by Elizabeth Parry

air travel is thirty times safer than driving a motor vehicle

Why are people afraid of flying?

The fear of flying has very little to do with the risk of a plane crash. Air travel is thirty times safer than driving a car - the risk is very small. In most cases the fear is actually caused by the way air travel highlights our vulnerability. We are forty thousand feet in the air, traveling at 400 mph and to make it twice as bad we have no control over what's happening. We can't take the pilot's seat and we can't get off until the plane lands. The majority of people can simply accept this but many can't and therefore develop anxiety.

There are many specific aspects of air travel that can contribute to this anxiety:

- enclosed areas
- heights
- fear of terrorism
- relying on machines
- relying on a pilot who you know absolutely nothing about
- crowded cabins
- the unusual

The main symptom of a fear of flying is obviously just not wanting to get on that airplane. However, there are many physical and psychological effects of this phobia:

- dizziness
- weakness
- sweating
- heavy breathing
- chest pains
- negativity
- impaired memory
- abdominal discomfort
- muscle tension

What can be done to treat this fear?

There are many ways to cure or at least reduce the effects of a fear of flying. What works for one person may not work for someone else.

- sometimes all it takes is education. Many people have lost their fear when they began to understand the high safety levels of air travel and what actually happens when you fly. For example some people become are particularly frighten of turbulence because of the apparent loss of control. However, once they realize the vast majority of turbulence is harmless they are able to rationalize their fear.

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