Chat Wednesday 9 PM - 11 PM Eastern Time
- The chat is at: http://www.fearofflying.com/talkread/chat.shtml
- If you have trouble logging in, go to https:fearofflying.com.campfirenow.com
Free Group Phone Counseling With Capt Tom Wednesday 10 PM - 11 PM Eastern Time
- dial (712) 432-3900
-
when asked, enter the conference ID 9352101 followed by the # sign
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Tips From The Message Board
To read the entire post by a message board member, go to this link.
If I could offer some advice it would be:
- Practice your SOAR exercises until they are second nature.
- Have a phone session with Captain Tom if you need it. You are worth the investment.
- Don't be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help from the flight crew. It is absolutely o.k. to be vulnerable and does not make you less of a person.
- The pilots and flight crew are professionals and truly capable people. Talk to them and ask them to tell you some of their flying tales. I bet you will be laughing!
- It is o.k. to cry. You are not weak if you cry. It releases tension. Carry tissues and blow your nose with abandon. Snot is good.
- There is plenty of air on the plane. You will not suffocate.
- Use the air vent over your head to blow cool air on your face.
- It is o.k. to be nauseous. That is why there are barf bags on the plane. I brought my own bags just in case and did not need them, but they made me feel safe just knowing they were there if I had to use them.
- Sit by the window and actually look out of it. The perception of what your body feels and what is actually going on outside can be two completely different things. Bumps might feel big but looking out the window gives you a dose of reality. They are not big at all.
- If available, watch the program on the plane that shows you where you are in your journey and how close you are to your destination.
- Use the fly by the seat of your pants technique during bumps. This really works.
- Planes are happiest when flying. Keep this on your Post-it note. Visualize the plane laughing as it flies. It is having a ball. Sound weird? Maybe, but a happy plane is a good plane in my book.
- Keep a cup of water on your tray table and watch how little the water actually moves.
- Seat belt signs do not mean danger. Put this on your Post-it note and keep reading it.
- Know that the plane is a giant glider and it will not and cannot fall out of the sky.
- Use the bathroom as your sanctuary. It can impart a sense of safety.
- Anxiety and panic always pass. You will not run screaming down the aisles of the plane.
- You are stronger and more capable than you realize.
- Stop the what if thinking and change it to so what. If the captain announces some turbulence ahead, instead of saying What if it is really bad? say So what if there is turbulence. This takes a little practice, but does work. Got some bumps ahead? So what!
- You are not alone in this fear. Know that there are others on the plane who are nervous and anxious too.
- You are not weird, weak or a bad person for being afraid of flying. We all have our issues and this is one issue that can be conquered.
- Don't beat up yourself if you didn't do as well as you had hoped. The fact is that you did it. You got on the plane, you flew, you are safe, and you are in one piece. So what if you shed a few tears, you were shaky or your stomach felt crappy. All of this takes practice and each time it gets a little easier.
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American Airlines Still Does Their Own Maintenance
See this link.
Bob Reding, American Airlines' executive vice president of maintenance & engineering is quoted as saying,
"We are the only remaining airline in the country that does over 90 percent of the maintenance, repair and overhaul work on its own fleet."
While other airlines are having heavy maintenance done inside the U.S. at "repair stations" that hire unlicensed mechanics, and outside the country at facilities which are not inspected by the FAA, American continues to do its own maintenance.
When asking a mechanic, "Why do you do the job right?" you might expect the answer to be, "Because I don't want to get caught and lose my job". But I've never heard that. Rather, the answer is always, "Because when my kids fly on a pass, it is on a plane I've worked on." When maintenance is done by mechanics who are employees of the airline, they and their family fly on passes. Not so when maintenance is done by non-employees.
An argument can be made that with cheap labor outside the U.S., more time can be spent on a plane, and thus the maintenance may be more carefully done. Maybe, but self-preservation is a powerful motivation for doing a job right, and I know of nothing that can replace it.
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Congress Finally Catches On
Readers of this newsletter may remember many times when I have said that the FAA is primarily a political organization, and a safety organization secondarily, if that! Now Congress has broken the code and is holding hearings on how the FAA operates.
See this link for an Associated Press article titled, "Senators doubt FAA's diligence for safety". This article quotes Sen. Patty Murray 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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Will The Media Stop At Nothing?
There are photos circulating around the internet that claim to be the last moments of the Air France flight. See this link.
In any case, remember that just a few years ago, there was one crash in 1,000,000 flights. Now it is one in 5,000,000 and that doesn't make anyone feel better. Flying is remarkably safe. Yet, there is some focus we do that makes it seem so risky. Really, it is all about control. When we don't get security built in early in life, nothing short of absolute control will stop anxiety.
We can't give you absolute control, but we CAN give you a way to control the feelings. A research with thirty years experience who recently reviewed the research on SOAR says he has never seen anything like it in all his years of doing research. He has never seen a treatment for anything produce such dynamic change. Which leads us to the hopefully inspirational email of the week . . .
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None As Effective
An email from a client.
I have to tell you that I've been to a few different therapists over the course of my life for different reasons, but none of their methods were ever as specifically, let alone quickly effective in dealing with a fear or problem, as SOAR was. And the amazing thing was, not only did it fix my fear of flying, which was a huge thing, but the positive results spilled over into other fear/areas of my life that had nothing to do with flying.
The only thing in my life that comes close in a positive way, was when I finally got rid of my stage fright. But that took years, and to be honest, to this day I really don't understand how I did it; I just kind of lucked into some neurological adjustment for that one specific thing somehow.
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SOAR Will Work For You Too
SOAR was established in 1982 because no programs existed that 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.
