# Fear of Flying or Vertigo



## Geedee (Jul 3, 2009)

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## evangilder (Jul 3, 2009)

I would say if you don't like cliff sides and things like that, then there is a bit of a fear of heights. There could certainly be a lack of control, but that would also be true on a warbird when someone else is flying. But the difference is that you can see the cockpit and who is flying the planes in the warbird, where there is limited to no contact whatsoever with a flight crew on a commercial flight. 

When I first started flying in warbirds, it took some time to get used to turbulence, close formation flying (sometimes wing overlap! ), and the creaks and moans of old airplanes. Did I get nervous? yes. Have I gotten used to it? yes. Do I sometimes still get spooked? Yes. 

I think it is fairly normal to be somewhat nervous and/or apprehensive when flying. As long as it doesn't become overwhelming or incapacitating, it is probably something that can be overcome. It may take a few flights with everything normal to get over. But as a precaution, you might want to get your ears checked. Sometimes, inner ear disturbances can cause disorientation and/or vertigo when the pressure changes, especially in airplanes. That can lead you to feel uneasy as well. 

One other thing to consider is that you may be sensitive to elevated levels of EMF (Electro-Magnetic Fields), which will be stronger in commercial aircraft than warbirds because of newer avionics, radar, etc. There are no medically recognized treatments for it. Considering EMF sensitivity is different for different people, it is something not well understood. But some suggest that taking antioxidants and increasing vitamin C, E and selenium can help to alleviate it a bit (I'm not a medical practitioner, so I am only going on what I have read and overheard from family conversations).

Just my $.02


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## trackend (Jul 3, 2009)

I still have a fear of heights Gary I hate climbing high ladders but Im ok on aircraft many years ago I was determined to overcome my fear of heights so i thought kill or cure and did a parachute jump from Biggin Hill I found out that in my case relating to height from a plane or parachute is totally different than when Im up a ladder. I was told by a climber freind its to do with vanishing points an object that is attached to the ground eg a ladder has a deffinate vanishing point that I could relate to were as an aircraft lacks this Im no head doctor and as I say my fear of ladders still persists despite an atempt at a parachute cure 
I susspect the guys on here Like Eric and co will shed more light on the subject than I can but you certainly have my sympathys mate
Lee


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## Geedee (Jul 5, 2009)

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## GrauGeist (Jul 5, 2009)

I suffer from something similiar, although how it came about is much different.

A number of years ago, I was poisoned by chemical exposure that devestated my system. To make a long story short, I have great difficulties with heights now and it's most likely associated with anxiety.

I hate it, and it's taken years for me to will myself back to being "normal" (as if I ever was), but you know what I mean.

It's hard to describe, but where I used to be able to hang over the side of a 3 storey building to repair a light fixture, I can't even climb an extension ladder now, without getting freaked out (cold sweats, heart pounding, mouth going dry...all that fun stuff). The chemical imbalance triggered something that makes me get anxious like mad...and I've been told that sometimes, as a person's system changes with age (oh yeah, it's inevitable), it can bring on symptoms of anxiety as well.

The docs all wanted to load me down with meds, and I declined, figuring that I didn't need them before and I wasn't about to start. I just use brute-force mind over matter to beat that crap...it's not easy, but it works.


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## trackend (Jul 5, 2009)

Geedee said:


> I'm booking in for a 'well man' checkup at the doc's



I got one of those next month 
I suspect he'll just stick a needle in my head and tell me its the kindest thing to do


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## Matt308 (Jul 5, 2009)

GrauGeist may have hit it on the head. I suffer from anxiety attacks that I attribute to leaving home and large crowds (e.g., airports/airplanes). It got so bad that I would literally find myself getting nauseated a week before I had to leave. The day I had to leave, I literally would make myself physically ill (sweats, puking, etc).

I sympathize with you brother. Modern air travel sucks from the moment you leave your house. There is nothing even remotely fun about it. Flying isn't your problem I would suspect.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 5, 2009)

I doubt that it is vertigo. I have experienced vertigo in mission flight one time. Pretty scary, but avoidable if you know what to do. It happened to me on a IFR flight, I should not have been staring at the cloud formations!


