Aerophobia: how to get rid of the fear of flying? I'm afraid to fly: how to cope with aerophobia. How to calm down before flying on an airplane.

MOSCOW, July 25 – RIA Novosti, Irina Ovchinnikova. Aviation is considered the safest mode of transport, but there are many people for whom takeoffs and landings are a serious test.

How aerophobia differs from pre-flight anxiety and how to overcome fear - in the material of RIA Novosti.

Phobia or anxiety?

“Fear can manifest itself in different ways: someone fiddles with their hair, rubs their palms and sweats, someone is afraid of everything, reacts violently to what is happening on the plane,” says flight attendant Alexey Kokhanisty. “For such people, the sounds of wing mechanization raise anxiety and a lot of questions.” , engine operation, landing gear retraction primarily because they don’t know if they’re okay.”

According to Alexey, rarely anyone is afraid of the entire flight - usually takeoff and landing or turbulence with air pockets are scary. In his memory, only one passenger experienced fear from the beginning to the end of the flight.

When asked how to distinguish fear from ordinary anxiety, one of the centers for the treatment and study of aerophobia answered that if a person has diagnosed himself with a phobia, then he almost certainly suffers from it.

If everything is limited to mild discomfort, does not poison life and does not affect freedom of movement, we should talk about pre-flight anxiety.

True, some passengers, under the pretext of a phobia, want to improve the conditions of the flight. “For example, they ask to go to business class - they say there is more space and air, but after refusal they make a row. Of course, these are not real aerophobes,” flight attendant Anastasia Kuprievich shares her observations.

The Nature of Fear

“Aerophobes are afraid not only of disasters, but also of heights and confined spaces, and most importantly, of losing control over the situation,” explains Sergei Enikolopov, head of the department of medical psychology at the Scientific Center for Mental Health.

The expert says that this is what makes aerophobia paradoxical: airplanes fall very rarely (and are considered the safest form of transport), that is, the risk of dying is minimal, but this does not reduce the fear.

Often, aerophobes are quite knowledgeable about flight topics; they themselves know all the arguments about safety, but cannot adequately perceive them in moments of fear. And against pre-flight anxiety, according to flight attendants, awareness often helps.

"Night flights used to cause more concern among passengers than day flights. Many people thought: 'How are we going to fly?' After all, you can’t see anything!” says Anastasia Kuprievich. “But now the vast majority of passengers know that pilots are guided by dispatchers, work with radar, that there is an autopilot, and they worry less.”

Treatment cannot be left

“I avoided flying for a long time, tried to suppress my phobia. It got to the point that I was afraid of everything: cars, trains, heights, elevators,” admits restaurant manager Marina Razzhivina, who overcame aerophobia. “Then I started working on myself, adapting to the situation.” Getting on the plane , I told myself: there is no turning back."

The center for the treatment of aerophobia confirms that fear almost never goes away on its own, and only gets worse over time. But most of those who turn to them are cured.

How to be treated

“You shouldn’t drink alcohol before a flight, because it puts additional strain on blood vessels during takeoff and landing, which can be hazardous to health,” says Alexey Kokhanisty.

Psychologist Sergei Enikolopov also emphasizes that alcohol is only a way to relieve anxiety. And someone, for example, takes anxiolytics (medicines that reduce fear), someone must smoke.

According to the expert, cases of rowdy behavior on board are often associated precisely with the fear of flying, as well as the inability to get rid of it in the usual way (when you cannot smoke or drink during the flight). Therefore, many people try to drink before boarding the plane.

If we talk about treatment, then specialists first of all teach how to relax properly. The technique is not so important: you can count to ten, breathe deeply or, say, chant some mantras - whatever you like, as long as it helps.

“If a person knows that he has to fly a lot, treatment with psychologists is simply necessary,” adds Sergei Enikolopov. “It is difficult, but possible, to work with fears, including the most important thing - loss of control and a feeling of one’s own helplessness.”

In certain cases, a clear understanding of what is happening on board is sufficient. Training on a flight simulator, which is a full-size copy of a real aircraft, helps with this. Anyone can “take the plane into the sky” or “land”, adjust the weather and time of day, and make sure the automatic control is reliable.

Lifehacks

“If you find yourself in a zone of turbulence and you are very scared, remember that this does not cause planes to fall and the only danger lies in wait for those who do not fasten their seat belts - they can be thrown up in the air,” says flight attendant Ekaterina Kuznetsova.

“For friends and acquaintances with this phobia, I advise you to open one of the sites that shows online the planes currently in the air around the world, and then throughout the day pay attention to reports of possible flight accidents. There will be none - everyone has landed safely! This often helps,” says Alexey Kokhanisty.

