Almost all of us dislike some aspect of flying. Sometimes, however, the dislike becomes a debilitating fear. Sheila Waymanboards a flight that helps people deal with their phobia and, right, Marie Murrayexplains the condition.
THEIR BOARDING cards say the flight is going to Waterford; the boarding gate, A17, says Knock. But the nervous passengers climbing on to the bus to take them across the tarmac at Dublin Airport know the waiting aircraft is flying to neither destination.
As the bus draws alongside, the sight of the white Aer Arann turbojet halts the already subdued chatter. A 66-seater, the aircraft looks small and a little vulnerable in the strong wind, with its narrow body and two propeller engines.
For the passengers about to board it's the moment of truth in a day-long course aimed at helping them conquer their fear of flying. Some have never flown, many have come to dread it, others have walked off aircraft in sheer terror before take-off.
But they have all paid €350 in the hope that today will end a life of turning down work opportunities, never holidaying abroad or spending days on ferries and trains, all because of their irrational fear of flying.
Four out of five air passengers are nervous in some way. Common fear factors include lack of control, claustrophobia, turbulence and being uninformed about what's going on. This course, run by Aviatours in conjunction with British Airways, aims to help the worst affected to at least tolerate flying.
The programme starts at 9am in the Radisson SAS Hotel beside the airport. Much of the morning is taken up with Andy Shaw, a chirpy BA pilot, explaining why aircraft stay up in the sky, the different phases of flights and the way he and his colleagues are rigorously trained. Every six months pilots' careers are put on the line, he says, as they are tested in a flight simulator to ensure their skills remain up to scratch.
He stresses that turbulence can be "uncomfortable but not dangerous". Passengers often perceive the rise or fall of an aircraft to be much greater than it is because they have no horizon to judge it by. Air pockets are figments of people's imaginations.
By lunchtime there's a clear gender divide. All the logical information from the pilot has helped many of the men rationalise their fears. Most of the women are looking forward to the afternoon session with the psychologist.
"Phobias are like teenagers. If they can't get a rise out of you, they go away," says Patricia Furness-Smith, a psychologist and former BA flight attendant who suffered a sudden dread of flying herself. The feelings of fear and panic are all part of our natural flight-or-fight response to something we perceive as dangerous, she says.
What she offers, with plenty of humour and empathy, is techniques to over-ride that reaction, such as deep breathing and visualisation of successful coping.
She admits that when she first heard of the course she wondered how you could have a whole load of people with the same fear in one room and not have pandemonium. "In fact there is a trench mentality - all in this together - which has a very positive effect."
The "phenomenal success" of the course is also due to the fact that, by signing up for it, people have accepted they have the phobia and are doing something about it.
When the talking is over it's up to the 42 participants to put their newly acquired knowledge to the test on a flight. Three of them do not get beyond the hotel. They can't face the 45-minute spin over the Irish countryside.
For the rest it proves to be a bumpy enough ride on a windy day. But with Shaw sitting in the cockpit, giving a reassuring commentary on every moment of the flight - the speed, the height, the noises, what the wing flaps are doing - and the rest of the Aviatours team on hand, there's no panic. A few ashen faces, yes, as well as some very relieved ones, but no one is freaking out.
"Turbulence is uncomfortable but not dangerous," says Shaw over and over like a mantra as the winds buffet the aircraft when it comes down through the clouds to land.
Certificates for completion of the course are handed out, but not everybody is triumphant.
"I don't feel good," says Gerald Histon from near Askeaton, Co Limerick, on the bus ride back to the terminal. "I've never flown before, and I will never fly again. I have never encountered something like that in my life. My wife wanted me to come. She'd like to go on holiday."
But the really dangerous part of the day is yet to come: everybody is at least 29 times more likely to be killed on the drive home than on an aircraft.
How five apprehensive passengers felt before and after facing their biggest fear
Jonathan Talbot
BEFOREJonathan Talbot from Kilkenny city last flew
seven years ago. He experienced turbulence on that flight, and he
has opted for boat and train ever since. "I've been all over
Europe. I went to a music festival in Estonia last summer, and it
took me four days to get there." He is booked to go snowboarding in
Switzerland shortly; getting there by train will take him about 24
hours. For much of the morning he looks one of the most frightened
people in the room, hunched over in his chair and biting his nails.
One of the last to board the flight, he admits he is tempted to
bolt for the fields beyond the tarmac. It's a new job, with a
mining consultancy, that has brought him here. It will entail
regular flights to South Africa. "I did say at the interview I was
nervous of flying." He puts his fear down to "lack of control".
AFTERHalfway through the flight, Talbot is smiling for the first time today. Taking copious gulps of water, he is happy to chat and says he is thinking of paying the extra expense and flying to Switzerland for the snowboarding. Back in the terminal he adds: "I am proud about doing it. I didn't enjoy it, but I will do it again."
Victoria Kynaston Reeves
BEFOREVictoria Kynaston Reeves from Bangor, Co Down,
happily flew every year of her childhood, as her family lived
abroad, in Germany and then Los Angeles. She remembers flying alone
for the first time at 17 and not liking it quite so much then. Over
the years her fears got worse and worse, until she became convinced
she was going to die on every flight and would be in tears for days
beforehand. The birth of her daughter, Daisy, 16 months ago,
exacerbated her phobia. "I have now got to the stage where I can't
fly." A trade executive with Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce,
she regularly has to fly to London for work."I had to do a trade
mission to the US and did not want to make an eejit of myself in
front of the people I was leading. So I did hypnosis; it helped me
get over my fear and I was able to go." But the effect didn't last.