- Call me at 877 332-7359 between 10 AM and 6 PM Eastern time or
- Set up a time online at http://soar.genbook.com
- No Charge. No Obligation. Just get the information you want.
Or Enroll Right Now And Get This Over With
You will feel better as soon as you make the decision.
You will feel better as soon as you make the decision.
- Accelerated courses give you the most help possible in the time you have available.
- A twenty-minute private session and unlimited group counseling sessions are included.
- What you pay is 100% transferable to the SOAR Video Course 11 DVDs.
Start viewing on your computer screen in two minutes.
- Get a compact version of the SOAR Course.
- Load it on your laptop, iPod or other media player. More info.
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Unsure 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.
Long and short.... When the Boeing 777 touched down at Newark, there were two fully rated pilots at the controls -- exactly as there would have been normally.
Obviously, crew incapacitation would be a serious issue during a critical phase of flight -- takeoff and landing, namely -- but pilots are trained to recognize and react to it. Apparently the Continental captain suffered cardiac arrest during the low-workload cruise portion of the flight.
Protocols can be somewhat subjective, but airlines have their own rules and procedures governing what to do if a passenger or crew member passes away. The media has reported that the passengers were not made aware that the captain had died. Presumably the first officers, together with staff on the ground, decided this was the best course of action. Operationally, nothing about the flight would have been handled any differently.
When somebody on board falls ill, the crew will communicate with company personnel and medical specialists on the ground, while also soliciting help from doctors, nurses, or any other health professionals who happen to be on board. Commercial planes carry a cardiac defibrillator and EEMK (enhanced emergency medical kit). Flight attendants receive some emergency medical training, but are not paramedic certified.
An interesting angle to this story... the mandatory retirement age for pilots in the United States was recently increased from age 60 to age 65. The continental captain was 60.
He could just as easily have been 59 -- or 40 -- but you will probably hear some I-told-you-so rumblings from those who were opposed to this rule change from the start.
Pilots over 60 need to meet stringent, twice-yearly medical exams. Stipulations also prevent two over-60 pilots from being paired together on the same flight.
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Comments By Patrick On The In-Flight Death Of The Captain
This was a highly unfortunate event, obviously, for the captain and his family. From a safety standpoint, however, it was really a non-issue. Remember that all commercial flights carry at least two fully qualified pilots, captain and first officer, who are able to operate the aircraft in all regimes of flight, in good weather or bad. A transoceanic flight, such as Brussels to Newark, on which crewmembers take scheduled rest brakes, would have been carrying a minimum of * three * pilots -- a captain and two first officers, one of whom would be designated a "relief" first officer. The first officer is known colloquially as the copilot, but he or she is not an apprentice or a helping hand. First officers perform just as many takeoffs and landings as captains do. Captains and first officers will typically take turns at the controls. On a two-leg day, for instance, the captain will fly the first leg, and the first officer will take the second. Flying Newark to Brussels, the captain would have been the so-called "flying pilot" with the first officers sharing the various other duties. On this afternoon's return trip, one of the first officers would be at the controls, with the captain assuming the other duties. This is industry standard. Both on-duty pilots are plenty busy, but only one is physically at the controls. The captain, of course, always has command authority - and a somewhat bigger paycheck. (Moving from first officer to captain is strictly a function of seniority.)
Long and short.... When the Boeing 777 touched down at Newark, there were two fully rated pilots at the controls -- exactly as there would have been normally.
Obviously, crew incapacitation would be a serious issue during a critical phase of flight -- takeoff and landing, namely -- but pilots are trained to recognize and react to it. Apparently the Continental captain suffered cardiac arrest during the low-workload cruise portion of the flight.
Protocols can be somewhat subjective, but airlines have their own rules and procedures governing what to do if a passenger or crew member passes away. The media has reported that the passengers were not made aware that the captain had died. Presumably the first officers, together with staff on the ground, decided this was the best course of action. Operationally, nothing about the flight would have been handled any differently.
When somebody on board falls ill, the crew will communicate with company personnel and medical specialists on the ground, while also soliciting help from doctors, nurses, or any other health professionals who happen to be on board. Commercial planes carry a cardiac defibrillator and EEMK (enhanced emergency medical kit). Flight attendants receive some emergency medical training, but are not paramedic certified.
An interesting angle to this story... the mandatory retirement age for pilots in the United States was recently increased from age 60 to age 65. The continental captain was 60.
He could just as easily have been 59 -- or 40 -- but you will probably hear some I-told-you-so rumblings from those who were opposed to this rule change from the start.
Pilots over 60 need to meet stringent, twice-yearly medical exams. Stipulations also prevent two over-60 pilots from being paired together on the same flight.
You can read Patrick's column weekly at salon.com and find information on his book at www.askthepilot.com/book.html
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Discuss Or Schedule An Individual Session -- Call 877 332-7359
Call between 11 AM and 6 PM Eastern Time (same time zone as New York)
You'll reach me easily. The toll-free number rings my cell phone.
Call between 11 AM and 6 PM Eastern Time (same time zone as New York)
You'll reach me easily. The toll-free number rings my cell phone.
- find out how I can help you with flying
- discuss the possibility of a counseling session
- set up a time that fits your schedule
Outside the U.S. and Canada call 203 258-4803
- a twenty-minute session is $60.00 if not enrolled in a course.
- one twenty-minute session is free if enrolled in any course.
- additional twenty-minute sessions are $60.00.
- two one-hour sessions are included in the SOAR Guaranteed Program
Schedule An Individual Session Online
Note: Times Listed Are Eastern Time (same as New York)