Aviation blogger Artem Kashirin advises arriving at the airport in advance and observing how the plane is being prepared for takeoff. He also gives examples of cases when it was possible to help a person during a flight by talking to him and even paying attention to the view from the window, which, it would seem, should aggravate the fear.

"See more beautiful photos and videos of airplanes and from airplanes, fall in love with this beauty, and fear will recede!" - Artem is sure.

Fear of flying on an airplane is a natural reaction to an unusual situation. However, a phobia, unlike normal fears, is a panicked, uncontrollable state, as a result of which a person refuses to use air transport. A large number of people are unable to cope with fear, despite the well-known statistics on flight safety.

The ancient Greek words ἀήρ - “air” and φόβος - fear, form the term aerophobia, meaning the fear of moving with the help of aircraft. This symptom is observed in 15% of the adult active population of the planet. It can appear at any age, often after 25 years. Moreover, a person could previously fly calmly, but at some point in his life, at 30, 40 or 50 years old, begin to experience pathological fear. Moreover, the onset of aerophobia at an older age may be associated with the fear of death. Women suffer from fear of flying slightly more often than men.

The basis of aerophobia is not the instinct of self-preservation. There are no real reasons for fear; it is based on an imaginary danger in the future. This phobia often occurs in people before their first flight in life. Completely irrational fear completely absorbs all reasonable arguments.

What influences the development of fear

Aerophobia can be an independent disorder, or a symptom of some other anxiety condition. For example, acrophobia () can cause a fear of flying, or claustrophobia () when on an airplane will provoke panic attacks. In the end, aerophobia may be a way to control one’s internal anxiety, caused by completely different individual reasons, such as chronic depression or stress. At risk are: suspicious and impressionable individuals, neurotics and people with obsessive-compulsive disorders.

An airplane is indeed the safest vehicle, however, aerophobia is almost the most common phobia. The development of this fear is actively influenced by the media. Each plane crash is necessarily covered in detail in the media and, of course, is actively remembered by the population.

On a note! Moreover, over the past ten years, every year from 200 to 1000 people around the world die due to plane crashes. Car accidents kill 1.25 million people every year. Despite this, an aerophobe will prefer traveling by car to air travel.

A phobia manifests itself through psychological and somatic conditions and symptoms. After the aerophobe has just learned about the upcoming flight, he begins to have obsessive thoughts, his sleep may deteriorate, and he may be tormented by nightmares. As the moment of boarding the plane approaches, periodic nausea, even vomiting, tachycardia, and headaches are added. When boarding a plane and during the flight, fainting, increased sweating, “emptiness” in the head, constant urge to urinate, trembling and a feeling of “cotton” limbs, and panic attacks are possible. All this turns air travel into hell and makes people avoid flying. Aerophobia interferes with a successful career in some cases, and also makes it impossible to travel a lot.

Among other things, heredity influences the development of aerophobia. There is genetic determination here, and it is not necessary that your parents were afraid of flying on an airplane. Any anxiety disorders in your relatives may be an influencing factor.

How to overcome your fear of flying on an airplane

Many people have to make regular flights as part of their job. If a person experiences the symptoms of aerophobia we described earlier on every flight, and they do not weaken, but appear steadily or even intensify, then you should seriously think about it. In this case, you should definitely seek help from a psychotherapist. Analyzing each individual situation, the specialist will prescribe the necessary treatment.

1. Psychotherapy. As we said, aerophobia can be both a symptom and an independent problem. During psychotherapeutic sessions, the doctor will determine your personal cause and work with it.
2. Drug treatment. In more severe cases of phobia, special medications are used in combination with psychotherapy. Sedatives ranging from herbal sedatives to powerful tranquilizers are used.

As for psychotherapy, like many others, this phobia is effectively treated with cognitive behavioral therapy. A specialist helps you recognize and change erroneous thinking patterns that cause fear. Exposure immersion (one of the methods of cognitive behavioral therapy) is often used when working with aerophobia. The work consists of placing a person under stress, which he tries to avoid, while at the same time the therapist teaches relaxation techniques.

Gradually, the client gains control over his thoughts and behavior, cognitive reconstruction occurs (new patterns are created that do not involve panic when feeling flying). To recreate a stressful situation, both the client’s imagination and a real airplane flight in the presence of a psychotherapist are used. Modern technologies make it possible to use equipment to create virtual reality, which makes it possible to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of flight.

In addition to cognitive and behavioral methods, aerophobia can be successfully treated using hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming.

In her video, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Veronika Stepanova talks about the most unexpected reasons behind the fear of flying. This may be fear of evaluation, shame, loss of control. That is why it is often not a bad idea to undergo deep therapy, using psychoanalysis, analytical or individual psychology. Only if the internal interpersonal conflict is resolved, there are guarantees that aerophobia will not mutate into any other. If you take only a cognitive-behavioral course without understanding the true cause of increased anxiety, there is a possibility that yes, you will not be afraid of flying, however, the problem will emerge as some other disorder, even psychosomatics.