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## BikerBabe (Jul 5, 2009)

I'm watching and reading along, because it's a bit of a problem for me too.
I don't mind (that much *snort*) to stand on a tall ladder as long as I've got someone to hold onto the ladder itself, or I can see the ground, but tall buildings makes me dizzy, and planes makes my fear of flying pop up.
And fairground rides of the wilder kind can really make me sick because of me losing my sense of direction, which can really make me vomit and feel physically ill.

The funny thing is, that when I was a kid, I went flying with my father in a tiny Cessna sports plane, and that was just fun and a cool, great experience.
Later, when my ex and I had to fly from Stockholm and back home to Copenhagen a few years ago, I almost had to dig out my finger nails from the poor guy's thigh as we took off and went flying.
The ironic thing is, that that as soon as we approached the airport (Kastrup), I relaxed and my fear was completely gone. *scratches head* And I _know _that takeoffs and landings are probably the most dangerous part of a flight, _that_'s why I wonder abot my own reaction... 

And now that I think about it, it might have something to do with the fact that I react really badly to stress and stressful situations, which is something I've been having problems with ever since 1993, where a lot of bad stuff happened in my life, and I went totally down with anxiety attacks and PTSD. (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome)
I got help and I live a normal life today, but as I mentioned, I react very badly to stress, so my thought is:
If you're stressed, you might as well react because of that, in stressful situations like flying and getting on top of a ladder, or whatever might kick your fear of heights into Action-mode.
That's the bad thing.
The good thing is that something can be _done _about it, and you can get rid of that fear and/or stress, if that's your problem - ask a phys how he/she can help you, as I won't recommend a life dictated by fear. I've been there, it's _no _fun at all.

So: Yes, I'm also afraid of flying, but if I get the chance I'd go flying, because I'm stubborn, temperamental and pig-headed enough _not _to let that %¤%¤ fear dictate my life! *growls*.
I know I'll probably get the chance at the air show in Roskilde in august this year, so if I've got the money, I certainly wouldn't mind a ride in the danish DC-3 that sells rides that weekend - I know I'll probably be both terrified _and _exhilariated, but it would be _something_. O _man_, it would. 
But a _helicopter_? No _way_, it hasn't got any _wings_!  

Anyway: Thanks for starting this thread, there's a lot of good input here, of which I noticed that the advice of getting a physical check-up is a good thing, that's something I'd like to do - especially my ears and my sense of balance and direction, as I know that that can be a bit of a slight problem with me.
Just ask my parents, who's been to the ER with me a lot of times when I was younger, because I was (- and is!) clumsy. 

I hope you get the right help to figure out what can be done, and how to get rid of your fear - life is so much better without too much fear.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 5, 2009)

BikerBabe said:


> I
> But a _helicopter_? No _way_, it hasn't got any _wings_!



Yeah but you have a great chance of landing a helicopter if there are problems, because it has not wings. Instead you have those fast turning things on top called rotors! 

Seriously, I crewed them for 6 years and even had a dual engine failure on take off. Put the bird right down on the ground as if we were actually landing.


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## BikerBabe (Jul 5, 2009)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> Yeah but you have a great chance of landing a helicopter if there are problems, because it has not wings. Instead you have those fast turning things on top called rotors!
> 
> Seriously, I crewed them for 6 years and even had a dual engine failure on take off. Put the bird right down on the ground as if we were actually landing.



Thanks for the input Adler, but we're talking something very illogical here - feelings. 
And the _thing _hasn't got any _wings_!!!!   
That's _not _natural!
Me _NO _like!!!
(_Told _you it was illogical, right?  )


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 5, 2009)

BikerBabe said:


> Thanks for the input Adler, but we're talking something very illogical here - feelings.
> And the _thing _hasn't got any _wings_!!!!



Yeah but you have nothing to worry about. A helo is so ugly that it is repelled from the earth!


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## BikerBabe (Jul 5, 2009)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> Yeah but you have nothing to worry about. A helo is so ugly that it is repelled from the earth!



