I know lot of people getting nervous when boarding time comes, and get even more stressed at take-off. For some times, I have been one of those, when I started to know some more about that way of travelling, so I know how deep and animal such a fear can be. I did recover since, and here are some tips for those people, to help them make their trips enjoyable. Those tips are in the form of a series of thoughts that should help, so just reharsh these before and even during flight.
1) Planes do operate daily in all sorts of conditions, with an excellent safety record. No plane will suddenly fall in pieces and bits to the ground.
2) The pilots went through a long training process, and are re-checked each and every six months. It is not their first flight.
3) The crew also wants to reach destination safely. They don't want to die in a plane accident.
4) You don't have any information about what's going on. As a passenger you're not in a position to assume anything about it. Even if you hear noises you don't understand, don't make any conclusion on that, it is impossible to you.
5) If weather makes you worry, remind that planes can go through any weather except thunderstorms, which can be detected and avoided using on-board weather radar.
6) Don't look outside all the time, trying to find something scary. By doing so, you will feel that time passes by slowly, and any thing you won't understand will make you even more affraid.
7) Keep your mind busy with anything else. Read, do crosswords, sudoku, eat, talk to someone else, but stop thinking someting goes or will go wrong. Stop looking at your watch obsessively.
On a longer term basis, many airlines do offer courses to help their passengers to overcome their fears. These courses used to be free, but this happy time is over. Nevertheless, the results are quite good, so if you get stressed each time you have to fly, and you fly frequently, thing of such a course.
To conclude, the basic thing that makes most people stressed in flight is that they don't accept not to be in control, nor informed about the flight. In some aspects, flying is like an act of faith, you place your life in the hands of the crew.
Said so, it sounds scary, but have a second thought. When you take a taxi, or bus, or even when you drive, you also put your life within other hands. Not speaking about eating food from an unknown cook, being opened and put in pieces by a surgeon you saw only twice before, or using a lift installed and maintained by staff you don't know.
May be the flight experience is more intense because you're seated to your seat, in a confined volume, but in fact the process of having your life depending of someone else is really common. What about walking through a zebra crossing, for example ? Are you not at risk, at the mercy of any driver coming ?
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Inside view of air travel industry, with a touch of fun