What to do if you discover fear during a flight

You shouldn’t consider yourself an aerophobe if you suddenly feel terrible fear, tremors in your limbs, or panic during a flight. Such an attack can be isolated and caused by various reasons. However, in order not to lose consciousness and complete your air travel more or less calmly, it is necessary to take additional measures.

First of all, you need to call the flight attendant. All flight attendants and stewards undergo training, during which they, among other things, learn how to interact with passengers suffering from aerophobia. Therefore, the flight attendant will take all necessary actions to reassure you. This could be a conversation that can debunk your fears, a sedative like valerian or motherwort, or an alcoholic drink that will help you relax.

The main thing is not to make this a regular way of dealing with fear, otherwise it will gradually stop helping and will even aggravate the situation, causing additional obsessive thoughts.

In the fight against aerophobia, it is important not to let the situation get worse. If a person is forced to fly regularly, it is recommended to consult a psychotherapist in advance. Not all clients will be able to quickly get rid of a phobia, so it is better to start not a week before the flight. As we have already mentioned, the causes of aerophobia can be very diverse, and solving them is extremely important for the healthy functioning of a person.

In addition, absolutely all anxious people, neurotics, suspicious and impressionable people are highly discouraged from watching disaster films, reading news about plane crashes and other terrible things. Of course, there are a lot of scary and terrible things in our lives, but focusing on the negative forces the brain to isolate it from the surrounding space. It seems like there is nothing else. No one is calling for thoughtless “positive thinking,” however, total pessimism is not an adequate assessment.

Advice! Psychologists advise listening more to yourself, to your real desires and needs. Don’t forget to please yourself, reward yourself and do more than just what you “should” do in your life. When you are in harmony with yourself and your body, there will be fewer worries, fears and phobias.

Conclusion

The fear of flying on an airplane, to one degree or another, is inherent in a good half of all those who fly on them. Here is the fear of a plane crash (death, pain, panic), and a feeling of lack of control over what is happening, and a fear of heights. However, most people cope with their fear on their own. Aerophobes are recommended to undergo a course of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, which helps them learn to control their feelings and thoughts.

In addition, it is important to check whether the phobia is not just an attempt to control one’s anxiety caused by any interpersonal relationships. For severe forms of aerophobia, drug treatment is used, mainly consisting of anxiolytics.

Once every 4 seconds, an airplane takes off at some point on the planet. Although the likelihood of death in a plane crash is very low, one in three potential passengers fear the thought of air travel. This fear not only worsens your well-being during the flight, but also reduces the joy of meeting new impressions that you expect to receive when leaving the airliner. How to overcome the fear of flying on an airplane and enjoy the trip?

What is aerophobia

Anxiety is a natural psychophysiological response that aims to mobilize the hidden capabilities of the human body in an unsafe or unusual situation. Any phobia is caused by a hyperbolic manifestation of anxiety from a specific stimulus. It is expressed in obsessive fear that arises in conditions that provoke it. It is impossible to explain this logically. When the disorder is completely formed, the person is afraid and avoids specific actions or situations.

With the development of air communications and the advent of the possibility of mass passenger transportation, a new kind of inexplicable fear arose. Aerophobia is an exaggerated fear of flying in an airliner, causing many people to suffer. Fear of flying makes you less mobile. You cannot travel serenely or get a job that requires travel. Fear of flying deprives you of the joy of seeing many distant and interesting places. Aerophobia prevents you from living a full life.

Important! Most aerophobes believe that it is impossible to overcome their inexplicable fear of flying. Therefore, they deprive themselves of the opportunity to travel by air.

There are two types of fear of flying:

1. Excitement on the eve of a flight is a sign of a natural instinct of self-preservation.
2. Obvious pathological fear of flying.

There are several effective ways to deal with the fear of flying on an airplane, but for this you must make sufficient efforts.

The main causes of aerophobia

The causes of aerophobia should be considered individually in each specific case. They are divided into the following types:

1. The main factor is fear of a traumatic incident. The human brain associates stressful events with flying. The media also contribute, endlessly providing details of airliner accidents.
2. Some people have a fear of heights, which occurs even when they are in multi-story buildings and sharply intensifies at an altitude of several thousand meters.
3. Claustrophobia, or fear of enclosed spaces, can provoke a fear of flying, since the limited space inside the airliner affects the psyche susceptible to this phobia.
4. Fear of crowds.
5. A feeling of lack of control over an unfamiliar situation.
6. Fear of uncontrollable reactions of the body, often nausea.
7. Fear of terrorist attacks.
8. Unpleasant associations associated with water sometimes lead to a fear of flying over oceans and seas.
9. Fear of turbulence.
10. Fear of flying at night.

