There are many thousands of people all over the world who are terrified of flying. And whilst some are scared because of a previous bad experience, probably the majority of these aviophobics have had no previous adverse flying experience at all. They are just scared of flying, it is as simple as that.
However, if you are to have any chance of dealing with the problem, you have to be able to answer the question of why people are frightened of flying in the first place.
For some people, it will undoubtedly have something to do with the fact that almost all major catastrophes that involve aircraft are widely reported in the newspapers and on TV.
After all, because major aircraft incidents sometimes involve several hundred fatalities, it’s big news. On the other hand, the average automobile accident is unlikely to cause any more than one or two fatalities at worst (although it is far more likely that there will be no fatalities whatsoever) and perhaps regrettably for those involved, there is no ‘news’ in this.
Thus, many people get on a planes focusing on the fact that planes crash because that is all they ever read in the newspaper or see on TV. But the fact is that for every plane that crashes, there are millions – literally, millions – of flights that begin and end with no drama whatsoever, no more exciting or scary than a bus ride down town or a quick two stops on the subway.
And equally obviously, successful flights never hit the news because given the safety statistics associated with flying, every daily newspaper would have to be a couple of thousand pages thick if every successful (and boringly) completed flight were to be reported.
The truth is, flying is ultra-safe but you never read about that fact.
Hence, if your fear of flying is based on the fact that planes crash, yes, they do but the odds of you being on a plane that hits the side of a mountain or bursts into flames are many millions to one against, especially if you are flying with one of the top airlines:
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Odds of being involved in a fatal accident[/caption]
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