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Smooth take-offs

Photo: V. Ganesan

Happy journey Train yourself to enjoy flying

As you stuff your flexi-fold clothes into the bursting suitcase, the questions loom. What if the plane hits an air pocket, or a bird? Can an airline glide if the engines quit? Can the doors be opened in-flight? And, is my airline hijack proof? Then, you face it. “Why do I feel scared during takeoff/touchdown, and what’s that sinking feeling?” That is fear of flying, a silent syndrome. In its mild form you can shush it into silence. If severe, you need sustained treatment.

A surprising number of people harbour it, but won’t admit to having it. You’ll hear, “I’m scared of heights”, “I’m scared of cockroaches”, but not “I can’t set foot on an airplane.” Often friends, family, bosses and airline crew don’t understand the problems of those afraid to fly. The fear of flying may be called aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia, or pteromerhanophobia, says Prithika Chary, consultant neurologist and neurosurgeon. “It’s a phobia.” People swear air travel isn’t safe, while jittery about their own behaviour onboard. “What if I have a panic attack and do things that will raise the airhostesses’ eyebrows?” Even if the odds of a disaster are a million to one, they believe their flight is in danger.

Many recall a trigger point. “Years ago, I had to fly from Kolkata to Chennai when I was three months pregnant,” says a special educator. “I was travelling alone, first time, and I was terrified I would embarrass myself by bringing up, and I did. The crew was sympathetic, but that didn’t change things.” An infrequent flier, she’d check-in anxiety with her luggage, fly with air-sickness bag in hand.

A corporate trainer and frequent flier blames it on crash footage on television. “I flew without event for five years,” he says. A flying-machine enthusiast, he switched on to an episode on air-crash investigation, in which a plane plunges into a river. “Fear gripped me as I watched it.”

Since then, it’s been his travelling companion. “I would get tense the previous day. My pounding heart would take off along with the plane. In total panic, I’d close my eyes and chant the ‘Vishnu Sahasranamam’.” Mid-flight, he’d breathe easy, but would have a re-run while landing. “It was hell in the sky.”

Remedies? “I was advised to look out the window as the plane gained height,” says the educator. “Shift my focus to enjoy the changing skyscape.” She is better now, as long as the touch-down is smooth. “Watching greenery helps,” she adds.

“Treatment is mainly education. Challenge fear by going ahead and doing it anyway. Cognitive and behavioural therapy helps. Some use anti-panic drugs just before boarding,” says Dr. Chary.

“I took Belladona, which proved ineffective,” says the trainer. Intuitively, he felt he had to trace the roots of his condition. He googled for succour and stumbled upon past-life regression therapy. “I was able to recall my past during the sessions. Once I connected my panic to a past-life episode, I was able to shake it off.”

“The attack comes following a feeling of powerlessness and dependence when you’re airborne,” says spiritual scientist Anuja Dinesh. “Feel it and it gets released. Suppress, and it comes back big.” It’s all about moving into an altered consciousness, and willingness to go through fear. “Look inward,” says Buddhist monk Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. “Focus on your mind when you experience fear. Shift your perspective.”

Obviously, humour helps. In his DVD, Tom Dunn, airline-captain-turned-therapist, warns of fear-charged thought neurons getting wired to fire together. “Learn to shake them off unconsciously,” he says. In an experiment, he gets a maintenance man to explain to four fliers aircraft systems that make flying safe. “What if a mud-bee built a nest in it overnight?” asks a terrified woman. “A light burns and back-up systems get activated.” She asks, “Is there a back-up for that light?”

In the miracle landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, a pilot saved all 155 people aboard. Will that ground flying fears? Anyone’s guess!.

GEETA PADMANABHAN

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