Post by capttom on Dec 26, 2019 17:32:23 GMT
When time permits, I answer questions on Quora. Recently I replied to this question:Should I be scared of turbulence during flight. I can't eat or enjoy the on-board entertainmnet comfortably because I'm too busy worrying about the plane. It really spoils the whole flight experience for me.
My Reply
Should you be afraid? Logically, no. That is because, even if you don’t wear your seat belt, the chance of being hurt in turbulence is small. But if wear it, your chance of being hurt is zero! So much for logic. Let's turn to emotion. Turbulence can cause a “knee-jerk” emotional reaction when the amygdala reacts to the feeling of falling. In some people, this causes no trouble. In others, it causes massive distress. Why?
Think of your cell phone. When it rings, you may be doing something that calls for your undivided attention. But, to get your attention, the ring is loud and intrusive. The noise continues until you answer the phone. As soon as you answer it, the ringing stops. Think how difficult it would be to have a conversation if the ringing did not stop.
Well, that’s how it is for many people when flying in turbulence. When the amygdala releases stress hormones, it grabs their attention, but does not quiet down.
As soon as you pay attention to the alarm caused by the amygdala, there are supposed to be alarm attenuation circuits in the brain to push the alarm out of your mind so you can - calmly - assess the situation and determine what, if any, action is needed. If these circuits are lacking, turbulence can cause great distress because each time the plane drops, the alarm level increases until you are sure you are in great danger.
To an airline pilot, turbulence is so routine that pilots sometimes don't notice it. There have been times when, flying along, I hear a "ding" on the intercom. I answer it, and a flight attendant on the other end, says, "What the hell are you trying to do to us back here?"
I say, "What are you talking about?"
She says, "The TURBULENCE! Why don't you have the seat belt sign on?
I say, "Sorry, I didn't notice it."
Also, I'm sure I've been on flights where, in the cockpit, the flight is boring. Meanwhile, back in the cabin, something believes they are in a life-threatening situation.
The amygdala, the part of the brain that releases stress hormones, does so when it senses anything non-routine. It also does so when it senses dropping or falling. So, in turbulence, it releases stress hormones again and again, each time the plane drops.
A person who is securely oriented regulates the arousal caused by the stress hormones unconsciously and automatically. A person who is not so securely oriented regulates arousal consciously and deliberately.
To understand how different automatic regulation is versus deliberate regulation, think about some sport you are good at. You catch a ball via unconscious and automatic mental processes. If you had to do it by thinking, "OK, move the hand up two inches, and right three inches," you would miss the ball.
Similarly, you fail to regulate feelings when flying if you have to regulate manually.
When I work with fearful fliers, I train them to regulate their feelings in turbulence automatically. Nothing else works when in turbulence because, no matter how hard you try to keep your mind off it, you can't. And when the stress hormones build up, you begin to believe that what you are imagining is really happening, and that the plane really is falling out of the sky. That's why I'm sure there are passengers who believed they were about to die when I, in the cockpit, was bored.
I have a free app that has a g-force meter which measures how strong the turbulence is. Using it will prove the plane is nowhere near its limits. The app is at www.fearofflying.com/app
Some techniques you will find on the web only set you up for failure. Breathing exercises are nothing more than a distraction, and when there is turbulence, trying to stay distracted will not work. The only thing I’ve found that works is to retrain the brain and built alarm attenuation circuits in. For that, we have courses at Free Online Fear of Flying Videos
A British Airways flight attendant read my answer and posted the following (which may be even more helpful than my answer).
Love this answer from Tom Bunn and it really makes a lot of sense, so hope you’re able to find somewhere to get that desensitisation that he recommends. As a flight attendant for 35 years (and married to a pilot flying for nearly 45 years), I have had my fair bit of turbulence over time. I do find it is more noticeable when seated then when standing (we hang on sometimes during quite moderate turbulence to handles etc in the galley whilst carrying on chatting) as I think the knees automatically sort of bend a bit and the body absorbs the bumps more (like ski-ing!) than when you’re constrained in a seat. And - sorry Pilots!! - the turbulence always “feels” worse in the cabin than in the flight deck, the cabin seems to be thrown about more.
But try not to worry - it’s not turbulence that causes crashes, but completely understand how you feel; it’s not always very comfortable.
And here's an email from a client about turbulence.
Captain Tom,
I ordered your course years ago and it has helped me immensely! I truly had a really really bad fear of flying. So I thank you and I highly recommend your course.
I won’t lie sometimes I’ll still get some pre-flight jitters. But the good thing is it doesn’t take much to get grounded back in reality and realize how safe flying really is.
