Free Group Phone Counseling With Capt Tom Wednesday 10 PM - 11 PM Eastern Time

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The SOAR Library -- Now Open -- And Free



Articles for you on aviation and flight anxiety at www.fearofflying.com/wordpress/

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More On How The FAA "Works"



Congress seems to be catching on. Some are even able to recognize politics when they see it in operations. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington is quoted at this link as saying"We need an FAA that actually fixes problems as they are found rather than one that rushes into a public relations campaign to assure everyone that there isn't a problem."



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American Airlines Fights Back



For an airline to war with the FAA takes a lot of guts. Or, maybe just exasperation. In any case, American Airlines is fighting back, saying the FAA unfairly changed rules on how airlines must comply airworthiness directives (ADs) and is making unreasonable demands about how much interpretation is allowed.



Greg Magnuson, a lead engineer at American, said the F.A.A. has always given the company "latitude" to make small variations to resolve any contradictions or ambiguities.



John Goglia, a maintenance expert and former member of the National Transportation Safety Board agreed that the rules have changed. "If this event had occurred six months ago, it would be likely the F.A.A. would have looked at it for what it was, assessed the risk, and found the risk to be minimal, and allowed American to fix or correct the problems during the next maintenance visit," he said. That would have given the airline at least a few days to do the job and would have avoided the groundings.



The differences in American's work, he said, were so small that "those airplanes could have flown for the rest of their careers and those wires would not have been a problem."



Full story at this link.



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It Was -- Nevertheless -- A Very Good Year



2007, that is. No deaths on any U.S. Airline.



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Robert Crandall Speaks Out



Robert Crandall was chief executive of American Airlines from 1985 to 1998. In an op-ed piece in the New York Times (see this link) says "Thirty years ago this fall, Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Since then, America's airline system has greatly deteriorated."



Consolidation, he says, will not help the airline industry or the passenger, and government leadership is needed to provide a useful degree of regulation.



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"Am I proud of myself? You bet I am!"



Hi Capt Tom:



I just wanted to thank you once again for my freedom.

 

Three years ago I had my first airplane trip to Boston and back from LAX. I did fine with your course. This last week I flew my second time. This time to SFO from LAX to visit my daughter. I did not do much of your training a ahead of time. I now feel I do not need as much help as the first time. Still not thrilled with the moment of take off, but after that, I just love it and I am looking forward to flying for the rest of my life. Without your course and your help I would never had gotten on a plane three years ago. Now I have the freedom I have never felt. And boy, what a time saver flying is!



I do regret all the good times I have missed out on over the years by staying home because of my fear of flying. But, because of you and your course I am now free! I just wish everyone could feel as happy as I do with my new found freedom! Am I proud of myself? You bet I am! I did it and so can so many others if they just make that first step.



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Planning A Trip To Italy Next Year



Dear Capt Tom -



Another successful and relatively anxiety-free flight - thanks to you and your program. I recently had a mission trip to Hawaii - my flight going out there consisted of flying from Kansas City to Chicago; Chicago to Honolulu; and Honolulu to Hilo. A total of 12 hours in the air. I think the longer "flight" time actually helped ease my anxiety.



Coming home, I flew from Hawaii to Dallas/Ft Worth, and then from DFW to KCI. This was on Tuesday, March 20th - the day that DFW eventually got shut down due to bad weather. My plane was one of the last ones allowed to land at DFW, and one of the last ones to take off for KCI. The turbulence coming in to DFW was so bad the flight attendant attempted twice to talk & give gate announcements, but gave up and said, "I don't think I can talk during these bumps, and I don't think anyone is listening anyway." It was bad - but I just practiced my strengthening exercises, breathed deeply, and told myself, "The plane LIKES turbulence - the plane LIKES turbulence!" It helped - I was still shaky, but no panic attacks, crying or fainting!



Now - I feel like, if I can travel for that length of time, and through those kind of conditions, I can fly anywhere. My husband and I are now planning a trip to Italy next year for our 10th wedding anniversary - something I would never have considered before.



Thanks! And God bless you!



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You, Too, Can Fix The Flying Problem Now

Get started with the program that works. SOAR
was established in 1982 because no programs existed which could help
people with moderate to severe difficulties. Even today, no other
program offers help that is effective except for mild difficulties. No
matter how difficult flying is for you, we can help.



Full Length Course



We have the full length SOAR Video Course on 11 DVDs and we have the accelerated FastTrack course. The full length course provides the maximum help possible. More info.

FastTrack



FastTrack is for you if you have a flight coming up soon, even tomorrow! It includes three hours of the most important video clips from the full length course. More FastTrack info.

Get started now. The SOAR FastTrack program can be on your computer's screen in two minutes.

• Fast Track is inexpensive.
  


• Fast Track gives you the most help possible in the shortest time.
  


• A twenty-minute private session and unlimited group counseling sessions are included.
  
  


• What you pay for Fast Track is 100% transferable to the complete SOAR Course DVD or CD.

iPod Or Other Media Players

Complete a compact (about five hours) version of the SOAR Course on the go. Download it to your computer. Play it on
your computer, iPod or other media player. More info.

Which To Choose

If you are unsure which is best for you, please call me at 877 332-7359 so we can talk it over. You will feel better as soon as you decide to act.

We
are always here to help. As you go through the program, call or email whenever you
have a question or a concern.

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Controlling Anxiety



The following question was posed in an email. "As a therapist, have you ever heard that trying to control anxiety is not a good idea, because you can't and it will pass  by you faster if you just let it happen and accept it?  I have heard recently that there is a place in your brain (amygdala) where you can actually shut off the anxiety like a switch and eventually we can change our own brain chemistry.  What do you think about these two theories?"



Attempting to control anxiety by conscious effort can cause trouble. Until we developed the means to control it automatically and unconsciously, phobia treatment was limited to teaching people to just leave it alone.



Now we know how to stop anxiety from developing in the first place. This leads us to the second question about the amygdala. What we do is switch off the amygdala by producing oxytocin, a hormone which shuts the amygdala down.



The results are truly amazing.

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A More Comfortable Seat In Economy?

Patrick says that's coming at Delta. Read the whole story in his Salon column.

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