Flying a plane in cross-winds

Cross-winds are like currents and tides in rivers, seas and oceans

But you never hear that a boat is dealing with a cross-tide! It's just accepted that the water in a river or in the sea isn't always moving in the same direction that a boat wants to travel. So ... if you have a fear of flying, this page about cross-winds will help you to realise that to the planes and pilots it's all very easy. Go to the weather page to find out more about winds and how they occur.

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The website, Forum and on-line course - Flying without Fear

When I started the flyingwithoutfear.com website over thirteen  years ago it was called scared of flying.com

We were the first website helping fearful flyers to post videos and we were the first to have extensive,  free help.  It ran into over 150 pages of information. We were so successful that most of what we did was copied*. Unfortunately for our competitors just para phrasing and reworking sentences doesn’t work. A statement of fact is a statement of fact but to help a fearful flyer it has to be in context, it shouldn’t be dumbed down and it should be free of mis interpretation.

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The personal fear of flying course

I never ask people for testimonials and neither do I take’ before and after’ videos. To me, helping people to overcome their fear of flying is a private contract between me and my customers. Some people may want to keep their fears private and not advertise to friends and workmates this part of their life.

Nothing would promote this course more than smiling faces telling the world how wonderful they feel and how they now plan to see the world. But that’s not our style, we’ll leave the bragging to the big brands.

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Trains, planes, the Great Barrier Reef and Woodstock

It was a bank holiday and we took the grandchildren on an old steam railway train. With my new f2.8 super dooper lens I rattled off dozens of pictures.

It was as I was taking this shot that it occurred to me that there is a lot in common with trains planes and a fear of flying. It was said that in the early days of the train sceptics  worried that travelling at such speeds (faster than a horse could run) would upset the brain and cause the eyes to bleed. We can laugh now, but  without evidence to the contrary why should anyone not have believed the critics?

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On-line Fear of Flying Course

There’s nothing worse than promising to do something and not fulfilling that promise.

Somewhat embarrassingly I’ve been promising to make  the new on line course available for a while now and at each moment of the launch we’ve been faced with the dilemmas of correcting a small problem, upgrading the site or adding a feature that will improve the navigation of the site.

With nearly a hundred articles and hours of video, presentations and audio files to navigate through we want the user experience to be good from the  first page you look at.

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Fear of flying About Automatic pilots

Automatic pilots can fly planes more accurately than humans can

Do you have a fear of flying and worry about how safe the plane is? Do you worry about things like automatic pilots? You'll be please to know that modern automatic pilots can fly a plane more accurately and more consistently than any human pilot can. But autopilots can't think, so there'll always be a pilot on your plane for the foreseeable future.

Shallow fog means using the automatic pilot

Even on a bright sunny day, fearful flyers imagine that a plane is balanced on a knife edge when it's flying. On cloudy days they are ready to  go into panic mode about the extra dangers they imagine. Imagine such a situation and then leaving it all to a computer!

But the fact is is that flying is straightforward, it requires skills, special skills but no more than any other job. Before I explain what autopilots do I need to explain what the real pilots do.

Unfortunately Hollywood has done pilots no favours by suggesting that we're all like the fighter pilot in films like Top Gun. They portray pilots as steely-eyed super heroes whereas pilots are just people who fly planes. Sure some pilots are different from others but then so are train drivers or accountants.

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Difficult airports

There are no such places as difficult or dangerous airports

Let's deal with the frequently asked question, "Are some airports more difficult  than others to land at?" And the answer is no,  there are no such airports. To the question "Do some airports have restrictions on their use?" The answer is "Yes". When there are restrictions and limitations at an airport, pilots have to either watch a video or visit the airport under supervision.

But that doesn't make them difficult and ... see Premium on line for more help and useful information  There is no point in my telling you things that aren't true, because that would discredit everything on this site.

Before an airline can operate with fare paying passengers it has to meet all sorts of requirements regarding the legality and safety of its method of operating. Clearly a small charter company, operating between small airports, would have different requirements compared with an international airline, but that doesn't mean that the standards are lower.

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Thunderstorms

Despite what you think, you won't have flown through a thunderstorm.

Even though air regulations require pilots to remain at least 20 miles from storms, many anxious flyers will  still claim that they have flown in, or through a thunderstorm. This false belief is a major cause of a fear of flying and is one of the reasons that fearful flyers don't want to fly to hot destinations! Thunderstorms are like any other clouds that have been formed by local currents of rising warm air.

