I’ll save you all the boring bits but essentially I suffer from Aerophobia, not been on a plane in 18 years and my lass’s brother is getting married in Cyprus in August. I’ve booked the flights and now dreading it. I’m very claustrophobic in Aerplanes and whilst I’m trying to see that 4:45 in a 500mph germ infested tin can will give me access to a great hot and sunny two weeks I can’t get my head around flying again.

I have relatively poor balance (inner ear problem) and taking off feels like I’m doing loop the loop and when the plane banks it feels like I’m falling off my chair. I’m crap at travelling, being on a train is disorientating and I get travel sick doing ten minutes as a passenger. I know it’s all about control, I’m quite happy doing trackdays whizzing around a track at 130mph with my knee down so it’s not a fear issue, it’s control.

I’ve tried hypnosis and it didn’t work as I bottled it getting on a plane a few year ago with work, it was only to Isle of Man but once I got in the little transit van with wings I shit out big time, images of Buddy Holly airways were rife.

Anyone got any advice apart from ‘MTFU’ and ‘I’ll go instead’ 😆

Temazepam is what you need.

Talk to your gp.

Beer and/or Bach Rescue Remedy.

Despite my username, I hate flying. Started off ok when I was a nipper, but then an aborted landing at Prague airport a few years back really put the fear into me. Problem now is that I have to fly to get to work and back. The beer I’m not allowed, but the Rescue Remedy calms my nerves. Probably placebo effect, but it works for me.

Also, I ended up having a long flight in a friend’s private plane (Scotland to Lincolnshire and back) where I got to take the controls for quite a while – maybe 50% of the flying – and this has helped calm me down a bit. Might be worth seeing if a local airfield is willing to take you up.

I’m the same. Over the past year I’ve made a conscious effort to take short haul flights of less than an hour. The last time I flew (11th May) I was noticeably more relaxed.

I also take a St John’s wort an hour or so before getting on a plane.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zgQGfBOnh8[/video]

The correct anti-anxiety medication will stop you fearing anything imo. Don’t use alcohol, unless you’re happy to be arrested at the other end because you went into one on the flight, and started ranting and raving and attempted to fight the whole crew.

I alos hate flying. I’m an engineer and think too much about hydraulics / avionics etc.. Plus I’ve had a few genuine scares – fuel surges, aborted landings, severe turbulence etc..

+1 for a benzodoazepine of the appropriate potency.

Temazepam will put you to sleep.

Diazapam will make you feel relaxed.

Midazolam will make you forget*

*not available on prescription. Hospital use only

Probably also worth mentioning to the cabin crew when you get on the plane. Don’t BA do fear-of-flying courses?

I was prescribed diazepam which i think is valium? Anyway used it for years (after refusing to get on a plane once, then MTFUed and had to pay for the next flight)
Anyways last month when I went to Spain with SwitchBacks I was flying on my own, mates coming form elswhere, and I got wasted on my pills and booze, flight was fine. For some reason on the way back I decided not to bother with anything and see how it went, and I was fine. TBH I remembered and almost recreated the feeling of being calmly twatted on diazepam/gin/beer and I had hardly a murmur of anxiety.

So my advice is get pills, take them and have a good time. Sooner or later you will shake it anyway.

Is it possible to drive there & back?

is it a fear or flying or fear of falling from a great height?

If you surrender control to the pilot (who is likely better qualified than you at flying a plane) and accept that there is bugger all you can do to influcence the outcome of a flight then there really is very little point worrying about it, just a waste of energy!

I did used to get bunged on solo flights to Ireland from about 10 years old though so I’ve never really been fussed by flights, lucky really as many people are and I’d rather see the world than miss out on it because I’m not up for flying.

in a 500mph germ infested tin

Perhaps your first step should be to try and think a little more positively about it? It’s not a ‘germ infested tin,’ it’s a modern air-conditioned aircraft; thinking of it as the former just reinforces the negative image you have in your mind. Times have changed in two decades since you last flew.

If you can afford it, can you upgrade to get more space?

If it’s really insurmountable, you’ll be able to get drugs from your GP as others have said.