 I'll accept that explanation as being just exactly as logical as my own. 
But I _still _don't like helicopters...*glances sideways and very suspiciously at a low passing traffic helicopter in the danish evening sky*...*mutters*...no wings...*pout*


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## GrauGeist (Jul 5, 2009)

lol BB...I'm with you there.

I've logged countless hours in a wide range of fixed-wing aircraft in all conditions, and I'll take a fixed-wing over a rotary-wing any time...

Nothing against you at all Adler, or any helo-driver for that matter...thier safety record speaks for themselves, but it's the "illusion" that there's no wings that makes me highly suspicious of 'em 

In all honesty, a person can be killed on a bicycle, so I know there's no real logic to it!


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## BikerBabe (Jul 5, 2009)

GrauGeist said:


> lol BB...I'm with you there.
> 
> I've logged countless hours in a wide range of fixed-wing aircraft in all conditions, and I'll take a fixed-wing over a rotary-wing any time...
> 
> ...



Hæhæh GG, to paraphrase you: I'm with you there. 
And about logic:
Fear is a feeling. Feelings has got their own logic, which has nothing to do with "brain"-logic.
Or: That's how I see it. I hope you get what I mean, which is a little different from what I've written...or something. 
In other words: Don't read what I _write_, read what I _mean_. 
*sigh*...christ, why does being a human being have to be so darned...illogical??? *broad grin*


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## Maestro (Jul 5, 2009)

I suffered the same kind of... erhm... sickness, back in my childhood. Each time I was standing on a cliff (or high balcony), I could feel my legs getting weak. It was only an illusion, but an unpleasant one.

Plus, the fact that my mother never wanted me to climb on an airplane in a Grade 4 school trip (take off, fly around the airport and land, simple, right ?) didn't help...

But I've always been interrested in warbirds which led me to also get interrested into commercial flights (although my knowledge on that side of flying is rather limited). I also watched a documentary about crash-landings and survival... which helped me to "whipe out" that fear... I took my first flight in September 2008, when I went to London. I never felt fear the whole time I was in the plane (a British Airways flight), although I felt a little anxious at the airport. Damn... I even felt asleep on my way back to Canada.

Here are a few tips I can give you that I learned through the years... May be it will help you too.

1 - Always fly with a company that you trust. (Keep in mind that your life is in the hands of the pilots/crew members.)

2 - Never get on a plane that belongs to a company you can't spell the name of.

3 - Get information on flight companies... I read somewhere that British Airways is the leader in safety with 0.52 accidents by 1,000,000 flights (the term "accident" here include all types of problems, going from a simple bolt that broke up to a complete crash), Swiss Air was also a close second in that study.

4 - Sit as close as possible to an emergency exit. If you cannot get a seat in the row of seats where the emergency exit is located, try to get a seat in a row next to it. In that case, count the number of rows going from your seat to the closest exit with your hand (so you can find your way out if the airplane fills up with smoke).
5 - Keep in mind that the safety belt is *not* a car belt... It doesn't open up the same way. Many peoples died in crashes because they forgot that simple fact and were trying to open it up "car-like".

6 - If you crash on land, exit the plane by crawling on the ground. (It may sound stupid, but some peoples forget that smoke is lighter than air and accumulates near the roof.)

7 - If you crash into the sea, inflate your life jacket once you are *outside* of the plane. (Once again it may sound stupid, but some peoples forget that once the life jacket is inflated, you *float* ! So if you're still in the plane, you're gonna be trapped and will drown like a rat.)

8 - Always read the safety manual on the plane you are flying in ! Safety rules may change with companies.

Now, if you follow those simple rules, I guess that your fear will desappear... Or at least you will be much less fearful in a plane.

Hope it helps.


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## Glider (Jul 5, 2009)

It might sound daft but try and go for some flights in a Glider. For obvious reasons people get used to the idea that the loss of an engine isn't the end of the world and that turbulance can equal lift.

If its an airline fly Qantas they have never ever lost a passanger, not since their first flight in 1921.

PS I suffer from vertigo so there is no logic to it, none at all.


