i think i’m scared of flying again. i was scheduled to fly into laguardia this week to meet new facebook friends and reconnect with my son joseph. then, as the dire predictions rolled in about hurricane sandy, i felt that familiar panic about getting on a plane. the three days before imagining crashes,bird strikes, fuel starvation, sabotage–to say nothing of panic attacks, homicidal fellow passengers, delirious flight attendants, ebola virus transmission. .. .
i also watched the trailer for the denzel washington movie “flight” and although denzel is the sexiest man on earth, i wouldn’t recommend watching this. even if you’re the most placid of flyers or high on a mixture of ambien and margaritas, just the preview will make you think twice about anything aeronautical.
when i made a commitment to meet all 325 of my facebook friends during 2011 i was a white knuckle flyer. okay, honestly, i was a three glasses of wine and an ativan before i get on the plane gal. i probably was in more danger from that combination than anything else.
as the year progressed, as i got on a plane just about every week, i stopped being scared. stopped thinking about it too much. drank less. didn’t even bother with the ativan. started to feel wonderful as the plane gently or bumpily lifted me into the air.
still, the hurricane spooked me and it’s been nearly two months since i’ve been on a plane. i have fallen back into the habit of fear. i’ve lost my flight mojo!
the airports of new york closed and i will reschedule. but now i will have to teach myself again to sally forth. at least i have a credit at delta airlines!
so here’s an experiment. watch the flight trailer — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhUrWRV1cxs
now think about yourself on a plane.
arlynnpresser 
October 31st, 2012 at 10:14 pm
You should be watching this,,,I got chills.
October 31st, 2012 at 10:15 pm
NOT WATCHING THIS…!
October 31st, 2012 at 11:44 pm
totally understandable. it was the most uncomfortable preview i have ever seen. i don’t care about people stuck in a dark house with a mass murderer. i don’t care about exorcisms and elm street and fava beans. no, i find this preview the scariest thing EVER!!!
October 31st, 2012 at 10:21 pm
I rarely have to fly so I’m going to see it. I met the Director Robert Zemickis when I was a senior at NIU (1980). He was a skinny starving director at the time and is now a megarich dude.. Love all his movies. Except Castaway which was too depressing. 🙂 I’ll let you know how scary it is if you like. 🙂
October 31st, 2012 at 11:41 pm
wow! i think the trailer is completely terrifying. i can’t wait for your comment on it!
October 31st, 2012 at 10:28 pm
I have always profoundly disliked airline travel – always. It’s never fun for me, and I think the whole point of vacations are to have fun. But whenever I do get on a plane, and I’ve been on about twenty roundtrips, including to England and Hawaii, I try to shrug off how much I don’t enjoy them off and just go. If you see sirrus clouds, it usually means there will be turbulence about 20 minutes later – a trick I figured out the last time I flew. Fair warning is good. 🙂
October 31st, 2012 at 11:42 pm
i completely got into the “it’s the pilot’s job now” vibe but this confluence of factors is working my patience!
October 31st, 2012 at 11:17 pm
REVERSAL OF DESIRE, my friend! Remember? The power of forward motion. Just don’t THINK about it! THAT’S the first thing that will hang you up. Just get on the plane. You’ll be fine. 🙂
October 31st, 2012 at 11:30 pm
Oh!, AND “FOCUS” on how you felt, when you lost your fear, and how good it made you FEEL.
November 1st, 2012 at 1:15 am
My oldest daughter is now 22 going for her doctorate degree in statisitics.
On her first airplane flight she was eight years old. I was sitting next to her and she was looking out the window. The captain came on the PA and said, “We are now at cruising altitude of 30,000 ft” She looked out again, closed the shade and looked forward for a bit. I said, “why did you close the shade.? Don’t you like the view?” She said “We are 30,000 ft high. I f we fall now it won’t be good.” She wasn’t terrified or anything. Just didn’t want to deal with it. 🙂
November 1st, 2012 at 4:33 am
Well my friend i am glad I did not watch that trailer before I flew to Florida and Providenciales!! For me flying was a little rough. Scenarios kept playing out in my mind. But it was only bad when I let my mind go. My stewardess friend who has been with Delta for years and does weekly Boston to London trips said “it is simply another mode of transportation” and that was my mantra. Since you are my fly girl role model keep getting on those planes!!!! You have no idea what a yearning for life you instilled in me and the rest of the face to facebook friends. Keept the faith xoxo
November 1st, 2012 at 5:26 am
When I was little and flew I just figured it was up to the grown-ups to make sure everything happened right. Later I grew up and noticed how many grown-ups are incompetent at their jobs, if they care at all. I also thought about how complete is my lack of understanding of why airplanes don’t fall out of the sky. Then I thought I should be scared, but it doesn’t really happen. There are lots of things I am scared of, like today it makes my stomach buzz to think about having a conversation with my sister, but flying? Mm, nah.
I wonder if hypnotherapy would be helpful? (For you.)
November 2nd, 2012 at 7:42 am
I thought taking Amtrak on my vacation last year would be so much better. After 30 hours there and 30 hours back plus trying to sleep in the upper bunk with the ceiling only a foot above my head and almost breaking my back to get up into it, I decided flying wasn’t so bad afterall. So this year I reminded myself I could get to CA in about 6 hours including the lay over. Took my books and junk to distract myself when I got nervous and just went. No big deal but sometimes we need to suffer for 60 hours to be reminded 6 hours ain’t so bad, even with the body scan. My hubby was happier as well.