Fear of flying

[Bruce Tuncks]

I've said for a long time that the only inbuilt fear that we have inborn is the fear of falling, which explains a lot about the excessive regulations we live with.

Lately, I read that babies also have a fear of loud noises, well I guess that this is reasonable.

I would like to hear from anybody who knows more than me about this stuff.

[facthunter]

Loud noises probably cause Pain to babies ears.  Sometimes if you know who is flying it you should have a genuine anxiety. Ignorance is BLISS.   Nev

[onetrack]

There are reportedly three basic fears, which are primal - Death, Abandonment and Failure. But those fears can then be divided into multiple varieties of each primal fear.

 

I believe one of the most predominant fears today is a fear of strangers - and that fear gets worse, as people get older and more frail. I find a lot of old people are fearful of answering the door, in case they come under threat.

I believe this fear is largely driven by the media who concentrate on the reporting of violent attacks, murders and other human nastiness. The media make it appear your life is under constant threat from any stranger, which is not an accurate representation of real life, where less than 1% of the people you come into contact with, could possibly be a threat to you.

 

I have rarely encountered anyone who has a fear of flying, but it appears a sizeable number of people suffer from it. It's all about loss of personal control - many people have huge problems when control of what is going to happen to them, is taken away from them. 

 

As the old saying goes, "I live with Fear constantly - but sometimes she lets me go fishing".

 

The site below concentrates on people handing their primal fears over to a trust in God. This is the American Way, I believe a lot of people outside the U.S. are more pragmatic. However, when fears become overwhelming, many people look to blame a superior power, or rely on a superior power to try and lessen their burden.

 

https://stenzelclinical.com/identifying-the-three-fundamental-fears-death-abandonment-and-failure

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by onetrack

[derekliston]

My wife doesn’t have a fear of flying per se, but she reslly doesn’t like it. She puts up with airline travel to get to places but doesn’t like it and she doesn’t like flying in my CH701 and since I’m not in the business of twisting arms I usually fly solo! I have no fear of flying, but I have a fear of crashing, so I do my level best to avoid that scenario!

[facthunter]

Largely you make your own luck in flying if you choose when and where and how. On the road, the other clown can bring you undone.    Nev

[derekliston]

8 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Largely you make your own luck in flying if you choose when and where and how. On the road, the other clown can bring you undone.    Nev

That is true to a large extent Nev, however, I find that more and more people are landing non-radio. The only reason I can think of for that is to avoid landing fees. Now I know they are doing nothing illegal if they haven’t heard other traffic, but if you have two or more pilots with the same mindset, there is potential for disaster. I am religious with downwind and base calls because I want people to know I’m there. I’d rather have a $10 landing fee than my wife have a $6,000 funeral fee!

Edited February 18, 2023 by derekliston
Spelling error!

[facthunter]

Yes of course. It's a misplaced priority. Your responsibility as PIC, by LAW is to operate in the safest manner possible.  Nev

[derekliston]

4 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Yes of course. It's a misplaced priority. Your responsibility as PIC, by LAW is to operate in the safest manner possible.  Nev

A bit late to worry about the law once you are dead!

[facthunter]

There might still be a court case. I've always used "How would IT look in Court" when someone wants me to do something silly.    Nev

[old man emu]

20 minutes ago, derekliston said:

The only reason I can think of for that is to avoid landing fees.

Talk and talk and talk! No landing fees at Tooraweenah!

 

21 minutes ago, derekliston said:

I’d rather have a $10 landing fee than my wife have a $6,000 funeral fee!

That'll be a drop in the ocean compared to your vast estate she'll get after the funeral.

[facthunter]

She'll get what's LEFT after the civil case. Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

Yep, all of the people I know who have died did not do so from a flying mishap. ( they mostly died medical deaths)  But my wife , like most people, is negative about flying. So I'm one of derekliston's lot.

Well I possibly would not have a wife if her father had not been too airsick to be a Catalina gunner. He was made an armourer instead, and while he went overseas in 1945, I don't think he ever came within a thousand k of a  live Japanese.

 

I still think there is an unwarranted fear of flying out there. A mate, who was really smart in his careers, was fearful of flying to the extent that he wore non-synthetic clothes to fly on an airline.

[derekliston]

21 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Yep, all of the people I know who have died did not do so from a flying mishap. ( they mostly died medical deaths)  But my wife , like most people, is negative about flying. So I'm one of derekliston's lot.

Well I possibly would not have a wife if her father had not been too airsick to be a Catalina gunner. He was made an armourer instead, and while he went overseas in 1945, I don't think he ever came within a thousand k of a  live Japanese.

 

I still think there is an unwarranted fear of flying out there. A mate, who was really smart in his careers, was fearful of flying to the extent that he wore non-synthetic clothes to fly on an airline.

Old joke but he should wear wellingtons, they say you can fly in them!

[pmccarthy]

I once saw an interview with a chap who survived a flaming airline crash because he had his shoes on and wore a leather jacket. I have been inclined to keep my shoes and jacket handy for landings ever since.