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## evangilder (Jul 6, 2009)

Vertigo is a strange phenomena. I haven't had it while flying, oddly enough, but had a week or so of it after the Northridge earthquake. I guess getting my brains rattled in the quake disrupted my equilibrium for a bit. It did resolve itself after a while and I even had the Dr check to make sure I didn't have something else going on. He said it was fairly normal for people after something like that to experience vertigo.

So get your ears checked first, then try various things to desensitize yourself.


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## Airframes (Jul 6, 2009)

This is interesting Gary. A very good friend of mine used to fly, having a PPL. But now, if he wants to travel anywhere in Europe, he'll drive there, rather than fly, as he is terrified of flying! About a year ago, I took him back to the same Aero Club of which we had both been members, and got another friend to take him up in a Cherokee Arrow, sitting as P2.
He came back with a big grin on his face!
But since then, he's had to fly on commercial flights twice, the last time only two weeks ago, and the guy who accompanied him to Bulgaria had to get him p*ssed before he'd get on the aircraft! (He very nearly wasn't allowed to board!)
When I asked him what the problem was, he told me he thinks it's because he's stuck in a sealed tube, with no escape, being pulled through the air at around 500 knots, with no control.
So, lack of control could be one reason.
But, the mention of ear problems also raises another possibility.
I have been involved in flying, and parachuting, including high-altitude free fall, for nearly 40 years, and never had a problem, apart from the usual pre-jump nerves of course. I will admit though, that climbing onto say, the roof of the house to do some work would be a little nerve wracking, until I had been up there for a while, and got used to it. Then, about twelve years ago, before I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, I had a minor road accident, when some numpty ran into the back of my car whilst I was stationary at some traffic lights. Very soon after, I began to experience slight balance problems, for example, when standing up quickly from a sitting position. A week or so later, I had to fly, coincidentally to Denmark. Not a problem, I thought, until we were airborne and over the North Sea.
I always try to grab a window seat, so that I can get shots of cloud scapes, the ground and ocean, for possible inspiration for my paintings. On this occassion, I was taking some oblique shots of the cloud patterns on the sea, some 25,000 or 30,000 feet below, and all was fine, whilst looking through the viewfinder of the SLR camera I was using. But, the moment I lowered the camera, and looked directly at the same scene, I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of insecurity. I was shocked, and had to look back into the cabin, when things returned to normal.
Anyway, a similar thing happened on the return flight, so I went to see my doctor, and explained what had happened.
After an examination, it turned out that I had suffered mild 'whiplash' injuries from the car accident, and this had caused some sort of inflammation, affecting the inner ear. The doctor reckoned this had caused a sense of imbalance, and assured me it would eventually pass. He was right, I've never experienced the feeling since, although my neck still 'cracks' occassionally - but that's either the RA, or age!
So, it probably hasn't helped, but 'inner ear' imbalance, or lack of control, could be contributing factors to your 'problem' perhaps?


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## Geedee (Jul 8, 2009)

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## timshatz (Jul 8, 2009)

Geedee, real common what you have. More to do with anxiety than fear of flying. I consider fear an accurate consideration of something that will hurt or kill you (guy with gun, tree falling on you, car coming at you at speed, ect). It is usually pretty fast and intense. Anxiety is more a growing feeling that rests in the pit of your stomach. You know why you feel it but the specifics are tough to pin down (I am in an airplane, the airplane is flying and I don't feel good about it even though I know everything is ok). Nothing more than a technical point. 

I think others pegged it as the loss of control as a good chunk of it. Another point may be your anxiety about heights. Almost everyone has it (except, for some very odd reason, Mowhawk Indians. It's odd but they have no fear of heights). I have heard it said that it is not the fear of heights that you have, but a fear of edges inclusive of heights. Don't worry about that part, we are hardwired to fear heights (at least I think that is it, Heights and abandonment, those are the two fears we are born with if I remember my college Psych classes correctly).

It isn't vertigo. Vertigo isn't scary. It's just plain wrong. I've had it. Thought I was flying along, wings level and...I wasn't. Sliding off to the right. Amazed me. I thought everything was ok. WTF is the thought you get when you realize you're being affected by vertigo. Not fear, amazement.

