How to get over your fear of flying

For others, it is the sensation of turbulence, orintrusive thoughts about the plane crashingnot helped by incessant coverage of incidents like the recent Alaska Airlines door-plug blowout..

Another option is exposure therapy, which comes in many variations, from watching planes from the ground to spending timein a flight simulator with a pilotto see how he or she handles situations like turbulence and windy landings..

How can a plane fly in a rainstorm?Sometimes being able to directly ask a pilot your questions, your way, can help allay nagging fears.Thats the premise behind Dial a Pilot, a service launched last year by commercial airline pilot Kyle Koukol that connects fearful fliers with someone from his roster of active and retired airline pilots. They offer explanations of what pilots and aircraft designers do to make air travel safe, even in the event of scary situations like severe turbulence or engine loss, Koukol says..

In the Fear of Flying group on the community-forum website Reddit, members can use in-flight Wi-Fi to stay connected with others on the ground, who will track their flights using information from sites like FlightAware to post encouraging updates like Youre over halfway there!".

Meditation apps like Calm and Headspace (some of which are offered on some in-flight entertainment systems) also offer exercises that use breathing techniques to help manage flight-related anxiety, as dofree resources like the University of California, Berkeleys Greater Good Science Center...

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