[Bruce Tuncks]

This mate was also horrified that airliners could overfly Gawler and we were still allowed to fly. In vain I tried to tell him that 30,000 ft of vertical separation was more than enough.

[Bruce Tuncks]

And yet he came in the Jabiru SK to look at the remains of a fire...he spent nearly an hour in the plane at quite low heights, looking at the blackened paddocks from the Pinery fire.

Buggered if I can understand anything here.....

[sfGnome]

I love flying, be it as a recreational pilot or as a passenger in a big aluminium tube. One of the highlights of my life was sitting in the jump seat of a 747 landing in Frankfurt (pre 9/11 of course). But… I still occasionally find myself thinking “what if this thing goes down?”. No one is immune; just some are more susceptible than others. My beloved’s way to deal with it is to go to sleep, so I might as well be flying solo.

[Old Koreelah]

As I posted on some previous thread, my wife had terrible phobia about flying. Perhaps it was due to her first and only flight, when the d1ckhead pilot tossed his plane around trying to impress her. The result was three decades when I thought we’d never travel. 
She had already overcome her fear of dogs (I’d twice witnessed her being attacked without provocation). Showing characteristic grit, she adopted a puppy and came to love dogs.

 

Fear of flying was much harder to fix. She enrolled in the FearlessFlying course run by female Qantas pilots.

It was a great success and she’s done several jet trips since…but she’ll never get in a little plane, especially if I’m the pilot!

[spacesailor]

I too have that ! .

I just couldn't fly my ' pride & joy '  as it was an untested aircraft & me an untested pilot .

Seems rational tho .

I even asked the only H B driver I know to do the  taxiing trials , no luck .

Flying the ' Foxbat A22 was great . No fear there ! But I had a good instructor beside me, huge confidence boost there .

spacesailor

[Kenlsa]

I was listening to a psychologist a while back who said that nature has developed and reinforced the fear of heights for our species survival .  If we stand at the edge of a cliff, we need to protect ourselves so adrenaline kicks in, the ‘Fright’ part, to stop us there before taking action or to back away.  Same with being at the top of the tree.  
Apparently we are physically connected to the ground (safety) through our senses - we see the potential problem, but we feel the solution because we still keep our feet on the ground/tree keeping us based. This has been passed through the generations for ever.

 

BUT , flying (not falling) has not been implanted in our DNA as unsafe, as it is not a naturally occurring situation.  Children won’t be afraid of it as it only becomes a learned fear, through their own experience or relayed information from others.

 

It was an interesting article 

 

Ken

[red750]

From memory, my late wife only flew with me a couple of times. She loved airline flying, worked for Ansetts (secretary) and often flew to visit her sister in Queeensland. Travelled by air when we lived interstate, first Adelaide then Sydney. Also flew to Italy for a holiday, just before we started going out. But she was terribly afraid of heights. Would not climb open stairs, wouldn't stand within a metre of a window in a highrise. On a trip to Tassie on the Spirit, refused to go out on the deck. Remained in the lounge while I went out to take photos.

[facthunter]

I've lost about 6 or MORE friends/ acquaintances in aircraft (small) crashes. That doesn't affect my feelings about safety but I'm careful what I fly in and where I operate. Weather is a constant risk. Sea breezes coming in, Dust devils. The weather seems more unpredictable lately. Can't stand heights but that doesn't apply to planes though I've never liked hanging in the straps inverted in an open cockpit.  Nev

[spacesailor]

GEE !,

Standing on the cliff , watching Hang gliders take off I had stop myself from flying off the edge with them . LoL

whats rational about jumping great heights . to practice parachute landing .  ( The Roll when hitting the ground ) .

it's no wonder my ankles & hip gave out .

And I LIKE flying at midday .feeling the ' thump ' as I\we bruise a couple of those soft & cuddly clouds .

spacesailor

[Jabiru7252]

Years ago I watched a baby giggling as a big hairy huntsman spider was running about, the kid even tried to pick it up. Fear of spiders is a taught (by our parents) fear, like many others. Fear is normal as is worry. They are one of nature's way of self preservation. It's when fear and worry become overwhelming or irrational that things fall apart. Just growing old brings new fears and worries as we become less able to deal with crap that as a younger person, would be easy. 

[onetrack]

I don't have much time for spiders, and I'm very wary of Huntsmans after one ran straight up my arm, as I pulled an old sign off a tree! The Huntsman was obviously living in the sign, and picked my arm as the quickest escape!

I can tell you, I never moved so fast in all my life - but it was still only half the speed of that Huntsman, they move like lightning!! I once had one run inside the car, and then disappear! - now that raised all my spider fears to a new level!

 

But the very worst spider fright I got, was picking up my flip-front oxy-acetylene goggles one day, then pulling them into position - only to see the outline of a massive Huntsman, right against my eye!!

I ripped those goggles off in about 0.0000000000001 of a second! - only to realise the poor old Huntsman had parked himself in the gap between the flip-front coloured lenses, and the clear lenses in the frame of the goggles!

 

So he wasn't actually against my eye, it just initially appeared that way! I think the part that unnerves me is those eight legs tickling my skin as they move at speed across my body! Their running speed is phenomenal, something like 5M/sec.