Not much you can do with what you have. Some people get a few beers in them (Knew about a guy who flew B24s during the war and he would never get on a commercial bird sober. Just couldn't do it, drank like a fish and tried to pass out- bad memories I guess. He never told anybody why). Others take pills. Not recommended but it does work. Perosonally, I sometimes get that shot of anxiety when the airplane takes off. And I'm a pilot (but not the airplane I'm flying, too busy)! But only when I'm a passenger in a commercial bird and only for a second or two. Probably loss of control/roller coaster affect. But, I also instantly tell myself to not worry about it and start wondering when the stewardess is gonna start serving drinks

Failing any other option, keep your mind busy during the flight. I-pod, video games, watch a movie, read a book, drink a beer, but don't just sit there looking out the window. Then, anxiety will start to build.


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## trackend (Jul 8, 2009)

I know one thing Gary a girl phoned radio 2 the other week (you may have heard it) and said her greatest ambition was to fly in a P51.
Duxford show director phoned back and said come to FL your going up in Velma. Bet you would forget all your flying probs to take her place mate


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## Geedee (Jul 9, 2009)

trackend said:


> I know one thing Gary a girl phoned radio 2 the other week (you may have heard it) and said her greatest ambition was to fly in a P51.
> Duxford show director phoned back and said come to FL your going up in Velma. Bet you would forget all your flying probs to take her place mate



Dude, I am so going to buy a bra for the weekend !!!!


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## Heinz (Jul 9, 2009)

I can relate Gary. I'm not big on standing on edges that more than 2metres high really. But I have flown and most recently was up in a Tiger Moth. Yet I was fine in the moth, even looking over the edge of the cockpit direectly to the ground at one point. It's a funny thing when the mind gets too active when the control isn't there. I can equate to a high ball in out field playing cricket. Catching it isnt hard, keeping your mind at bay before it gets to you is. Distracting yourself would help in those situations you mentioned I guess. 

Good luck with it.


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## timshatz (Jul 9, 2009)

Here's one that gets to me when I'm flying (especially when I'm the pilot):

(Note-I know all about the science of flying)- I look out the window and down at the ground. Usually to the left front as I'm flying a low wing bird. About 3-5000 feet up, just looking, clouds drifting by, that sort of thing. Then I look at the wing. Back at the ground. I think, "The only thing holding this thing up is that wing". I swear it looks like the smallest piece of anything when viewed with the earth in the backround. 

That always gets to me.


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## Njaco (Jul 12, 2009)

I can't offer any suggestions except that I'm a member of this Group Therapy here.

I have no problem flying in a Cub, Cessna, helicopter, twin engine prop job, B-17, Stinson even did a flight in one of those crazy "Air America" STOL mission birds. No problem. Loved evey minute of it.

But in '91 I went to San Fran in a 747 and couldn't stand it! Don't know if it was the jet or imaginary "pre-crash" jitters but I will never fly in a commercial jet again. Never. I don't understand it because I will be hoping in any small plane before you could ask but dem jets - no way.

And as for cliffs - I have a different reaction. I always get a strong urge to jump and I have to have enormous control. Cliffs, balconeys, anywhere high.

You are not alone!


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## Maestro (Jul 13, 2009)

Njaco said:


> And as for cliffs - I have a different reaction. I always get a strong urge to jump and I have to have enormous control. Cliffs, balconeys, anywhere high.)



Ah... Feeling suicidal ? You know there is better solutions...


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## Njaco (Jul 14, 2009)




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## BikerBabe (Jul 14, 2009)

Hmmmmmmm guys?

I found an interesting article on the web, which I feel really hits my problem with heights and motion/balance spot on.
I don't know if it can help you guys, but I know that it sure hit home here.

