nervous flyer, take sleeping pills?

[Tom Morrow]

My Dw is a very nervous flyer and the doctor has in the past given her sleeping pills which she's used. This time a new doctor said they cant do that because in an emergency she wouldnt be awake enough and has said to just take kalms or some off the shelf calming medications. Anyone else a nervous flyer, what do you do ?

[Britchick]

Ihad cognitive behaviour therapy due to an irrational fear of flying. It worked well, I still worry about it and need reassurance with every strange noise but I can at least fly! I kind of agree with your Wife's Doctor. You should really be moving around during around during a flight anyway.

[MystikPiglit]

Because I suffer from claustrophobia, flying is a nightmare for me.
I take lemon balm tincture or Bach Rescue Remedy and use accupressure/ breathing techniques to relax.

The doctor is correct about the sleeping pills as she needs to walk around/move about during long flights.

[Dorothy]

I have a friend uses yoga to help her relax when she's flying. She says it's the deep breathing that helps her the most and the being able to sort of "zone out" during the flight.

I deal with my own fear of flying by gripping the armrest of the seat and mumbling things to myself. Probably won't work on a long distance flight though

[Coolape]

My partner has the same problem / fear that you or someone you know are all experiencing.
I am going to tell you the same thing I tell her. It may or may not help you, but will give you an insight on what goes on.

The flying machines have undergone numerous testing, stress testing, hours of flight data collected, and design engineers have improved all the designs over the years.

Critical components will have backup systems, for instance hydraulics that control your aircraft's steering on the ground will have its pumps powered by an engine whilst your braking hydraulics is powered by another engine in the event of an hydraulic pressure failure the serviceable (working) hydraulic system will feed the the remaining systems. (oh we also have backup pumps that run on electrical power too...twin engine aircraft will also have another backup system called the RAT-Ram Air Turbine!)

anyways, there are back up systems in place for most things non-critical.

I've heard people a few seats behind me on a flight mumble "is the wing suppose to bounce like that?", I have seen video's of the wings being stress tested to the point of breaking.
I don't wish this to scare you, but heck it took some length before it gave way.

Whilst these machines take a battering with the wind conditions, wet, dry, hot temperatures, cold winters, yet you still see aircraft's from world war 2 still flying around.

I know of people who are so terrified of flying they've never left the country. I only hope they get the courage one day to do so, this world is so big yet so small for someone not to try and see some of it.

The noises you hear when taking off / landing would probably be (depending on aircraft type, wind/weather conditions, weight of aircraft, and many more other things):
a. Leading edge slats / flaps
b. trailing edge flaps
c. landing gear
d. engines spooling up or down ()
e. spoilers / air brakes
f. people around you

Whilst like any other technological man made object they do wear / break down and are repairable / replaceable, and this get's done almost immediately depending on spares and how critical the component is.
What do I mean by this? well if one of the landing lights isn't working, it has to be changed immediately, no spares available? we will make sure we get one from somewhere, as if it was magic.

Seat no. 24A on the left hand side window seat has a defective reading light.
It get's replaced as soon as it's reported to an engineer or if the engineer checks the system. The engineer checks for spares, and guess what, there is no spares available. Do you think it's fair that the person in 24A has no reading light? well if Joe Bloggs is an avid night time reader, no it's not fair. But it's also not fair to stop the other 300 passengers from going on holiday just because he can't read for the next 8 hour night flight. There are usually other seats available for Joe Bloggs to be moved to, which is what usually happens if he complains to the cabin crew.

Anyways, I hope you have enjoyed this little read, but my aim is to broaden your views in to what happens behind the scenes from an engineering point of view and hope your next journey is an enjoyable one.

PS. We normally have millions of reading lights available, so Mr. Bloggs in 24A usually gets to read his book for 8 hours.