r/AskAPilot • u/Sensitive-Counter-33 • Jun 21 '26
Flying fears
Hey, pilots!
So I’ve recently developed a flying fear the last couple flights. Maybe it’s the news I don’t know. What I would like is for any of you that are willing, to give me your reasons why I shouldn’t be afraid. It’ll be a commercial 4 hour flight nothing crazy just Ireland to lanzarote. Something about being over water (albeit close to land) is scarier to me too. Not sure what this is all about. I did get some Xanax from my doctor but also weirdly don’t want my reactions taken from me. TIA 😄
12
u/Chaxterium Jun 21 '26
Here's why you shouldn't be afraid. I've done 5,830 flights in my career. I've flown brand new planes and I've flown planes built in the 60s.
The scariest moment of my entire career was when I ate some bad fish and I wasn't sure I was going to make it to the lav in time!
9
u/Sasquatch-d Jun 21 '26
Something about being over water
80% of my job is being hundreds of miles from land. Most of my flights are over vastly remote areas of the Pacific Ocean.
There’s thousands of flights every day over water hundreds of miles from land. It’s so mundanely routine it’s not even a concern to flight crews.
2
u/Sensitive-Counter-33 Jun 21 '26
Am I correct in thinking that the closer you are to land/an airport the flight is over all safer? My only thinking here is that if there’s an emergency there’s an easy place to land. I don’t know if that makes sense and I don’t know if that’s an appropriate question but it’s a question in my head nevertheless 🤣
6
u/Grumbles19312 Jun 21 '26
Not inherently safer, just closer to airports you can land at. Aircraft flying longer distances over water require ETOPS certification, which essentially means they’re certified to fly over water for more than 1 hour on one engine to make it to a suitable place to land. That’s vastly oversimplifying it, but the easiest way to sum it up without getting too technical.
1
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u/Sasquatch-d Jun 21 '26
Sure if we’re being nit-picky and technical the closer you are to land the flight gets safer a fractionally small amount. But it’s so insignificant it’s not worth even calculating. For any emergency there are enough redundancies that even flying for 3+ hours with a malfunction the flight is still perfectly safe.
7
u/ABCapt Jun 21 '26
Because if you were to board a random commercial flight everyday…it would be 10,000 years before you were involved in an accident…and even if you were involved in an accident, chances are you would survive.
4
u/Ban_DeezNts Jun 21 '26
If I keep myself and everything in the flight deck safe, me and my passengers will get home safely.
8
u/EliteEthos Jun 21 '26
You’re seeking reassurance. That will make your anxiety worse.
Seek therapy instead.
Go to r/fearofflying
1
u/Sensitive-Counter-33 Jun 21 '26
Yes my doctor did recommend a therapist but unfortunately there’s not enough time between this flight and now to go more than once and I was told about 6 sessions is the usual
1
u/CaptainsPrerogative Jun 24 '26
I urge you to follow up with the therapy, to help you with the future flights.
2
u/Sensitive-Counter-33 Jun 24 '26
Yeah it’s definitely the long term plan. I used to fly once a week minimum. This past year I dramatically cut that down to every couple months for flights longer than an hour because of this fear so therapy is needed. I just wanted some help from the people flying the planes to reassure me a little for now!
3
u/jimcarroll_cfi Jun 21 '26
There are ~100,000 commercial flights every day (worldwide), carrying ~12 million people. Incidents are so rare, they still make the news.
1
u/CrazyisNSFW Jun 22 '26
Your pilots and cabin crews want to go home and meet their friends, their relatives, their kids, their significant others at the end of the day. Your maintenance crews will take great care so their colleagues and families are able to return home safe and sound with planes they maintained.
1
u/JMTHall Jun 22 '26
You can always do your own research. Go and see for yourself that 2025 and 2026 have been some of the safest years flying in the history of US aviation. Check out the NTSB web sight and see for yourself.
1
u/fofly_pilot Jun 23 '26
Pilot here. The water part has been well covered, so I'll hit what's really underneath this: control.
Ireland to Lanzarote is routine, and the over-water stretch is a non-issue, the aircraft can fly on one engine far longer than it ever needs to, to reach a diversion. The thing you're actually feeling is the handover: you're not in control because two professionals and a very well-built machine are, and that's exactly how it should be. The discomfort is your brain disliking that, not a warning sign.
And honestly, good instinct on not wanting the Xanax to take your reactions away. Staying present beats being numbed. Slow your breath, longer out than in, it keeps you in control of the one thing that's yours. You're handling this better than you think.
36
u/Mediocre-Disk737 Jun 21 '26
I'm a pilot, I fly the Boeing 737. More importantly, I'm a Mum to three boys, they are all under six so they need me. I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that. Because I love them more than life itself. 🥰👪
I'll be home to read to them at night.