You can read the article here:
Fear of heights

I know that if I get on to a ride in a fun fair that spins and turns so much that I lose my feeling of orientation and direction, I get - at best, dizzy, at worst, sick.
I remember very vividly a fun ride, where the whole idea was to make the participants lose their sense of direction. The ceiling, the floor and the walls inside the fun ride was painted in the same pattern all over, to create the illusion of lack of direction.
I had to grasp the safety bar that helped me stay seated while the ride was going on, and I had to stare at my own hands while I was in there, I got so dizzy that it almost made me sick. But staring at my hands holding on to that safety bar helped me get through the ride, and afterwards I was uncomfortably dizzy for a while, but I didn't get sick.

But put me on a rollercoaster ride where I still has got a sense of direction, and I'm just fine.
In a commercial plane, the slight movements of bobbing gently up and down and not knowing visually how my body is located, I get an uneasy feeling of disorientation, which I find very unsettling, bordering on near panic.
But put me in a tiny Cessna or Piper Cub - and I'm okay. Yes, I'm still a bit uncomfortable, but it's nowhere nearly as bad as in a big plane, where my eyes/balance/brain can't find out where the rest of me is in a sensory sense [sic?], if you understand what I mean.

I know for sure that I've got a pretty lousy sense of balance, which doesn't make things any better - one of the more annoying things about being hypermobile - but maybe training my sense of balance might help. 
So maybe I ought to do just that, together with some serious relaxation exercises - that might help just a little bit, and it might be worth the effort.
I don't know, but I'll try it, just to see if it helps.


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## GrauGeist (Jul 15, 2009)

Maestro said:


> Ah... Feeling suicidal ? You know there is better solutions...


Perhaps that's not really being suicidal but more like the "Lemming syndrome"


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## Njaco (Jul 15, 2009)

ohh, I've been found out!


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## Maestro (Jul 18, 2009)




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## Geedee (Aug 31, 2009)

Rightyho chaps.

I'm off to Cyprus at Sparrow F*rt tomorrow morning. Still not looking forward to the flights but I'm trying to be big and brave.

You guys will have a quite time for a few weeks as I'm not back until the 20th and can only get the occassional access to a pc at the internet cafe at RAF Akrotiri, so I wont be bombarding you with my usual sort of stuff.....dont all shout hoorah in unison !

Catchya later


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## comiso90 (Aug 31, 2009)

Heights in general scare me... I get really nervous driving over large bridges. my palms are sweating even thinking about it..

but I've bee parachuting 7 times.. i just have to rationalize the hell out the experience and break the symptoms of fear into small, easy to understand packets. The more i analyze the fear, the less i am afraid.

.


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## RabidAlien (Aug 31, 2009)

Never have been comfortable around heights, if I don't have something to hold on to. Gimme a good hand-grip, and I'm fine. Weird.


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## Geedee (Sep 21, 2009)

Well, I'm back !. 

First flight managed to get a seat by a window as I said I would try and do. Actually....managed to blag the jump seat up the pointy end for the first 20 mins of the flight !. Crickey, that was a busy session, with the step-climb and all the course corrections due to thunderstorms. Managed to video the whole thing from starting out and when I finally put the video camera down....yup, not quite five sections after I had put the ruddy thing away....we had a lightening strike, right on the nose !. Huge flash !. Scary.

Then on the return flight, mild turbulence for the first 2 hours....dont like that very much. And managed to blag the jump seat from the start of the descent profile to setting the chocks. Woohoo !. All captured on video that I will share later on.

Still aprehensive about flying in the big jets but two flights in a short time with time in 'the office', has certainly helped to calm my fears.


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## RabidAlien (Sep 21, 2009)




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## Coors9 (Sep 21, 2009)

I've loved planes ever since i can remember. There's something about airliners that doesn't click with me. Pretty sure it's the not having any control thing. Your at someone else's mercy. Nothing against the pilot, it's i have no control and that stresses me to no end.


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## PilotGod (Sep 28, 2009)

I too am willing to put money on the problem being a "lack of control" on your part. In the many hours of flying I have done, I never have an issue in small planes as I am either in control, in the front seats, or able to at least see the controls. When I have to get on airliners, I dread it. Being seperated from the cabin by a locked steel door relegates me to "living baggage" with no say over what happens in the plane. I also don't like being surprised, and when you can't see the controls, every turn is a surprise. I've calmed this down a bit by trying to get seats on the wings (easy if your willing to sit near the exits) as watching the control surfaces I can then tell what is going on. Also, exit seats have more leg room and at 6'1" I'll take all I can get.

