Personally, I feel much safer in a bird where, if s**t starts to happen, I just find the nearest farmer's field and land :-) I'd rather have smoke in the cockpit in my Beech Sundowner, than at night out over the middle of the ocean. I can be on the ground in 5 minutes. As SR111 illustrated, you don't have to be too far out over the ocean for it to take too long to get down safely. Just because of the sheer unpleasantness of airline travel I now go out of my way to avoid it. I don't really worry aboard an airliner, but I feel perfectly at home in my Beech, and would rather be there. Mike Gammon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael C. Berch" <mcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 9:19 PM Subject: Fear of flying (was Re: WN seating question) > I have a close friend who somewhat suddenly, in his mid-30s (he's early > 40s or so now), developed an intractable fear of flying. What's odd is > that he was a licensed pilot (PP-SEL) and aviation enthusiast, and one > day a few years ago he just freaked out on (I believe) a tourist > submarine in Hawaii, had to be heavily medicated for the flight back to > the mainland, and since then has only been able to fly while sedated, > and finally gave up flying totally. He's seen various docs, and even > enrolled in the fear-of-flying clinic/class at SFO, which didn't cure > it or even help much. > > Naturally this has impacted his personal and professional life quite a > bit, and I've volunteered to help work on it with him, including being > a flight buddy when he's ready to try some more flying (his fiancee > does that duty as well), but I'd love to hear of any successful > experiences with therapies, programs, etc., especially new ideas and > theories that may not be widely known as of yet. > > Me, I'm less stressed on airline flights than I am on the ground. > > -- > Michael C. Berch > mcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > > On Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at 06:05 PM, Kenton A. Hoover wrote: > > > An ex-girlfriend's mother had that phobia. She visited her daughter > > only > > once as long as her daughter lived a plane-ride away... > > > > --On Wednesday, 16 July, 2003 17.40 -0700 Greg Bredell > > <filmscape@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > >> Yeah it is. ..a phobia worse than motion sickness. Being an airplane > >> is > >> like being in an elevator except the ride is a hell of a lot longer... > > >