Questions about whether it is scary to fly on an airplane if you are there for the first time may turn out to be simple excitement in front of the unknown, and not persistent phobias.

Although the causes of aerophobia are personal, often a frightening bright event is a favorable condition for its development. The traumatic component may have no connection with air travel, but it becomes the basis for the formation of an obsessive fear of flying.

The reason for the fear of flying can be negative experiences formed by the environment. For example, watching a film about an airliner crash. The accumulation of “terrible” associations, which are closely related to flights, leads to an irrational mental reaction.

The first signs of a phobia

You can talk about an exaggerated fear of air transport if you observe a number of signs:

1. It becomes scary at the thought of flying on an airplane; you begin to be afraid several days before the trip, sometimes even a month. You experience obsessive anxiety, and in your thoughts you paint terrible pictures of plane crashes.
2. Symptoms, expressed in signs and manifestations of aerophobia, become more pronounced closer to the date of travel. Symptoms that appear when thinking about a trip: increased heart rate, high blood pressure, diarrhea, increased sweating, muscle tension, weakness of the limbs, disorientation.
3. Not only are you terrified of flying, but you are also terrified of losing consciousness on the plane or dying of a heart attack. The fear of suffocating on an airplane provokes attacks of suffocation, and you begin to suffocate after boarding the aircraft.
4. Often, peak symptoms of aerophobia occur during a flight in turbulent areas or when landing an aircraft.

People who are afraid of air travel limit their lives, so it is important to know how to overcome the fear of flying.

Frequently being under stress leads to the onset of depression, and is likely to provoke low self-esteem. But if you know how to get rid of your fear of flying, you can significantly improve your quality of life.

10 ways to overcome your fear of flying on an airliner

To get rid of aerophobia, you need to understand that any uncontrollable anxiety is caused by the expectation of negative events in the future. It is necessary to find out what exactly the anxiety is connected with and where the fear begins. To do this, you can do the following:

1. An effective way to overcome the fear of flying is to analyze the real facts about statistics regarding the safety of air travel.
2. Another method of coping with approaching aerophobia is to study positive aspects about the functioning of air transport. Avoid reading materials about plane crashes, “illiterate” pilots and poor technical condition of aircraft. Moreover, you can often encounter unreliable information that exaggerates the scale of the problem.
3. What to do to prepare for air travel if you are scared to fly on an airplane? Create the most comfortable conditions for yourself, eliminating additional worries. Choose a convenient flight time, check in online to reserve a comfortable seat (for those who have a fear of flying, the best seats are located in the bow of the aircraft and near the wings), and arrive at the airport in advance. Don't sleep too much before traveling to be more likely to fall asleep in the aircraft cabin.
4. A good way to overcome your fear of flying on an airplane is to think about the pilots and crew of the airliner. They have made flying their profession, they love it and are confident that they will do everything for your safety and theirs. Often, a good mood and a calm, confident appearance from the crew will significantly reduce the passenger's fears.
5. You can overcome your fear of flying with the help of distraction. How a passenger struggles with unpleasant emotions - finds an interesting activity: reading a book, watching a video, talking with a fellow traveler.
6. You need to fly in appropriate clothing: as comfortable as possible and not restricting movement, so as not to experience additional discomfort, which increases the discomfort of the flight. Have warm clothes on hand. Cold increases tension.
7. To improve your well-being and maintain fluid balance, take water with you on board the aircraft.
8. A proven way to get rid of aerophobia is using applications for mobile devices. With their help, you will be able to navigate in space: monitor the speed of the aircraft, flight altitude and other technical parameters. You will feel in control and find something fun to do.
9. Many passengers experience particular fear from turbulence. This is a natural phenomenon and does not pose any obvious threats. Therefore, prepare yourself for possible shaking on board an airplane as normal flight realities.
10. If simple methods do not help, contact a psychologist. He will tell you how to overcome your fear of flying and stop refusing air travel because of the fear of flying.

An airplane is the safest transport: what the facts say

If you are afraid of flying on airplanes, sometimes it is enough to familiarize yourself with the facts that can significantly reduce your fear:

1. What is the basis for trust in an aircraft? Its technical condition is checked much more often than the condition of all other types of vehicles. Before each flight, the functioning of the aircraft systems is checked at all airports around the world, and faults and defects are identified. All aircraft undergo a series of tests before release, including those with a low risk of occurrence. For example, flight with one engine. It will take a year to inspect the aircraft before it receives a certificate for operation. All aircraft systems are duplicated, and in the event of an engine failure, the aircraft can survive for a considerable time on one engine. Landing is possible if both engines fail and the plane simply glides.
2. Exceptional safety inside the aircraft. It uses solutions that cannot be found, for example, in cars. The upholstery and carpeting are fire-resistant, and the seats themselves are securely attached to the floor. The design of emergency doors makes them easy to open in case of danger.