One of the things that helps remind me of this is a simple realization I had one night when I was visiting my parents at my childhood home.
So I thought I’d share.
It was couple of years ago, it was the night before a flight, and I stopped by to see my parents at the house where I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles. When I was leaving, I went outside and I looked up in the night sky and saw the flight path of all the planes slowly coming in for a landing @ LAX and I had a memory.
I remembered as a kid, with my dad and brothers, looking at that same exact flight path. For fun, at night, we would look up and count the planes queued up in the distance, lights blinking faintly, flying well above our heads and coming in for a landing. So we would make a game of it and see how far off in the distance we could see and count how many planes were inline. We would count: 1…2...3 planes. Sometimes 4 and 5 planes in a line all flying to LAX. I think we may have even gotten to 6 or 7 planes sometimes way off in the distance. One would pass over head but a new one would pop up in the distance. All slowly marching in and getting ready to land. It was a continuous stream and we didn't think anything of it. It was fun.
So that night, leaving my parents, and re-looking at the same exact flight path something occurred to me. The line of all these planes looks identical to when I was a kid. Obviously these are all different planes slowly coming in but the situation was the same then as it is now. That night looking up (but now in my 40’s) I realized something - after all these years not one plane ever crashed. Day in day out, night in night out just a continuous stream of planes over head. Over 40 years everyday the same thing! The funny thing is most of the time growing up there I didn’t even think about it - but they were there.
Every day for 40+ years planes coming in for a landing - thats a lot of planes! I can’t even do the math on that. So I thought to myself - "what am I worried about?
If flying was as bad as I originally thought there should have been multiple crashes or at minimum a few a year - but there wasn’t and to this day there isn’t!
Then something else occurred to me. This is just one airport! There are streams of these planes doing the same thing all over the state, country and world. Slowly lumbering in, lights blinking, getting to their designation. Day or night. No crashes. No major incidents.
Just planes and pilots doing their thing all over the world coming in for a landing (and probably some kid somewhere looking up and counting them in a row off in the distance).
This quickly became another obvious realization for me of how safe flying really is and I sometimes think of this memory when I get those pre-flight jitters and it puts my mind at ease.
One of my brothers owns the house now. When I visit him with my kids sometimes we’ll look up at night sky at that same flight path and count the planes coming in - its fun...and reassuring.
Anyway - just thought I’d share because your course has helped so much. If I hadn’t taken it I’m not sure I would have come to this simple realization on my own - even as obvious as it is.
Thanks again.
My Reply
Should you be afraid? Logically, no. That is because, even if you don’t wear your seat belt, the chance of being hurt in turbulence is small. But if wear it, your chance of being hurt is zero! So much for logic. Let's turn to emotion. Turbulence can cause a “knee-jerk” emotional reaction when the amygdala reacts to the feeling of falling. In some people, this causes no trouble. In others, it causes massive distress. Why?
Think of your cell phone. When it rings, you may be doing something that calls for your undivided attention. But, to get your attention, the ring is loud and intrusive. The noise continues until you answer the phone. As soon as you answer it, the ringing stops. Think how difficult it would be to have a conversation if the ringing did not stop.
Well, that’s how it is for many people when flying in turbulence. When the amygdala releases stress hormones, it grabs their attention, but does not quiet down.
As soon as you pay attention to the alarm caused by the amygdala, there are supposed to be alarm attenuation circuits in the brain to push the alarm out of your mind so you can - calmly - assess the situation and determine what, if any, action is needed. If these circuits are lacking, turbulence can cause great distress because each time the plane drops, the alarm level increases until you are sure you are in great danger.
To an airline pilot, turbulence is so routine that pilots sometimes don't notice it. There have been times when, flying along, I hear a "ding" on the intercom. I answer it, and a flight attendant on the other end, says, "What the hell are you trying to do to us back here?"
I say, "What are you talking about?"
She says, "The TURBULENCE! Why don't you have the seat belt sign on?
I say, "Sorry, I didn't notice it."
Also, I'm sure I've been on flights where, in the cockpit, the flight is boring. Meanwhile, back in the cabin, something believes they are in a life-threatening situation.
The amygdala, the part of the brain that releases stress hormones, does so when it senses anything non-routine. It also does so when it senses dropping or falling. So, in turbulence, it releases stress hormones again and again, each time the plane drops.
A person who is securely oriented regulates the arousal caused by the stress hormones unconsciously and automatically. A person who is not so securely oriented regulates arousal consciously and deliberately.
To understand how different automatic regulation is versus deliberate regulation, think about some sport you are good at. You catch a ball via unconscious and automatic mental processes. If you had to do it by thinking, "OK, move the hand up two inches, and right three inches," you would miss the ball.
