Afraid to fly?

Many people are afraid to fly. An ABC news poll gathered that roughly 14% of people are afraid of flying. Are you one of those people? I know I am. I am not sure when it happened, but at some point many years ago I became terrified of flying even though I fly all the time for business and have hundreds of thousands of miles in my airline frequent flyer mileage accounts. Intellectually, I understand that flying is much safer than driving and many other things I participate in.

However, emotionally, I turn into a basketcase when I get into a jetliner that lifts off the ground. When there is a terror story in the news involving a plane, I tune in with great interest.

So, how does one conquer this fear? I decided initially that the best approach was to self-medicate with alcohol. So, before the flight, the Jack Daniels and Diet Cokes would begin flowing. I would have two or so before the flight in the airport lounge and would request another "coke"
in a to-go cup so I could bring onboard to last me until the booze began flowing from the beverage cart. Sometimes, this would be the only drink I would get as I have encountered situations where severe turbulence shut down any cabin service from the flight attendants. One morning, I had to take a flight which presented a problem. I did not want to fly "commando" - my term for flying without any intoxicants. However, I did not feel that drinking at 7 am was a good option either. Although I did drink this particular morning, my doctor thought I should try a small dose of Xanax. I took Xanax for years whenever I flew. This opened up a whole new world of less anxious flying for me and has worked out great as long as I do not mind arriving a little groggy.

An interesting thing happened to me about three years ago - I discovered private air travel and conquered my fear at the same time. I would encourage anyone who is scared to fly and who has the means to try chartering a plane. There is something about being able to talk to the two pilots and viewing the cockpit in flight if I desire that provides me a great deal of comfort. If I Have a question, I can just walk up an ask. If the weather is bad and I am not comfortable, I can ask questions and/or delay the flight an hour. When I fly private, I no longer have to self-medicate at all. Flying private has totally changed my world and I am sure has added years to my life in stress aleviation.