying small regional turboprops at the moment so I get a lot of face time with my passengers as they come aboard, and they can see whats going on up front...(no cathay pacific sex scandals for me then!)
In some of the gate lounges, the crew have to walk through the passengers to get to the gate. If you approach the ground crew who are in charge of the boarding before the pilots get there, then perhaps they may be able to arrange something for you. As for knocking on the cockpit door... well thats not going to get you far

I am so disappointed I saw that video years ago -- must have been before it was debunked -- bummer I stand corrected. Power is the secret. as an aside it is amazing the damage that a bomber could sustain and still fly or that Hawaiian flight where the fuselage peeled back.

I didn't say that airplanes do land and take off undercontrol of the autopilot -- but some are capable of it -- I had a friend who was a Delta captain transitioning from an l1011 to a 757/767. I spent a lot of time reading manuals and helping him study - he was very thorough. The plane has the capability.

You may have learned to fly a little differently than I did. I was taught by three friends -- I owned the plane it was 1981 and I was 21 years old. I rented a room to a friend working on his commercial license -- to make money and hours he flew skydivers, taught sailplanes, ferried junk to Cape Giradeau for the auctions, I had another friend who was a female first officer on a DC9 for USAir and yet another friend who was a the captain on a Falcon jet. I flew before work at lunch and after work. I got my license in 6 weeks. These guys made up their own rules on instruction mostly to make it challenging. I kept the plane at a controlled field Rochester "International" in upstate NY.. With in the abilities of the planes my 150 a 150 aerobat and a grumman tiger, I had to learn some airobatics before I could solo. We flew a lot with the instruments blocked out - the idea was to fly the plane and not depend on the instruments. We flew mostly grass strips and farms. All the training was to make a good safe pilot. We had a lot of fun. We towed banners -- we had dogfights out over lake ontario, we flew a bunch of gliders and towed a bunch too. As I mentioned I circumnavigated the US in the 150 it took about 4 weeks -- we slept under the wing at little FBOs ate a lot of potato chips and candy bars - biggest adventure of my life. One VOR nor GPS and a box full of charts.

So for some of us - unusual attitudes were for fun stalls and spins were a good time and yes airplanes can recover themselves. I also know that you can do a roll in a Falcon jet (just be tween you and me) Letting go of the controls was demonstrated to gain confidence in the stability of the aircraft.

I envy you making a career of aviation. I am sorry that it has lost the status that it once had. But nothing beats flying a plane.

I am really really bummed about that landing being a fake. That pilot was my hero of mine.

reply to post by sevensheeps

Does anyone have some tips for me to help my fear of flying and/or dying(or loosing control).


I don't want to be stuck in this little part of the world for the rest of my life..

Thank you.

You have to simply bite the bullet and take a flight. That's the ONLY thing that is going to get you over this fear. I fly fairly often (I've been on 6 flights in the past two months, (not counting transfers)...counting transfers, it's more like 12...and its simply the only way to get around these days.

The best way for you te get over the fear of flying is to confront your fear and take flying lessons, this will put you in control of the plane and help you relax as most of us feel safer when we have control over our situation. You will see that little by little your fear will subside as it becomes second nature to you like driving a car.

I DID IT!!!


I did it man what the...


It was a short flight one hour and 45 minutes give or take.

But I did it!



It feels amazing to face your fears!

Thank you for the help!

reply to post by davesmart


I would love to fly again, but I am too scare now. I am scared of death of the TSA workers and their radiation scanners. I can't handle being touched and I suffer from panic attacks. Now the TSA wants to find people out who are nervous and that makes me even more scared. I will never fly again, because of the TSA pervs.

I was terrified, but then I learnt to balance properly riding sidesaddle.


But really, you just have to bite the bullet and take a flight. Why not try for a trip somewhere not so far away. Here we have internal flights that get you from Manchester to Edinburgh in 45 minutes. If you do get panicky it's not a great deal of time until you touch back down.

Originally posted by sevensheeps
I DID IT!!!

I did it man what the...


It was a short flight one hour and 45 minutes give or take.

But I did it!

It feels amazing to face your fears!

Thank you for the help!

WELL DONE!!!