At least 20 nautical miles from storms

During the day, the air is heated by the ground and rises. This air mass continues to rise until it is as cool as the surrounding air; when it reaches this level the moisture in the air is released and forms a cloud. Curiously though under some circumstances the cloud can actually stay warmer than the surrounding air and so it continues to rise. When this happens a thunderstorm can occur.

A thunderstorm starts as an ordinary fluffy cloud but continues to develop rather than reaching a steady state at a lower height. The circumstances ... the weather radar in the cockpit will show the presence of thunderstorm activity from a distance ... which means that the pilots have at least ... minutes to plan navigating around them.

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Success Stories from Happy Flyers

Here are some success stories from happy flyers we have helped in the past.
I have been flying for many years - since I was around 3 years old - I am now 27 and cannot ever remember being afraid of flying until I was around 19/20.

Suddenly, and it seemed to come from nowhere, I was afraid of flying ... and I mean REALLY afraid of flying!

Two weeks before I was due to fly I would have nightmares every night, all of which were centred around a plane crash. This would (obviously) only add to my anxieties as they would be at the forefront of my mind in the build up to the day of the flight.  The turning point for me was when I had to go on a business trip to Germany. The Flight was only 50 minutes long but I was in a real state. My Boss and my Husband were with me (as we work together) but nobody was allowed to talk to me.

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Assess your fear of flying

Assess your fear of flying with this survey

This survey will show you the level of your fear compared with a sample of 4,000 other fearful flyers. You may find it useful to see what your level of fear is, compared to where you think you are. Many fearful flyers believe that their fear is higher than it is, and this makes them worry more than they really need to. But most importantly it provides a benchmark. You know where you are and therefore you can see when you are managing your fears. There are other surveys but we feel that this is more than adequate for most people. We hope that you find it valuable in helping you to address your fear.

The 46 items below refer to experiences which may or may not cause fear or apprehension. On a piece of paper list the numbers 1 to 46.

Beside each item number, mark the number which most accurately describes how frightened or anxious thinking of the item makes you feel. - See more...

Common fears

Read about your fears here ... these are common fears that fearful flyers have

Here are some explanations of the things that cause most concern to fearful flyers. I hope that  you feel more confident after you have read about them. We're starting with the one that everybody mentions, and that is turbulence.If you are anxious about turbulence then you are not alone, and that's why we've listed it first. Even experienced travellers dislike the sensations involved! - See more...

About noises on board

What are all those noises on board a plane?

One of the reasons our  Fear of Flying Course is so effective in overcoming the fear of flying is that you have the chance to hear those worrying noises and sounds, over and over again until you get used to them. As you know, anyone who has a fear of flying is very sensitive to the sounds on board an aircraft.

It's also true to say that there are so many noises in the course of a flight that you can be forgiven for being alarmed. Because the sounds are unfamiliar and they occur unexpectedly, the anxious flyer will associate them with danger.

• Unfamiliar noises are perceived by humans as dangerous.

• Aircraft make noises that are unfamiliar to you (but not to the crew).

• Noises in flight are normal and are not dangerous.

Remember that as an anxious flyer you will always be in a state of heightened awareness, your senses will be tuned into everything that is going on. It's hardly surprising that the noises on board will seem to be exaggerated. You should always try to remember that the noises are appropriate to what is going on during that particular stage of  your flight.

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Air Traffic Control

The job of Air Traffic Control is to keep aircraft away from each other

In the same way that there are myths about flying, there are also myths about ATC. The biggest one is that they can talk aircraft down to a safe landing. That is not the role or responsibility of ATC. The captain of the plane is responsible for the flight but has to obey ATC instructions if his/her plane is operating under those rules. A controller  instructs a pilot to fly at a certain height or speed and direction but it is up to the pilot to do it.

 

However the captain is required by law to follow those directions unless doing so would put the plane, passengers and crew at risk.  It is important to know this because it fits in with all the other myths about what ATC can and cannot do.  ATC just issue instructions to keep aircraft away from each other while they are travelling between airports. That is the 'control' part of their name. They do not 'control' the plane itself. They are unable to talk planes down. - See more...

Flying a jet airliner

Flying a jet airliner is easier than you think

There are a couple of expressions we use in English to suggest that something is not difficult; we say it's not rocket science or we say it's not brain surgery. I want to show you that flying a jet aircraft is easier than you think.  If you start with the thought that something is difficult, it must mean that it's ten times more difficult to do if something goes wrong.