Interesting! Every day there are more than 100,000 passenger aircraft in the air.

1. The airspace is under surveillance. A common fear of flying is the fear of colliding with another aircraft in the air. About 25 thousand airliners fly over Europe alone every day, but the risk of collisions is minimal. Aircraft move along a strictly defined route, which is monitored by air traffic controllers. They work 12-hour shifts, but every 2 hours of work are interspersed with a 2-hour break to maintain optimal physical condition.
2. In human psychology, the fear of flying on an airplane is sometimes associated with the fear of being struck by lightning. What happens when lightning strikes the plane of the wing? Most often, nothing - aircraft have lightning rods, special antennas that discharge electrical charges into the atmosphere. If the impact is very strong, it may leave a mark on the outer skin of the aircraft, which will be removed during inspection.
3. Turbulence is not that dangerous. The liner is capable of withstanding an overload of 5G, and in the case of severe turbulence it is 1.6G.

Interesting! University of Massachusetts statistics professor Arnold Barnett estimates that a person would have to fly an airplane every day for 4 million years to die in a plane crash. The probability is extremely low.

Based on indisputable facts, there is a high probability of surviving a plane flight safely, and aerophobia is just exaggerated fears.

5 ways to cope with fear while flying

To combat aerophobia, use two ways: correct behavior during the flight and rationalization of fear, which consists of reminding yourself of information confirming the safety of air travel. Your actions:

1. Breathe deeply and calmly. If you notice the first symptoms of nervousness when flying, proper breathing will help you calm down. Take a few deep breaths in and out, breathe slowly, relax the muscles of your face, jaw, and reduce tension in your chest and stomach. Also relax your arms, which should be pressed tightly against the armrests, and your legs, with the entire surface of your feet on the floor.
2. Distract your thoughts. When you are scared, especially if you are flying on an airplane for the first time, your thoughts focus on every sound made by the airliner, you feel the slightest vibration of the machine. The best cure for fear is the company of a loved one who is not afraid or is used to flying. Let him convince you with arguments and remind you how to overcome incipient aerophobia. If you are flying alone, your travel companion will not be able to help. Therefore, it is worth taking with you an interesting film, a book and, most importantly, thinking about the wonderful things that await you after landing: relaxation, sightseeing or meeting with family and friends.
3. The more you fly, the less afraid you are. When you have to fly many times, you think less about it. The aircraft becomes simply a means of transportation, rather than a potentially lethal machine. Traveling by car doesn't scare you because you drive almost every day, although statistically the likelihood of getting hurt in a car accident is much higher.
4. Tell the flight attendant that you are afraid. If it is difficult to experience the fear of flying on your own, then the flight attendant will tell you how to deal with aerophobia, will pay special attention to you and will help you feel safe.
5. Eat something tasty during the flight. Sweets increase the concentration of endorphins and affect your emotional mood.

Important! The main thing is to learn to recognize approaching panic at the very beginning in order to have time to cope with it. Don't ignore negative emotions. Your own fear must be accepted.

There are professional methods for treating aerophobia; specialists will offer suitable therapy.

What not to do

Among those afraid of flying, there is a widespread belief that alcohol can help. But does alcohol actually help get rid of aerophobia? If you feel terrified at the thought of taking to the air, will it be scary to fly by plane, deceiving your psyche by taking a dose of an alcoholic drink? This method is deceptive. Although alcoholic drinks help you relax, they dehydrate the body and increase fatigue.

It's best to resist the temptation to drink a cup of coffee on the plane - it can increase your fear due to the effects of caffeine.

The best solution that will not interfere with your travel is to drink water and juices.

Although some passengers talk about alcohol helping them overcome their fear of flying, do not try to test the effects of this method for yourself. If you are afraid of traveling by plane, choose other ways to overcome your fear of flying.

Help from specialists

Treatment of aerophobia is carried out taking into account the medical history and specific complaints. A psychologist must determine whether the patient is afraid to fly on an airplane and what causes this fear. If there are diseases of the heart and blood vessels, and the vestibular apparatus is not working properly, the patient will be referred to the appropriate specialists.

Important! Long-term use of sedatives as sedatives for aerophobia is not recommended due to the likelihood of developing dependence.

Mild sedatives, for example, valerian, can be taken in small doses, starting 2-3 weeks before travel.

