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

Note: if you have trouble getting in, try using a cellphone or a different regular phone. Try pressing each key longer, and try using * rather than #.



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The SOAR Library -- Open And Free



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

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A New Tip For A SOAR Grad



I always felt that Captain Tom's advice to see flying for what it is, not what you imagine it to be, is the key to successful flying.



I have found that sitting at a window seat viewing the takeoff through a camera (video or still, it doesn't matter) brings this into sharp focus. When taking pictures you focus on the subject through the viewfinder and do not deal with other things outside the camera's eye.



I find this helps me focus on seeing things for what they are. My imagination never runs wild through the camera's eye.




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Anticipatory Anxiety



Anticipatory anxiety is tough. Some of it comes from trying to imagine what the flight will be like. You don't want to get into something you can't handle, so you try to figure out what it will be like and then try to imagine handling that.



Anticipating what your flight will be like -- the imagination of that -- can cause huge anticipatory anxiety when what you imagine seems too challenging. After all, the amygdala reacts the same to imagination (if it is vivid enough) as to reality.



If you want to beat anticipatory anxiety, the first thing is to fully understand that any attempt -- no matter how simple, no matter how innocent-seeming -- to imagine what your flight will be like will turn out to be destructive! The simple act of trying to peek into the future can be destructive of future success.



On the other hand, when planning, peeking into the future is useful because it can alert you to measures you need to take in advance to be ready for the expected and the unexpected. But if you have learned and practiced the Strengthening Exercise, you have done everything you need to do. You will not have high anxiety. You will not panic. You can't, because you have broken the links of the chain reaction that causes high anxiety and panic, and established new links for each episode of flight to the memory of a moment which provides calming.



Since you have already prepared, you don't need to do anything further. It isn't easy to sit back and be confident. It is easy to think of the times when overconfidence led to problems. But there is nothing I can recommend that is better for you as your flight approaches than confidence based on having broken the old links between flying and thoughts of disaster and establishing new links between flying and a moment in which you felt a strong empathic connection with another person, a moment in which you felt your inner world was touched and felt by another person.



Though you understand intellectually that it is unwise to try to peek into the future, it is tricky to get a handle on the emotions that push you toward doing that. If you find you are feeling anxious, it means you have opened the door to imagination of the future (how you will do on the flight). Take a step away from the future by stepping into the present moment: use the 5-4-3-2-1. That gives you complete control over anticipatory anxiety.



Trying to peek into the future is just another way to try to control things. You need to control things -- and thus to try to control the future -- because you don't trust the future. But who does? Though we can't control it, we can influence some of it. What we can't control, we need to simply accept and live with.



To do otherwise robs us of life. Focusing on the future leaves us with no present, other than one flooded with fears of the future.



When our clients fly a few times a year, the anticipatory anxiety goes down because they discover the program does work every time during the flight. After establishing that SOAR works during the flight, when they -- like everyone else -- make the mistake of trying to imagine what their flight will be like, they can get away with it. Why? Because their peek into the future looks different; they know the flight is not going to cause high anxiety or panic. That reality changes anticipatory anxiety.



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Videos On YouTube



Our videos are at http://youtube.com/user/CaptTomBunn.



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November Could Lead To Reducting Outsourcing



Outsourcing -- where unlicensed mechanics are allowed to work on U.S. airliners with no FAA supervision -- is a threat to safety which must be addressed. The current administration has failed to act. Depending upon the outcome of the November presidential election, that may change. In an article for Forbes, Brian Wingfield says Sen. Barack Obama is opposed to airline maintenance outsourcing.



To read the full article go to this link.



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Could A Change Of Administration Finally Get The FAA To Act On Fatigue?



Fatigue is a problem. It is bad at unionized airlines, and worse at non-unionized airlines.



On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board identified sleepy pilots as a reason that a regional jet operated by Pinnacle Airlines slid off a snowy runway in Traverse City, Mich. last April. The crew had been on duty more than 14 hours. The Board -- again, as it has done for years -- called on the FAA to address the problem.



The Board recommended that the F.A.A. require aircraft operators to set up "fatigue management systems."



So far, the FAA -- which has been getting heat from Congress for being the lap dog of the airlines -- has said that if fatigue is a problem, it isn't the FAA's problem.



You can read the entire article at this link.

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Emails Like This Make All The Work Developing SOAR Worthwhile



I can't imagine what my life would have been like had I not found your amazing website. Fear of flying. I was emotionally paralyzed by the thought of even getting near an airport, much less on an airplane.



That was me then. This is me now: putting many, many flying miles on my body and loving the freedom it gives me. I've been out to California and back twice in the past two months. I'm flying to Montreal, Canada in two weeks. We visited our son who lives in Las Vegas back in February. I've flown so much I can practically mouth the mandatory flight instructions at the beginning of every flight (exit, floor lighting, oxygen masks, etc.) Now I'm aware of "cross-check" pilot/flight attendant talk, and where the flight attendants sit when they have a chance to sit during flight - things like that. There's something very special about looking out the window of a plane in flight, flying above the clouds, looking down and seeing the earth in a completely different prospective. It can be quite spiritual.



You offered to be my cheerleader, and so, my cheerleading friend, I just want to say (once again) thank you. Your lessons have given me the opportunity to experience life more fully and I am very grateful.



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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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Do You Own A Web Site?

If you own a web site, consider becoming a SOAR affiliate. Place a SOAR ad on your website and earn a commission on sales the ad generates. Interested? See this web page.

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Free MP3 Download On Fear Of Flying



AirSafe.com is run by Dr. Todd Curtis, PhD., a former airline safety analyst with Boeing. This week, Todd did a lengthy interview with Lisa Hauptner and me on fear of flying.



I'm sure you will find it interesting and informative. Listen to the interview by clicking here.



To set up downloading, go to www.airsafe.com/events/blogs.htm



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Patrick's Column This Week



Patrick, master story-teller that he is, gives a first-hand account of how he dealt with a potential emergency he faced as an airline captain. Read it at this link.