Fear of Flying - Heights

[peter34uk]

Hi all,

Been a while since I posted. Hope everyone well!

I have a terrible fear of flying but going to do a BA Flying with Confidence course on Saturday at Heathrow, which will include a flight.

Now I am gradually accepting that the plane itself is safe, but it's the heights, being so high off the ground, so high above the clouds like your touching space scares the life out of me!

And the diagonal climb upon take off which freaks me out.

Does anyone else fly and have a fear of heights? How do you cope, or if you even need too?

Thanks
Pete

[Catkins]

I really don't like flying, I especially don't like take off or landing. I don't know if it would be classed as phobia, but I never really enjoy it.

What I do;

I never sit by the window - I don't want to see that I'm up in the air. It's strange but when I'm above the clouds it's almost as if the clouds become the ground in my head and so I can sometimes look out.

On take off and landing I always make sure I have a sweet to suck and a trashy magazine to try and focus on.

Slow, deep, breathing - I do this whenever I need to, before, during, after. Also I visit the toilet a lot, just the act of getting up, walking to the toilet, staying there a few minutes, then walking back helps get rid of some adrenaline. Having an aisle seat helps with this, I don't feel bad about asking people to let me out.

Distraction - I read, watch a film (if on a longer flight), play a game on my phone, anything to take my mind off where I am.

Does it work 100% of the time? No, but if I keep focused on the end goal and keep doing everything that I've said I get through it.

[panic_down_under]

Does anyone else fly and have a fear of heights?

I don't much like climbing up a couple of ladder rungs to change a light globe, but guess what my day job used to be?! And I'm no orphan on this. Aviation seems to attract a lot of folk with a fear of heights.

The mind can be a contrary thing. It often sees danger in relatively innocuous activities yet couldn't care less about potentially far more hazardous ones. Being inside a metal/plastic tube usually tricks the mind into not seeing it the same way it sees us standing on a chair.

Contrary to what many advise, I suggest you get a window seat if you can as it gives you something to focus on besides yourself, but also take a small paperback book so you have something to occupy your mind if it decides to have some 'fun' with you.