If you believe it's complicated as well as difficult then you might describe it as potentially dangerous. If you're anxious about it all, then it will be seen as dangerous. We need to dispel those myths so that you see flying for what it is ... normal. Many people feed their fear of flying because they think that flying a jet plane is difficult and demanding. By understanding it you'll see that it doesn't hold as many fears as you believe. - See more...

Weather for fearful flyers

Here's why you shouldn't be worried about the weather

Weather for fearful flyers... the first thing that you have to remember about the weather is that contrary to what you'd think ... the weather has less influence on a plane, than on road traffic. Paradoxically, it's because we can fly in bad weather that we suffer delays. It's easy to get a plane on and off the ground ... the problem is getting the pasengers to and from the plane and airport.

 

So on a day when you'd have to leave the car in the garage and stay at home ... the airlines continue operating, albeit in a limited way. That's not to say that there aren't some long delays ... of course there are but it takes time to clear a runway of snow, and when it's foggy planes can't land as frequently ... but they are  still flying. Things slow down, but they don't grind to a halt like they do on the roads.

Top Tips about weather:

• A plane cannot land or take off if the visibility or wind is outside the prescribed limits.

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Fly without Fear Book – £14.99

 

Get all of Captain Keith’s lifetime of experience and advice in one updated volume

Learning to fly without fear can be a “light bulb moment” for some, a longer journey for others.  Whatever the nature of your fear of flying, having the right information, logically structured, cogently presented and expertly written, at your fingertips, can make all the difference.

Now, Captain Keith Godfrey and Dr. Alison Smith have brought together their three volumes of information, experience, advice and help in one convenient, updated volume.  It is there to reiterate and remind, to reassure and relax.

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Getting around the web site

 

A few months ago when we launched this new site we planned on some features that would make it helpful to visitors.

We had no idea that it would blossom in the way that it has.

We are getting thousands of visitors and some super comments about the site.
Each day we get closer to developing the site in a way that we think will help people who have a fear of flying to find a way of dealing with it. So far we’re the only web site that has video help  audio helpcasts information about fear, weather, strategies and loads more, but we notice from our statistics that visitors seem to stop searching the site as soon as they’ve found the things they need to know.
There is an amazing amount of help on the site and I wonder if visitors are reluctant to look everywhere just in case they think they might find something they didn’t want to see.
Let me assure you that every single bit of information on the site is user friendly there is nothing that will upset you or make things worse…so please explore and build your confidence.
The podcasts and free helpcasts are like the rest of the site … designed to help you find your way of dealing with your anxieties. So please tune in to them.
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Aviation technology

While I was waiting for my Pilot trainees to arrive today, I had time to read an article in Flight International.

 

 

New engine

It was about a technology that was being developed to detect the turbulence generated by other aircraft.

I never cease to be amazed at how technology makes aviation safer by the day by designing features on aircraft that could only have been dreams a few years ago.

Keith

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About flyingwithoutfear.com

Our first site Scaredofflying.com, started life with a telephone call,

 a friend needed some reassurance about flying before going on holiday.

The call lasted two hours, during which time several other people joined in to ask their own questions.
Following this call I received a lengthy e-mail with more questions to help the individual understand and ultimately overcome their fear of flying. This experience led me to the idea of the book ‘Flying without Fear’ which has been Amazon’s best seller in the genre for over three years, and looks likely to stay there.
Since then we have developed several products to help you and other anxious flyers to overcome your fear of flying. And now we have developed www.flyingwithoutfear.com to help you overcome your fear of flying.
If you have a fear of flying our Fear of flying help Books, cd’s and more will help you overcome your fear of flying, includes fear of flying podcasts, information about weather, turbulence and many other areas to help you overcome your fear of flying.
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4 CD Help Set

4 CD Help Set – £24.99 

An experience of flying you will actually enjoy. Our unique four CD set includes all the sound effects of flight and a calming commentary with explanations that will make you laugh. Experience a take-off and landing. Find out exactly what you need to know at every moment in a flight. Enjoy hearing the answers to questions you hadn’t dared ask.
Do you want to overcome your fear of flying? Hundreds of people have overcome theirs with this comprehensive four CD course, because it: Allows you to experience a virtual flight in a relaxed, enjoyable way Is comprehensive yet concise – every explanation covers exactly what you need to know, when you need to know it Includes sound effects, so you'll hear the wheels and flaps , you'll hear the engines starting and you'll even hear a commentary from the flight deck of a 737 as it is taking off Includes a great commentary that will have you smiling or even laughing, while answering the questions you haven’t dared ask Can easily be ripped to your mobile player, so that you can use while you’re flying Simply works – hundreds of people have overcome their fear of flying using this course - See more...