I have had a fear of flying for a long time. I can just about keep it under control but there are sometimes when it is a close thing!

I do know that flying is generally considered to be one of the safest forms of public transportation currently available in the United States. Statistics compiled by the Department of Transportation have led to the conclusion that airline travel is 29 times safer than driving an automobile.
The problem with the above statistics is that they do not stop people
from being afraid of flying.

Statistics do not really help though because as I have learned the fear of flying actually has little to do with risk as such. If the fear of flying were actually caused by the potential for an accident, then everyone who fears to fly would be even more afraid—29 times more afraid, to be statistically exact—to drive or ride in an automobile. But that is clearly not the case.
Anyone else suffering?

I do sympathise with you, it can be very limiting if you simply cannot bring yourself to get on a plane, a friend of mine has not seen her daughter for 10 years because she is in Australia and my friend just can't fly! Anyone who flies even if they are not afraid of flying—understands that there is always some chance of an accident, just as there is with any life activity.

Relatively few accidents happen in aviation because pilots are specifically trained to stay calm and to think clearly in an emergency—and they are trained to handle just about every emergency imaginable. But, without their own specialised training, many passengers sit in the cabin worrying about the dangers of flight. Despite the safety statistics, they become disabled by fear and experience the psychological symptoms that make flying a misery or as in my friends case, impossible!

I read somewhre that the fear of flying is because we were not designed to fly like birds, whenever we get into a “flying machine” we have to confront our deepest fears of human vulnerability. It’s not so much that flying is “unnatural,” but that in finding ourselves way up in the sky, sealed in a machine, we can hear our deepest whisperings of vulnerability more clearly than anywhere else.

Still, even though none of us is ever “in control” of anything, we can learn to be psychologically in command of our thoughts and feelings—and trust in something greater than ourselves—more than we think and there are a lot of programmes to help with that.

Technically, the fear of flying is a Specific Phobia, one of several kinds of Anxiety Disorders. As an anxiety, the “fear” of flying is more concerned with what might happen than with what actually is happening.

If, for example, you were sitting in a plane with smoke coming out of the engines while the captain was trying to make an emergency landing, there would be a clear and present danger, and anyone would be afraid.

But if you were sitting in a plane with all systems functioning normally and you felt afraid that something threatening could happen, that would be anxiety. The fear of flying has many components, not all of which are specific to flight itself.

It really is most restricting to be unable to fly these days, but, it seems that more and more people are suffering from the fear of flying.

There are some other components that can lead to a fear of flying and they are a fear of heights, enclosed spaces, crowded conditions. sitting in hot, stale air. You might have problems with having to wait passively or with not understanding the reasons for all the strange actions, sounds, and sensations occurring around you. You may worry about the dangers of turbulence and being dependent on unknown mechanical things to maintain your safety or even being dependent on an unknown pilot’s judgement, not feeling in “control”. Another more modern cause can be the possibility of terrorism

If your fear of flying derives from a past trauma or accident, you might consider a consultation with a psychologist specifically to resolve those “underlying” issues. You might also be interested in Wings of Light, an organisation formed as a support and information network for persons whose lives have been touched by aircraft accidents.