Calm my fear of flying!

Statistically, it is far safer per passenger mile than driving.

Consider the force of hurricane winds - the air has no problem holding the aircraft up via the flow over the wings.

Consider the earth viewed from afar. You are a passenger on that blue sphere held on it only by the invisible force of gravity. Hardly different from flying through the atmosphere held up by another invisible force.

Aircraft are designed with redundant systems. They can fly OK on obne engine; or if one generator or flight control system fails, etc.

Lots of people do it.

Thank you George....




Yea...lots of people do, but they are not me...lol

I just don't see me getting on an airplane unless some doctor has prescribed me a valium first...lol

Yes, MMS, take the valium, flush it down with some redwine, and you'll
do just fine.

Heck, you probably entertain the other passengers with
some karaoke till landing.

Thats what my husband is afraid of...teehee!

Ty CJ...lol might have to swap the red wine for a mixed drink...lol

The chances of being maimed for life are far smaller than making the same trip in your car.

This might soothe your fears:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen99/gen99845.htm


According to the site (which is itself based on statistics gotten from government websites):

1 in 6800 people die in the U.S. per year from car accidents.
1 in 1.6 million people die in the U.S. per year from plane accidents.


Between 1994 and 1998, according to the government website they cite:

Average deaths by car per year = 41,616
Average deaths by airplane per year = 169




If I recall there's a chapter or two devoted to the psychology behind things like this in Levitt and Dubner's Freakonomics to the effect that the reason travellers in your situation will opt for the car rather than the plane in spite of the numbers is that the actual process of an accident is so much more terrifying in the case of the plane than in the car.

So if you find such thoughts creeping into your head, just remember that the thought of the car accident, however more "palatable" it might be than the plane accident, won't save you from the statistical reality!

Focus on the ETA--not the flight itself.

Aren't your boys consumed with jealousy that you get a chance to soar without them?

Because I went with my family on a few flights when I was a child, that being when air travel wasn't very common for families, so old, y'know, I guess I was too young and dumb to have what is a pretty common fear, fear of flying. Every so often now as an adult I have a faint smidge of it, but even that is so superceded by my pleasure at getting to go somewhere that I think "Che sera, sera" and go ahead and enjoy myself.

Flying isn't as comfortable as when I was nine, what with the lower priced seats resembling cattle car structures, and time consuming security checks assuring that one has to get to the airport well ahead of flight time, and that by now I am sometimes an allergic sneezing fool on a plane - but I still love it, the anticipation, the flying, the getting there.

So, what am I saying, an attitude of joy of adventure could help, if you could tap into it.

How much time do you have before you need to fly, MMS?

How close is the airport you'd be flying from?

dr joy browne says she uses this before she flys

rescue remedy

Of course, price of plane tickets being what they are these days, I could probably be shaken out of flying myself. Some months ago I took what was my first flight in one or two years. The fees and taxes came out to more than the price of the ticket itself. Something seems fundamentally wrong with that. When did that happen?

Fly Qantas. Qantas never crashes.

Oh wait................. thats not going to work for you is it.

Calm my fear of flying!
I think a lot of fear of flying is due to the feeling that everything is out of your control. I know that's a large part of my fear.

I'm going to try some of that rescue remedy suggested by djjd62 next time I get all tied in knots about something.

NODDY wrote:

Noo...lol, they get to go too...lol

ehBeth wrote:

Were leaving on 26th of this month, but plans have been changed as of today. Were not flying...(SHEW!) Were driving...lol Its a lil over 800 miles from us...so about 12 hours.

We are lucky enough that its an all expense paid trip...and if we had of flown, the boys were invited also...so that was nice. But we'll probably be gone for 5-6 days. The husband has to be at the company that Tuesday Morning for an all day affair, and has made plans on being there the following two days to see how it runs/ inner workings, so on.

And while he's busy, the boys and I are going to see about finding a home, check out the schools and so on...

I've spent the better part of this morning on the net, checking out the area's statistics....lol We don't want to live in the town where the company is located, so were looking for somewhere on the outskirts. It would be major culture shock for the boys...lol I'm insisting on a smoothe transition...lol

You could meditate on dying, and how peaceful and calm you'd like to be when you eventually face it, and it could be tomorrow !

There's a great book I'd recommend called "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: A Spiritual Classic from One of the Foremost Interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism to the West" by Sogyal Rinpoche

Once you can face dying, flying is a breeze!

LOL...Well, ummm geee thanks Eorl for that suggestion.

I would suggest a rear seat...

Gus..are you trying to tell me something...? lol

It is called an ambien..LOL

I always just think that it is so much safer to fly than drive -- there are so many more people who die from car crashes than flying...makes me feel better.