I’ve been dealing with this for a few years. Did quite a lot of sessions of CBT, & a couple of the aviatours courses. After 6-7 years of not flying i managed to get on the flight at the end of the aviatours course in manchester & whilst not totally cured, i feel more able to get on a plane now.
Lots of peopla have said just get some drugs but my quack said that’s just a short term fix & he wouldn’t prescribe me owt. a bit like having a car with an oil leak & just topping it up when it gets low as opposed to fixing the leak properly.
Having the gf come on the aviatours flight helped as well as she talked me in to getting on & not doing a bunk.

mos is right that taking the drugs is a short term fix but if you only fly a few times a year it is by far the easiest option. Just by getting on a plane you are doing the CBT anyway and the more you fly the less you need to take the tablets to do it. I have used Temazepam in the past and they work equally well for my husbands dentist trips.

I get nervous flying but you can’t not do it. I also think I have a similar inner ear problem as I am very sensitive to any change in the pitch etc of the aircraft. I got over it when I booked a round the world ticket 12 years ago. Fly 3 or 4 times a year now and have experienced an aborted landing which was no issue. I think the more you fly the more you will get used to it.

BA do fear-of-flying courses?

BA do fear of flying courses as do other airlines (as mos ^^) says. Its worth looking into this as they really work.

Don’t BA do fear-of-flying courses?

I wouldn’t trust him, he hates flying.

I have always hated flying too but this got worse when i was in an aborted landing at Heathrow and this is not helped by the fact i also hate heights.
I no longer take anything for it, as some have said this is a short term fix. Last time i came into Heathrow we came into a giant thunderstorm over Brighton and South London and the plane jumped all over the place. But as i landed i noticed a line of planes all coming through the same storm and none of them crashed – because it is so rare
I also fly over once a month and if i did not conquer the fear i would not be able to go anywhere.

+1 for diazepam. That’s what the mrs gives me to calm me down before we fly. Not looking forward to my honeymoon flights this summer. On way back we have 3 stops 🙁

The aviatours one is in association with BA, virgin do one as well.

Never tried drugs just learned to relax after a while. My fear (and that’s what you have no matter how you wrap it up)was more to do with military parachuting (which is very safe) which caused so much fear that I quite often could not remember the exit and a lot leading up to it. You have to realise that your fears are groundless. I know, easier said than done. The drug bit sounds like a good idea at least initially but eventually you will have to get used to it. The latter is based on you travelling regularly in the future obviously not a necessity unless you want to take foreign holidays.

I never used to be bothered, but I avoid flying these days as I’ve got an over-active imagination. Now that I’ve got 2 kids under 6 I have these visions of what would happen if we crashed, fireball, etc.
Just too stressful.

It’s not the crash you need to worry about, its the blood presssure / DVT / aneurysms that you need to be thinking about, especially if you fly a lot,.

Yep i used to be very bad and actively avoided flying. I used a combination of MTFu and ‘hit it head on’ by going on a flight in a small plane from the airport, a lesson. Was given control, had all the main thnigs explained etc. and since then much more relaxed about it. I flew rtw 8 times last year for example !

have you tried watching airport or final destination?

I got over it after a mate pointed out that planes are very much like flying gaols of death.

Now I just imagine I’m on Con-Air.

Who says you have to fly to see the world? You can drive/sail to most places if you have enough time.
Unless of course you don’t/can’t/won’t drive. Or go on boats.

Actually further to my previous post I was sat beside a woman on a flight from akl to wgtn one Friday evening. As the vino flowed I jokingly said I hope we didn’t crash. She looked me straight in the eye and said that statistically I was ok as she had crashed a week before. Nervously I laughed until she went on to explain she had been in s America for work and the plane had skidded off the runway and split in half !!! Runs out she wasn’t joking either as she was the ex-mayor and I googled it and sure enough she was on that flight. Quite a freaky thing to say though.

Just remember you’re far more likely to die on the way to the airport by car that you ever are on a commercial flight.

You mention your fear of not being in control? Just wondered do you feel the same when you get into a taxi after a night out perhaps? Do you think twice about getting into a cab with someone who’s driving history you barely know?

Just remember that airline pilots are more constantly trained and assessed than almost any other profession – doctors included. So you should feel secure that the chaps up front are doing a darn good job and have their own as well as your best interests at heart.

Nothing to fear from aborted landings or ‘go arounds’ as they are know in the trade either. Usually these are as a result of the previously landed aircraft failing to vacate the runway quick enough. Standard procedures and something practiced over and over again by pilots.

NorthernStar, I think you’ll find most phobias aren’t logical and so I’m afraid saying “just….” won’t work.