“I always get scared on planes.”

 “I’m afraid the plane is going to crash.”

 “I feel each flight like a surgery without anaesthesia.”

That’s what people who suffer aerophobia feel when they’re flying. Aerophobia is, you guessed it, the medical term for fear of flying.

What is this fear and where does it come from? How does it form? Is there anything we could do about it?

Let’s take the fear caused by turbulences. This is a very physical feeling – a physical reaction of the body to what he perceives to be a dangerous (or at least uncomfortable) way the plane behaves. To a degree, it is ok to feel uneasy and grab the chair – we don’t necessarily have to enjoy turbulences (I actually do). But what when our minds go beyond this physical reaction, and turbulences instantly induce in us the fear that the plane will crash? When combined with the fear of flying itself, it results the perfect recipe to terrorize us while up in the air.

What about a flight without turbulences? Is it any different? Chances are the person suffering from aerophobia will feel just the same like she feels during the heaviest turbulences. For her, the mere thoughts of having to fly, of boarding the plane, of having to endure the take-off and the tormenting lift to the cruise attitude – where she listens to every variation in the sound of the engines, and wonders every five seconds “Can they take us up there? Are they still functioning? Oh, what was that, did they just lose power?” – all these thoughts are creating a living hell in her mind. Now, this is a fear created mostly by our mind – as opposed to fear induced by real, physical elements (such as turbulences) – and, if we consider all the flight safety statistics, we could safely agree to call it an irrational fear.

When gripped by fear up in the air, one of the most common advices is to think about how well a plane is built, how safe flying actually is, and that it’s basically a certainty that we will arrive well to our destination. Is it any use in trying to control this fear, and convincing our brain that what we feel is against all logic? Up in the air, well, no. The fear is too overwhelming to listen to logic and the voice of reason.

This is a fear caused by something we can’t control. Can we really control anything once we sit on our chair? Does it make any sense in worrying about the plane’s engines or turbulences? Once we decided to step on board the airplane, does any negative thought – or worry – help us in any way? Does this do us any good? Would you recommend your best friend before flying to be terrified by every noise and every move of the plane? On the ground, everyone would answer no, it really is common sense. Applying this common sense up in the air is what causes us trouble.

This fear can and must be conquered on the ground, before flying. We need to train our minds to believe the logic of flight safety. We need to convince our minds that flying is safe and that nothing bad can happen. “But this is all bullshit, you can’t do this. Do you really think that I can change my thinking overnight by telling myself what I should believe in?” No, of course I don’t believe we can change our thinking – we really cannot do it – overnight. We also can’t lose fat or build muscle overnight. It takes time to build new habits in order to replace old habits. It takes time to change ourselves and see results. The mind is just like a muscle – when we use it, it builds up strength. We need to learn to use it – and train it – the right way.

Oh, listening to music that makes you want to bang your head also helps when flying. Make a playlist with your all-time favorite songs. You know, those songs which, regardless how many times you’ve listened to, they always manage to transmit an exhilarating state of mind. I personally have Spotify playlists with these songs – my Shazam tracks were very useful in creating them – which I am listening to in noise-cancelling headphones when flying. I honestly can’t understand why I hesitated – like many others, I guess – before buying one of these headphones, but oh my God, once I put them on, it is just another world. Words do not do justice to the feeling of isolation from the flight and the plane around you, and when you take the headphones off in order to talk to the flight attendant you can’t fathom for the life of you how have you ever flown without them. Listening to your favorite head-banging music on state-of-the art NC headphones (I heartily recommend the top models from Bowers & Wilkins, Sony and Bose – you really want to splurge here) might just be the best thing you do for (well, against) your aerophobia. Nothing beats heavy head banging during turbulences.

Happy flying!