Chat Wednesday 9 PM - 11 PM Eastern Time
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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Twitter
When there is an accident, or other news you want to understand, I'll put a quick note on twitter.
- go to www.twitter.com
- sign in
- click on "Find People"
- search for this term: flightwit
- enter, and you will find me
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Logic, Feelings, And Projection
A reader sent info about a website that promotes critical thinking: www.criticalthinking.org/ But it doesn't take great skill at critical thinking to know you should disregard information about the Air France accident. Remember the old joke about how you know when a politician is
telling a lie: his lips are moving. Since there is nothing known about the cause of the accident, if the media is reporting the cause, it is either speculation or fabrication.
telling a lie: his lips are moving. Since there is nothing known about the cause of the accident, if the media is reporting the cause, it is either speculation or fabrication.
If you were an accident investigator assigned to this crash, it would be worth your time and energy to speculate. Even so, an accident investigator has to finally bypass speculation in favor of the evidence. As yet, there is almost no evidence at all, and what there is does not tell us enough to make speculation worth the effort. From a pilot's point of view, we need more information to even bother.
Very few people have enough expertise to speculate intelligently. Perhaps that is why so many do; they don't have enough expertise to know they don't have enough information to speculate. Without sufficient expertise and not being an accident investigator, nothing of value can come from speculation. But anxiety can. Every speculative thought causes you - though not an accident investigator - anxiety. So why do it?
Perhaps you are grasping at straws of information in an effort to gain control? It would be interesting to know why you speculate, but my guess is, you probably don't know why either.
Flying is just as safe this week as it was two weeks ago. Nothing has changed as to the level of safety we currently produce, about one crash in 5,000,000 flights, or about 99.99998% safe. What's safer than that?
The one case in 5,000,000 happened last week. In a few months, after another 4,999,999 (or so) flights, it will happen again. Maybe someday flying will be twice as safe, one crash in 10,000,000. When that happens, I doubt that people will feel safer. There is always that "one" which can cause anxiety if it occupies the mind as it does if an event is recent in time.
First, the logic.
Turbulence is safe. Turbulence makes no difference to the plane, nor to the pilots.
Storms are safe. Planes can fly through any of them. See youtube and search "hurricane hunters".
Windy conditions are safe. Wind helps the plane takeoff or land slower.
Flying in the area of this crash is safe. I have flown there hundreds of times and there is nothing unusual there.
The sensor modification the media is writing about is a routine modification.
Second, feelings.
Feelings do not accurately reflect the safe-danger equation. Feelings are the result of vivid imagery in the mind, and that is caused by the media. This may be hard to fully grasp, but what a person has in mind is limited to the mind. It may accurately match reality, or it may not. In any case, what is in mind does not have any effect on reality. So, if you are flying, and feeling fearful as a result of this accident, that fear and reality may have no connection.
Third, projection.
When imagining what it was like for people on that flight, what a person imagines may be a projection of their own experience with terror.
Based on studies with Dr. James Masterson, MD, a leading theorist on personality disorder, it seems to me that the feelings a person imagines another person feels in such a situation reflect feelings they, themselves, have had some experience with. He says these feelings are part of what he calls "abandonment depression". They include hopelessness, helplessness, isolation, and being in a void, and has found that these feelings are a part of the early experiences of childhood, for some of us (sounds like a Dickens novel, perhaps).
Allan Schore, Ph.D. is a researcher at UCLA who suggests that these feelings are linked to a prototype experience. He says that when children are left to "cry it out", though they appear to be asleep, they are not. Rather, they are in a state of dissociated terror.
This leads me to believe that when a person reads about such a crash, it becomes a Rorschach inkblot test for the person's own early experiences of terror.
Allan Schore, Ph.D. is a researcher at UCLA who suggests that these feelings are linked to a prototype experience. He says that when children are left to "cry it out", though they appear to be asleep, they are not. Rather, they are in a state of dissociated terror.
