[gmanis]

This is my greatest fear and has lead my life into a completely different direction. From a promising young CS graduate working in tech in US to someone who’s had to leave many opportunities to family members unable to travel with me, it is very debilitating.

I have tried exposure therapy, learnt a lot about flying, used sim games, and no amount of statistics has helped so far.

Maybe the fear stems from underlying unresolved issues about life and the fact that I haven’t done well relative to peers despite being promising early on.

[mpalczewski]

I tried a bunch of that too. I even had jumped out of an airplane, and I took flying lessons and still panic attack every time I flew. Though flying lessons did help, skydiving was awesome but terrifying and didn’t help at all.

What finally helped me, was Allen Carr easy way to enjoy flying and the happiness trap. Not sure which book did it but I’m flying now with what I would call a normal level of anxiety most of the time.

[telesilla]

Allen Car helped me stop smoking and flying lessons helped me stop being afraid of flying! I'd be curious to hear if there was a single moment for you in your lessons you remember that helped you. For me, I was in a non-powered plane and had to land. The incredible resistance of the aircraft was the moment of enlightenment for me.

[mpalczewski]

Yes the non powered landing was the most profound part of flying lessons for me.

[gmanis]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I would definitely take a look at Allen Carr.

[nzmsv]

Try reading "Panic Free" by Tom Bunn. It approaches the fear of flying from a psychological perspective, has concrete cookbook style suggestions, and definitely appealed to the engineer in me.

[gmanis]

Thank you.

[vbg]

What exactly does this mean?

“ being promising early on”

[gmanis]

It means I started off in a top software company and was on track to a relatively decent middle class life in US.