"Now I realise I can't do it without help. At work they have been
pretty good about it. But it's very embarrassing. I could do it
before, and I was hired on the basis that I would travel. They are
all very interested to see how the day works out. I am confident
the course will work. We've booked a flight to Corsica in a few
weeks. I'll have to go or I will be divorced."
AFTER"I thought it was fantastic. What will help is that we have the flights to Corsica booked. I am sure I will get on the plane."
David Griffin
BEFORETurbulence on a flight from Australia made
David Griffin from Rathmines in Dublin afraid of flying. He has
flown to the US three times since, getting worse each time. Then,
last Christmas, he went to Austria. "On the way back I was throwing
up in the toilet. It felt like my body was breaking down, my whole
system going through the horrors. It took days to recover." He has
turned down opportunities to travel in his job, at Intel, because
of his fear of flying.
AFTERThe pilot's session on the mechanics of flight seems to have put Griffin totally at ease by lunchtime. The course is excellent, he says over sandwiches and coffee. "I am not worried about getting on the plane now." And he is absolutely fine on the flight.
Tracey Byrne
BEFORETracey Byrne, a care assistant from Wexford
town, is so scared of flying she has not bothered to get a
passport. "I have never flown. I think I have a fear of the fear. I
am petrified that when I get on to a plane I'm going to freak out
and make a show of myself." She and her husband, Lee, went to
Killarney, Co Kerry, for their honeymoon. Now they spend their
annual family holidays, with nine-year-old Ethan and six-year-old
Elliot, in Wales. "Lee is fine with me not flying. He has never
pressurised me, but at this stage he's dying to get away," says
Byrne. "If I conquer this, myself and my husband might go on a
mini-break." She has gone as far as getting passport forms.
"There's a big world out there, and I've seen none of it."
AFTER"I was a bit nervous starting off, but I will fly again. My husband will be delighted. I'm off to get a passport."
Andrea Johnston
BEFOREA structural engineer who goes white-water
kayaking in her spare time, Andrea Johnston from Bangor, Co Down,
seems an unlikely victim of the flying phobia. Indeed her husband,
Peter, who has come along to support her, says he's much more timid
than she is. Johnston used to fly regularly and had no issues with
it. She thinks the problem stems back to a cable-car trip in
Austria six years ago, when a sudden steep ascent left her feeling
dizzy and nauseous. These feelings have been replicated every time
she has flown since. "I am nauseous, have sweaty palms and am not
comfortable with breathing. I have the same feeling on every flight
and have now convinced myself it's going to happen." She and Peter
went to Scotland by boat for their honeymoon, two years ago. "I
could not go through my wedding day terrified about the flight the
next day. We had wanted to go to Italy. It's utterly
debilitating."
AFTERBy lunchtime Johnston is "definitely feeling positive". She has learned a lot and hopes some of it will work for her. "If it doesn't, at least I've tried." She clearly doesn't enjoy the flight but says it was easier than the last time she was on an aircraft.
GO THERE
Aviatours's next Dublin fear-of-flying course takes
place on June 14th. See
www.aviatours.co.ukor call
00-44-1252-793250.
WHERE TO START IF YOU'RE SCARED OF FLYING
ONE OF THE joys of life is planning to go away, take a break, have time out and relax and renew oneself. That is why we read travel supplements such as this one so avidly. If we cannot travel now, we can look at the photographs, read the articles and imagine all the wonderful places we will go to when we have the time or the money to do so. We can plan. We can mentally meander through the world, hugging its possibilities.
Well, most of us can. A significant number cannot. They are those who fear flying. Fear of flying is a significant restriction. Fear of flying is a real affliction. People who are uncomfortable or afraid of flying are unable to enjoy themselves on trips away knowing that the flight home awaits them. Imagine, the last night of the holidays, dreading the flight while everyone else is having a final revel. Torturing about tomorrow is no way to end a holiday. Many cannot even get away in the first place. They are grounded by their fear.
When fear of flying becomes a phobia, it is called aviaphobia, an intense, total incapacity to cope with going anywhere by aircraft. Even the thought of flying brings acute feelings of anxiety.
An estimated one in eight people suffers from the condition. It is suggested that women outnumber men, but many clinicians find that men simply deal with it differently, conceal it more effectively or use alcohol or other substances to get them through. Whatever the statistics, a lot of people are terrified. This is difficult in a world where travel away has become the norm. Being unable to travel can affect career prospects, limit life, isolate
and cut people off from important times with family and friends.
Phobias are usually intense, exaggerated, irrational dreads of an object or situation that lead to total avoidance. What distinguishes aviaphobia is that it does not have an entirely irrational element to it, because there is a small risk when travelling anywhere: walking, cycling, going by car, bus, train or plane, or crossing the road.
But living brings risk. Living life fully means seeking help for whatever worries, restricts, hurts, embarrasses, depresses, frightens or intimidates us. We need to travel to our fears as much as anywhere else, see them and resolve them. It is not necessary to be psychologically grounded any more, by any phobia, and for fear of flying there are particularly effective gentle, graduated, step-by-step desensitisation therapies, to make people comfortable with the practical and psychological process of flying.
The best journey to make if you fear flying is to your GP, for referral for flying phobia. He or she may suggest you do a course such as the one featured on these pages.
• Clinical psychologist Marie Murray, a columnist in our health supplement, is director of student counselling services at University College Dublin