This leads me to believe that when a person reads about such a crash, it becomes a Rorschach inkblot test for the person's own early experiences of terror.
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Conservative Planning
I'm very thankful for your course, which I ordered a couple of months ago. I've taken three flights since then, and enjoyed each one of them, something I haven't been able to say in many years. I'm writing today because I have a story that I think might be helpful to the folks you work with...
On today's flight (an American flight from SEA to JFK), I had your printed invitation in hand, but didn't need it, because the pilots were standing together and chatting at the gate before they boarded. I just walked over to them and explained that I was an anxious flyer. Not only were they understanding and reassuring, they invited me to come visit them in the cockpit when I boarded the plane. So I did (the flight attendants were happy
to accommodate me).
I really couldn't believe these guys. They took me through their pre-flight procedures, answering all my questions. They chatted and joked and poked fun at each other, with no hint that in 15 minutes they were going to fly a few hundred people and a quarter million pounds of airplane across the country.
But here's what really struck me. The captain showed me that the flight plan that was provided for them included not just all the coordinates required to get to JFK, but also the headings to two alternate airports -- Logan in Boston and also Syracuse. He said that they had enough fuel on board to allow him to circle JFK for an hour, make an approach, decide they didn't like the weather, then go to either of the alternate airports and circle for an hour there if need be!
You talk in your course about redunancy in the mechanical equipment, but I had no idea that the flight plan had such redundancy too. The forecast was just for light rain at JFK (and in fact we landed right on time at JFK), so it amazed me that the airline would go to all the trouble and expense (it must cost a lot to fly with all that extra fuel) for the incredibly unlikely scenario they'd have to land somewhere else.
It would have been hard not to feel comfortable on today's flight, knowing that I was in the hands of two pilots like that, and backed up by such conservative planning. Turbulence usually unsettles me, but when the "fasten
seat belt" sign came on today, I knew that matters were well in hand. I even took the opportunity to get some sleep!
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"Words Can Not Describe The Joy"
Capt., I just wanted to thank you for everything you did for me and everyone else...Words can not describe the joy you have given me by making it possible for me to fly to places all of the world....We just got back from Hawaii, a 12 hour flight....Thanks again ...
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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.
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Does Procrastination Stop You?
Haven't yet made the move to deal with flight anxiety? Still thinking you want to go places? Someday? Here is an article on procrastination that may help.
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Regional Pilot Performance
A USA Today article reports that in nearly every regional accident in the past ten years, at least one of the pilots had failed tests multiple times. It is not unusual for a pilot to fail one check at some time during a career, but more than one failure is a significant "red flag". It is a "red flag" that the regional airlines are ignoring. The regionals cannot attract "Sullenberger-level pilots" because of extremely low pay and extreme fatigue imposed on pilots at regional airlines.
But the major airlines can. At the major airlines, there was only one accident in the past ten years in which a pilot had failed a test more than once.
You can read the article here.
But the major airlines can. At the major airlines, there was only one accident in the past ten years in which a pilot had failed a test more than once.
You can read the article here.
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Budget Airline To Charge For Toilet Use
Among pilots, Michael O'Leary, who runs Ryanain, is the most hated man in the aviation industry. Now he may become the most hated man by passengers. O'Leary has announced it will cost about $1.50 to open the door on the toilets of his airliners.
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Downloading "Take Me Along"
Many clients have said they would be able to fly fine if I would go along on the flight with them. So I created a "virtual" way to do that. Take Me Along is eight video clips that can be put on an iPod, iPhone, laptop computer or other MP4 player to coach you through the flight. It shows you what makes the noises and explains them. It shows you what is happening in the cockpit, what the pilots see and do when taking off and landing.
Please keep in mind that this is not a substitute for the SOAR Course, but a set of videos to boost its effectiveness. Yet, a person with a mild fear of flying may find it is all they need.
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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)
