Many of you will have seen various fear of flying courses advertised by airlines and on the Internet. In the UK the most popular ones are:
- Virgin Atlantic’s “Flying Without Fear”
- British Airways linked “Aviatours”
- Flybe’s “FlyingFear”
According to their web site, all of these courses follow roughly the same format:
- An explanation of how flying works from a pilot
- An explanation of turbulence
- A discussion calming fears of safety and crashing
- A buffet lunch
- A relaxation seminar from an expert or a psychologist
- A question and answer session
- A flight
Each of these courses cost between £180-250 approximately. I think most people with a severe fear of flying would agree that £250 is a small price to pay to overcome your fears. After all, most of these courses advertise 95% success rate, so it is a good investment.
Chris from Somerset (in the southwestern UK for those of you who aren’t from round here) has written to me with an appraisal of the Virgin Atlantic “Flying Without Fear” course which he partook in last year.
Take it away Chris!
“I decided to go on the course because I’ve suffered from a complete horror of flying for about ten years. I used to be OK flying but gradually I became more nervous. I have suffered from other phobias as well, mainly involving travel. For a long time I was too claustrophobic to travel by train, underground, boat and also drive on the motorway.
The Virgin course FAQ section stated on the web site:
“I am the most scared person ever that you could imagine – how could you help me?
We have helped people with all levels of fears from mild anxiety to full-blown panic attacks and vomiting at the mere mention of aircraft. “
Obviously they knew something about overcoming fear of flying then. If they took people like this and still had a high success rate. I took the decision and signed up.
The Big Day
Of course I was pretty nervous by the time the big day arrived. I lived some distance from the airport, so I had to pay extra for a bed and breakfast. I had trouble sleeping the night before but managed to get a few hours. Before I slept I watched plans landing at the nearby airport. A huge Air Canada 747 floated in as the sun set and it looked so beautiful and serene I really believed I could do it.
By the time I arrived the next morning I felt awful and had already made my mind up that I would sit through the spoken, land based part but escape before the flight.
Inside the venue though everyone was friendly and supportive and I got chatting to a few people who were also pretty nervous. I felt encouraged.
Group Work
The group organisation of the course is excellent. Although there were 100 plus people there, we were organised into groups of 8 or 9 with a very friendly and understanding team leader who was an ex-cabin crew with a lot of experience. It was good to have that personal encouragement and to get talking to those around us. Interestingly there were far more women than men. Fear of flying effects more women? Men are too stubborn or arrogant to do anything about it? I don’t know which but certainly there were many women who had young children, and it is said that this can bring on anxiety where before it didn’t exist.
The Pilots
The main hosts of the day were two Virgin Atlantic Pilots. They were witty, honest and very good public speakers. They explained the principles of flight and took us through the reasons flying is incredibly safe. I found this aspect quite interesting and a little reassuring. But when all is said and done it didn’t particularly help me. I had the wrong kind of fear. I knew the technology was amazingly safe now.
To be Continued…tomorrow or maybe monday….Click here for part two of the fear of flying course.