In severe cases, in order not to be afraid to fly on an airplane, you need to see a specialist. At the same time, the main ways to overcome fear are psychotherapeutic. There are other methods, including advanced ones: you get rid of a phobia using neurolinguistic practices and hypnosis.

Methods for treating phobias

Modern medicine has developed several directions on how to deal with obsessive aerophobia:

1. Some medications - sedatives, antidepressants and other tablets are used as drugs for aerophobia. If symptoms are severe (fainting, hysteria), it is recommended to prescribe psychotropic drugs.
2. Psychotherapy comes down to finding out why it is scary to fly on an airplane, identifying a specific phobia and selecting appropriate treatment.
3. Neurolinguistic methods.
4. Treatment with hypnosis.

Determining the main cause of the irrational fear of flying on an airplane is the basis of successful therapy. Moreover, the effectiveness of individual treatment exceeds the effectiveness of group sessions. Often, specialists choose a combination of psychotherapeutic methods and drug therapy.

New treatment methods

Methods of how to get rid of aerophobia forever, practiced recently and using psychological methods of influence, have already proven their effectiveness.

These include methods of cognitive psychotherapy, which consist of repeated immersion of the patient under the constant supervision of a doctor in the atmosphere of an air flight. In the context of developing relaxation skills, a person must move smoothly through stressful situations. That is, the aerophobe is immersed in a state that arises during the flight until the association of this state with relaxation and rest is fixed on an unconscious level. This method answers the question of how to overcome the fear of flying on an airplane: the patient overcomes it by associating air travel with peace, and not with panic. To achieve the described result, psychotherapists use stimulants that recreate virtual reality and other innovative technologies.

Another way to overcome the fear of flying on an airplane is through neurolinguistic practices that are on the border of linguistics, psychology and neuroscience. They study the brain regulation of speech activity, deviations in the processes of speech formation under negative influences on the brain.

Another way to effectively get rid of the fear of flying is through hypnosis sessions. Hypnosis helps to identify the cause of the fear of flying. This helps develop a strategy on how to cure aerophobia. During the session, the hypnologist calms the patient, puts him in a relaxed state and begins to ask questions. The success of treatment is based on teaching people to relax and control their psychosomatic state.

Fear of flying usually receives more attention than other uncontrollable fears due to the inability to avoid flying in many situations. Regardless of the method of coping with the fear of flying on an airplane, success in overcoming the phobia is achievable for 90% of people experiencing this problem.

If you are reading these lines now, then, most likely, you belong to 1/4 of the world's population whose heartbeat quickens and palms sweat at the mere thought of another flight. It is worth paying tribute to, aerophobia is one of the most common fears on the planet, however, this does not mean that there are reasonable grounds for this. By the way, most often creative people suffer from this problem (they have an overly rich imagination) and successful people in high positions (high degree of responsibility). Calm, just calm! Three pillars of the fight against aerophobia: be as informed as possible, learn to control your body (read nerves) and plan your trip correctly. First things first.

Adequately assess the risk

An optimistic start: Your chances of being injured in a plane crash are about 1 in 11 million, or 0.00001%. By comparison, you have a 1 in 5,000 chance of dying in a car accident. This means that the most dangerous part of your entire route is the car ride to the airport. People are much more likely to die from food poisoning, snake bites, lightning strikes, and falling while walking in the park than from flying, but they eat and leave the house with a smile every day, but panic when buying a plane ticket.

Be curious

Most fears come from simply not knowing what will happen next. Why does the plane fly so fast? Why does the wing move? Why did the flight attendant ask you to fasten your seat belts? When we find ourselves in unusual circumstances, our first instinct is to assume the worst. Research shows: 73% of people suffering from aerophobia are afraid of technical problems during a flight. To minimize these fears, try to learn as much as you can about the design of the aircraft and its operation. For example, the most basic thing - why can he even fly? He does this under the influence of four forces: gravity, aerodynamic drag, lift and thrust. As pilots say: “A plane is happier in the air.” Or this fact: at an altitude of 9000 meters there is about 9000 kg of pressure on the door, so it is closed more than reliably and cannot suddenly swing open.

Make friends with turbulence

We agree that when the sky starts to become “chattery”, it’s unpleasant. But this does not mean at all that your life is in danger at this moment. Turbulence occurs because rising and falling air currents have different pressures. When an airplane enters such zones, it begins to shake. Most often this happens while flying over mountains, ocean or sea. Turbulence is absolutely safe for an airplane - it cannot cause any harm to the airplane. You can get hurt if for some reason you do not fasten your seat belts or luggage falls on you.

Each aircraft undergoes a thorough check

“What if they didn’t notice?” “What is this patch on the wing?” Questions familiar? Aircraft regularly undergo a lot of maintenance and repair procedures. Approximate ratio: 11 hours of checks per hour of travel. This means that if your flight takes four hours, the plane has been inspected for 44 hours to make sure everything is in order.

