We all know somebody who’s afraid to fly. That person for whom there’s not enough Xanax in the world to get them aboard a plane. The person in the next seat who’s clenching the arm rests as if their life depends on it. The person who’s tried everything from calming wristbands to copious amounts of their alcoholic beverage of choice in order to help them get from Point A to Point B.
It doesn’t matter to them that the chance of being killed in a plane crash are about 1 in 11 million, while the chance of dying in an auto accident are 1 in 5,000.
As with most phobias, the person suffering from fear of flying knows logically that their chances of dying in a plane crash are infinitesimally small, but the fear is still there. And it only gets worse if the plane encounters turbulence.
But pilot Timothy Griffin has developed a phone app that will help travelers deal with the fears brought on by turbulence.
MyFlightForecast, available for Android and iPhone, allows passengers to access a weather forecast for their flight. Travelers can learn where turbulence has been reported in their flight path, educates passengers on what causes turbulence, and reminds them that it’s not unusual or unsafe. All a user needs to do is input their origin airport and destination airport to get a live turbulence report.
“Many of those who suffer from fear, find relief in understanding,” Griffin said in a statement. “By understanding aviation weather and how it may affect their particular flight, passengers will feel more at ease when they fly.”
But what if knowing where turbulence is on your flight path doesn’t do anything to make your flying-phobic friend feel more comfortable?
Rest assured, even severe phobias around flying can be resolved.
Pilot Griffin has developed a one-day course that purports to cure fear of flying, as have British Airways and a number of other airports and airlines. Other tools to treat fear of flying include behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and virtual reality.
Behavioral therapy “typically involves breathing exercises, flight simulations, interaction with airline pilots, and finally boarding a plane and taking to the skies,” according to an article in The Economist. Cognitive therapy essentially teaches patients how to regulate their own fear of flying. EMDR involves attempting to distract the brain with light or sound while the patient is thinking a negative thought. Virtual reality uses a flight simulator that simulates turbulence and other phenomena that frighten phobic travelers.
Do you know a person who’s terrified of flying? What have you done to try and ease their fear? Do you know of any fear-of-flying treatments that have worked? Sound off in the comments!