We all fear things. Many of us still fear snakes, spiders, lizards, insects, which people feared in the stone age.
Many of us also have fear of flying, the degree varies.
- My wife tightly holds my (or my elder son’s) hands immediately after take-off and when the descent starts. Rest of the time she is fine.
- Some are afraid of heights, but you really don’t get to see the height, unless you peep out of the window (most of the time its clouds).
Most fear flying because they feel they are not in control, and humans tend to fear things they cannot control. Somehow, most of us feel we are in control when we are travelling in car, bus, train.
After 9–11, 1.4 million people changed their travel plans to avoid flying, opting to drive instead. This caused around 1000 additional car accident fatalities.
We also fear things where the impact is immediate. For example, nobody fears smoking because its negative impact usually takes years to be visible.
Do we remember air crashes more than road or train accidents?
I think so, and I feel media (including social media) also plays a role.
They tend to focus more on aviation accidents and sensationalize such news.
On the other hand, road accidents rarely get coverage, so many of us just assume that the worst may not happen. And we also become complacent (receiving calls, texting while driving).
We also fear when certain incidents are still fresh in our memory.
Here again, thanks to the media, certain incidents linger longer.
I realized this when my family recently travelled from Mumbai to Hanoi in Vietnam.
While I don’t fear flying, the recent Air India incident kept playing in my mind (the Air India incident happened two months before).
I could also hear fellow passengers talking about it.
For some time I did feel uneasy; I started noticing and reacting to the frequent turbulences.
It took me a while to divert my mind.
The inflight entertainment did help as I started watching a movie, and I was normal after some time.
Most of the time it’s about diverting your mind and focusing on other things, to get rid of the anxiousness.
Here’s what I would suggest in case you feel anxious the next time you’re flying.
- Look for opportunities to smile, interact. Smile at the cabin crew who greet you as soon as you board the plane.
- Talk to the person seated next to you (without irritating them of course)
- Enjoy the entertainment system, watch a movie. Go through the inflight magazine. Take a nap.
- Have faith in engineering. These planes are made by the brightest engineers, and we have come a long way since the first airplane was made. You now even internet connectivity on flights.
- Imagine turbulences to be like driving your car on rough terrain.
Finally, if nothing works, this is the time to remind yourself of destiny, even if you don’t believe much in destiny.
Whatever will be, will be!
If that sounds a bit negative, then believe in the almighty!