Learn to control anxiety

Firstly, just because you feel anxious does not mean that you are in danger at that moment. In other words, you can shake like a leaf and still remain safe and sound. Secondly, people with aerophobia often refer to the fact that they are “used to being in control of everything.” But something tells us that a professional pilot keeps the situation in the sky under control much better than a panicked passenger. Thirdly, every person can learn to regulate the release of adrenaline with simple exercises. First, try to determine which part of the body is constrained by fear. Face? Legs? Ruk? For example, a feeling of nervous tension most often blocks our shoulders - the muscles become stiff. Take a deep breath, place your hand on your stomach and slowly lower your shoulders. Repeat 5-10 times. For the exercise to “work” in the sky, practice it on the ground for several months. This way, before the flight you will already have a serious “sedative”. Another express option: in moments of particular excitement, squeeze your left wrist forcefully - mild pain will help you return to reality.

Use your imagination

A rich imagination is a “tease” for aerophobes. Vivid pictures and possible scenarios for the development of events only intensify fears. Tame your imagination and use it for your benefit or, simply, occupy your head with extraneous thoughts. Think about a place where you feel happy. Where are you always calm? Cosy? Comfortable? Close your eyes and mentally transport yourself there. Focus on every detail. Another obvious option is to distract yourself with a book, a gaming app, or idle thoughts about “what do you want to try for breakfast” or “what souvenir will you bring from your trip.” Another form of “escaping” from fears is a carefree conversation with a fellow traveler.

Choose the right flight and seat on the plane

There are a few things you can do in advance to ease your travel pains. For example, try to take direct flights to your destination - the less time you spend in the air, the better. It is most comfortable to reserve a seat in the wing area - this area of ​​the aircraft is the most stable and least susceptible to shaking. Other priorities include sitting in the aisle or by the emergency exit, but not by the window (the temptation to check every 5 minutes whether the wings are in place is too great). For some passengers, the feeling of anxiety increases in the dark, so daytime flights are still preferable for aerophobes.

Make yourself comfortable

Comfort in flight is a very important factor. When traveling, choose comfortable and practical clothing that will not restrict movement or impede blood circulation. Favorite music generates positive emotions instead of negative ones.

Avoid news about plane crashes

Many aerophobes become obsessed with the topic of air accidents that are discussed in the press. You don't need to be a psychologist to understand how this news affects the nervous system and cultivates experiences. Avoid the temptation to regularly “feed” your own fears. By the way, this rule applies to both films and books about “scary flights.” Favorite TV series, glossy and entertainment publications work in contrast, with news about new details of the Jolie-Pitt family’s divorce

Air travel has firmly and reliably entered the lives of modern people and plays a key role when it comes to the speed of movement from one place (city, country) to another. But sometimes the most fearless and experienced people, who have flown on airplanes more than once, experience subconscious, inexplicable fear from just the sight of the aircraft on which they are about to fly. Aerophobia is most acutely observed in those moments when a person climbs a ladder, which transfers him into the arms of a metal monster plowing the endless expanses of air.

Of course, everyone, without exception, who has ever flown on a plane, has wondered “what if the plane crashes”? Naturally, this rhetorical question, or rather an assumption, remains for many passengers the subject of short-term thoughts and memories of famous science fiction films about disasters with a happy ending, and for some - the reason for ongoing panic fear of flying. This fear significantly spoils the lives of people whose lives involve frequent or periodic air travel.

A business trip, going on vacation to warm countries, visiting distant relatives - these and other reasons can be a reason for an air flight that lasts several hours, and with the help of which a lot of time is saved. But how can you overcome aerophobia and get rid of this depressing feeling?

Really aerophobia or minor anxiety?

First you need to determine whether you have aerophobia at all. Every person during the flight experiences some feelings of discomfort and anxiety, but if he can control these negative emotions and does not allow them to take over him entirely, then they cannot be classified as aerophobia.

True fear does not give a person a single chance for self-control, that is, it completely absorbs him when a person is faced with the need to travel by air. Then this fear controls the person, forcing him to avoid flying in any way. If traveling by air cannot be avoided in any way, then the nervous tension of such a person during the flight reaches its limit.

In especially severe cases, it is better to seek help from psychologists who specialize in problems of this kind. There are already specialists in Russia who can provide such services. Therapy sessions are often attended by pilots, flight attendants and other workers whose lives are directly related to daily flights. Psychologists, with the participation of airline representatives, teach those with aerophobia to control their fear.

You can cope with fear on your own if it does not reach the level of panic in you. But! First, let's learn about methods that should not be used.

What actions should you avoid if you are afraid of flying?