Now the one "fear" I've never understood is my fear of heights. For instance, come Christmas I get uneasy getting on the roof to hang lights, but put me in an open cockpit at 10,000 ft. inverted with nothing but a 5-point harness between me and falling nearly 2 miles and I am in heaven. I really would like to figure that one out.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 28, 2009)

I can vouch for that as well. I have over 1500 hours of flight time and love flying. Never had a problem flying an aircraft that I had preflighted.

I do have a slight problem flying an airliner however that I have not preflighted. I start going through things in my head and it kind of makes me nervous.

Flying though is not the problem, it is the fact that I had nothing to do with the airworthiness of the aircraft.


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## lesofprimus (Sep 28, 2009)

I personally dont have any problems with heights, vertigo or flying, but its interesting just how many of our members have these fears.... Ive taken more parachute jumps than I can count (as my log book has gone missing) and I never had any fear except those first couple night jumps...

The problems I face are on takeoff and landing.... And I have to agree with the guys, its all about control... 

Ive had 3 REALLY close calls while flying and every time I have to go into the air, I feel that since Ive had the proverbial 3rd strike while flying, Im in the air on borrowed time....

As I said above, Im fine while in the air, its getting up and coming down that get the ol anxiety (sweaty hands/bile in throat) pumping... Ive narrowed it down to a couple things:

First off, as Chris said, I question the abilities of the guys who do the pre-flights on the commercial birds... Ive known a few ground personnel in my time and never thought of them as "highly trained" individuals...

Secondly, my faith in the man/woman sittin in the pilots seat.... Was this clown drinking in the pilots lounge??? Did he take a handful of amphetimines to keep awake cause he just flew across the Atlantic and now has to fly my ass down to the Caribbean???

Its about control and leaving my life in the hands of some meatball Ive never met before... Trust in someone I dont know is very hard for me to come to terms with... 

Also, and as a few others up above have stated, Ive ruptured both of my ear drums in the past, my left ear twice, and I believe that this also contributes somewhat to my queasiness during turbulence and hard banking maneouvers...


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## Njaco (Oct 7, 2009)

Glad you made it Gee!!

I agree with Chris and Dan and add one more. I think survivability in a Cessna is greater than in a 747. Tends to make everything more enjoyable for me.


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 7, 2009)

Finally chiming in on this.

When I was finally "seriously" working on my pilot's license I would get extremely airsick if I was not manipulating the controls. So bad I thought I would have to give up flying. A trip to my doctor revealed that I had some inner ear damage and my doc said it should eventually go away. Several weeks and many barf bags later it did.

These days no worries. Aerobatics on a full stomach don't help and I try to avoid flying commuter airlines. Aside from that I have no fear of flying, although a few of my students did give me some second thoughts!


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## Maestro (Oct 8, 2009)

FLYBOYJ said:


> Aside from that I have no fear of flying, although a few of my students did give me some second thoughts!



Something like this, I presume...

Student : "This is flight 62 on final approach..."

Instructor : "Put the f*cking wheels down, dammit !"


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## Soren (Oct 8, 2009)

I have no fear of flying, but, I'd rather sit in a helicopter than an ordinary airplane. The heli is safer IMO, esp. if an engine cuts out.


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## Geedee (Oct 11, 2009)

FLYBOYJ said:


> I try to avoid flying commuter airlines.



You havent flown with this guy then by any chance ?...

_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivjybzdXVmI_


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## pbfoot (Oct 11, 2009)

I am scared when asked to fly in a light civil aircraft , I guess to much time in the tower watching some of these guys perform


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## Njaco (Oct 11, 2009)

I dunno PB. I think I would enjoy that. Its when they try that stuff in a 727 that scares me!


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## pbfoot (Oct 11, 2009)

Njaco said:


> I dunno PB. I think I would enjoy that. Its when they try that stuff in a 727 that scares me!


I've seen some real head shaking stuff from General aviation guys


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