Found in 1 comment on Hacker News
marz0 · 2018-07-31 · Original thread
I'm currently overcoming this fear myself after putting off flying for several years. It sounds like it might help you to learn more about how flying works.

Although it seems dangerous, turbulence is really nothing to be afraid of. I would recommend reading either Flying with Confidence [0] or SOAR [1] to learn more.

Think about how often pilots and flight attendants fly and how routine every flight is for them. Commercial aviation is incredibly safe. Even in the very unlikely event that you experience a plane crash, it's quite likely that you survive that crash.

Consider these statistics[2]:

> "In 2016 there were about 163 aviation 'accidents' worldwide, including those involving business jets and military transports as well as jet and propeller airliners.

A grand total of 24 resulted in fatalities, meaning only about 15 per cent of all accidents in this grouping - which themselves are extremely rare events - actually resulted in lives being lost."

I wouldn't recommend avoiding flying since that won't do anything to help your phobia. In the past 3 months I've gone on 11 flights and have 3 more planned next month. I'm actively working on getting over my phobia by flying often so that my brain gets desensitized to flying and doesn't perceive it as a threat.

You can also talk to your physician about your fear of flying and they'll most likely prescribe you something like Xanax to help. There are lots of tools out there to help you get over your fear and I'm confident you'll find something to help you :)

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Flying-Confidence-proven-programme-fl... [1] https://www.amazon.com/Soar-Breakthrough-Treatment-Fear-Flyi... [2] https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/2535002/plane-crash-survival...

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