Some try to drown out their panic by drinking alcohol. This should under no circumstances be done, as it is fraught with a number of negative consequences.

You should also not scrupulously, down to the smallest detail, study information about the airliner and search the Internet for stories about disasters involving this model, even if you really want to.

At the end of the day, you need to know as you climb up the steps that the airplane is the safest form of transportation on the planet. And these are not empty words. This fact is demonstrated by impartial statistics, and, as we all know, they are stubborn things. That's why reports of plane crashes are very rare, and that's why they attract everyone's attention.

When you compare the number of daily flights and passengers with the number of plane crashes and deaths, you will see for yourself that plane crashes are very rare.

Over the course of a year, more than 5 billion people manage to use the services of companies, of which 400-500 die. That is, only one out of 10 million passengers sets off on their last journey. It’s like, for example, in Moscow 1 person dies a year. But in the capital’s car accidents, 30 thousand people lose their lives every year! It turns out that in order to become a direct participant in a plane crash, you need to board a random flight every day for 21 thousand years. Who has that much time?

“It didn’t reassure me. It’s the plane that I’m flying on that will crash, because I’m the unluckiest person in the world,” this is how many passengers “cope with their fears,” despite the statistics.

Daily flight map

Common Stereotypes

In the process of studying aerophobia, we concluded that 65% of people suffering from this disease experience fear when shaking the plane in the air, turbulence, and believe that the ship can crash from a height of 10 km, falling into an “air hole.” To refute this hypothesis, we will soon write an article - “Elementary laws of physics and turbulence.”

Also, according to a public survey, it is believed that Russian airlines operate very old planes, and the pilots and flight attendants are complete alcoholics. This is wrong!

All airlines in Russia operating domestic and international flights have certificates of conformity: ICAO, IOSA and IATA. Which confirm qualified service and maintenance of aircraft. And also, highly qualified crews that meet international standards.

Domestic airlines are members of international alliances, for example, Aeroflot has been a member of the Sky Team since 2006, S7 Airlines is a member of OneWorld, and Utair wants to join the Star Alliance.

A few facts: Aeroflot’s aircraft fleet is one of the most modern in the world, as well as the youngest in Europe. Transaero is one of the 15 safest airlines in the world. In the entire history of the company, there has not been a single incident involving casualties or injuries to passengers.

However, this does not mean that you should only fly with major airlines.

If a Samara Airlines or Air Nigeria aircraft is in operation at the airport, this means that it has passed all checks and is exactly as safe as an Emirates or Etihad Airlines aircraft.

And don't worry if the plane you're flying on is 10, 15 or 20 years old. At the world's largest airline, Delta Air Lines, half of its fleet is over 20 years old. In Russia there are practically no airplanes over 25 years old. However, ships that are 25 years old or more are quite normal; the service life of aircraft is very long.

Switch your attention!

If logical arguments do not help, and such thoughts bombard your mind, only relaxation methods remain. You can listen to calming music, read a magazine or book, in short, somehow take your mind off what is happening.

Years of flying experience show that many people can be calmed by delicious food and drink, so bring something suitable. Drinks containing caffeine and other nervous system stimulants should not be drunk, as this will agitate an already tense nervous system. Therefore, it is better to take a herbal sedative tablet and drink it with water.

If none of the methods helped you, then you need to close your eyes, breathe slowly and focus only on the positive aspects that this trip will bring. Is this a picturesque country you're heading to? Then you are one step away from realizing your dream! Are you looking forward to a promotion after your trip? Right now you are rapidly approaching your well-being.

An airplane is the safest way to travel on the planet!

A few facts about the “iron birds”:

• All systems have spare versions, and some have 2-4 duplicates. They often have 4 brake systems, 3 fuel systems, 3 fire protection systems, 3 control systems, and 3 landing gear systems.
• At least two engines, the simultaneous failure of which is negligible. Engine failure occurs approximately once every 2 million flight hours, which is 228 years of continuous operation. If one of the engines fails, the aircraft is able to fly without descending (without overload and in standard weather conditions) and land safely. For example, a Boeing 737 can fly for 2 hours in emergency mode.

According to modern world standards for passenger aircraft, if one of the engines fails, the ship must maintain the ability to fly without loss of altitude (under standard weather conditions) and land safely.

For example, on a Boeing 737 airliner, the planned emergency flight time (on 1 engine) is 2 hours.

• Before each flight, all aircraft undergo technical inspection by a whole team of professional specialists.
• Plane crashes usually happen not for one reason, but due to a combination of many circumstances, which are carefully studied and effective measures are taken to prevent them from happening again.
• Every year, passenger traffic increases by 10%, and accidents decrease by 15%.

All this confirms that the safest vehicle on planet Earth is an airplane! Happy flight and soft landing!