Similarly, you fail to regulate feelings when flying if you have to regulate manually.
When I work with fearful fliers, I train them to regulate their feelings in turbulence automatically. Nothing else works when in turbulence because, no matter how hard you try to keep your mind off it, you can't. And when the stress hormones build up, you begin to believe that what you are imagining is really happening, and that the plane really is falling out of the sky. That's why I'm sure there are passengers who believed they were about to die when I, in the cockpit, was bored.
I have a free app that has a g-force meter which measures how strong the turbulence is. Using it will prove the plane is nowhere near its limits. The app is at www.fearofflying.com/app
Some techniques you will find on the web only set you up for failure. Breathing exercises are nothing more than a distraction, and when there is turbulence, trying to stay distracted will not work. The only thing I’ve found that works is to retrain the brain and built alarm attenuation circuits in. For that, we have courses at Free Online Fear of Flying Videos
A British Airways flight attendant read my answer and posted the following (which may be even more helpful than my answer).
Love this answer from Tom Bunn and it really makes a lot of sense, so hope you’re able to find somewhere to get that desensitisation that he recommends. As a flight attendant for 35 years (and married to a pilot flying for nearly 45 years), I have had my fair bit of turbulence over time. I do find it is more noticeable when seated then when standing (we hang on sometimes during quite moderate turbulence to handles etc in the galley whilst carrying on chatting) as I think the knees automatically sort of bend a bit and the body absorbs the bumps more (like ski-ing!) than when you’re constrained in a seat. And - sorry Pilots!! - the turbulence always “feels” worse in the cabin than in the flight deck, the cabin seems to be thrown about more.
But try not to worry - it’s not turbulence that causes crashes, but completely understand how you feel; it’s not always very comfortable.
And here's an email from a client about turbulence.
Captain Tom,
I ordered your course years ago and it has helped me immensely! I truly had a really really bad fear of flying. So I thank you and I highly recommend your course.
I won’t lie sometimes I’ll still get some pre-flight jitters. But the good thing is it doesn’t take much to get grounded back in reality and realize how safe flying really is.
One of the things that helps remind me of this is a simple realization I had one night when I was visiting my parents at my childhood home.
So I thought I’d share.
It was couple of years ago, it was the night before a flight, and I stopped by to see my parents at the house where I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles. When I was leaving, I went outside and I looked up in the night sky and saw the flight path of all the planes slowly coming in for a landing @ LAX and I had a memory.
I remembered as a kid, with my dad and brothers, looking at that same exact flight path. For fun, at night, we would look up and count the planes queued up in the distance, lights blinking faintly, flying well above our heads and coming in for a landing. So we would make a game of it and see how far off in the distance we could see and count how many planes were inline. We would count: 1…2...3 planes. Sometimes 4 and 5 planes in a line all flying to LAX. I think we may have even gotten to 6 or 7 planes sometimes way off in the distance. One would pass over head but a new one would pop up in the distance. All slowly marching in and getting ready to land. It was a continuous stream and we didn't think anything of it. It was fun.
So that night, leaving my parents, and re-looking at the same exact flight path something occurred to me. The line of all these planes looks identical to when I was a kid. Obviously these are all different planes slowly coming in but the situation was the same then as it is now. That night looking up (but now in my 40’s) I realized something - after all these years not one plane ever crashed. Day in day out, night in night out just a continuous stream of planes over head. Over 40 years everyday the same thing! The funny thing is most of the time growing up there I didn’t even think about it - but they were there.
Every day for 40+ years planes coming in for a landing - thats a lot of planes! I can’t even do the math on that. So I thought to myself - "what am I worried about?
If flying was as bad as I originally thought there should have been multiple crashes or at minimum a few a year - but there wasn’t and to this day there isn’t!
Then something else occurred to me. This is just one airport! There are streams of these planes doing the same thing all over the state, country and world. Slowly lumbering in, lights blinking, getting to their designation. Day or night. No crashes. No major incidents.
Just planes and pilots doing their thing all over the world coming in for a landing (and probably some kid somewhere looking up and counting them in a row off in the distance).
This quickly became another obvious realization for me of how safe flying really is and I sometimes think of this memory when I get those pre-flight jitters and it puts my mind at ease.
One of my brothers owns the house now. When I visit him with my kids sometimes we’ll look up at night sky at that same flight path and count the planes coming in - its fun...and reassuring.
Anyway - just thought I’d share because your course has helped so much. If I hadn’t taken it I’m not sure I would have come to this simple realization on my own - even as obvious as it is.
Thanks again.
