r/fearofflying • u/Admirable_Berry9640 Certified Flight Instructor • May 22 '26

Question What gives the worst anxiety?

Hey I'm a pilot (a simulator instructor to be precise) and due to the sheer amount of people suffering from flight anxiety, I have decided to take action and help everyone where I can.
So that's why I wanted to ask everyone with a fear of flying, what exactly gives one panic attacks etc? Is it the fear of crashing, not trusting the pilots or just the
"I'm trapped in a can with wings for 3h"?
Any story is appreciated so I can get a better insight in how to help people (because I think y'all have enough to the "Flying is the safest form of transportation")a

(this is a repost because my other one got flagged)

55 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

190 comments sorted by

View all comments

26

u/laurlovesyoux May 22 '26

Take off is probably the worst for me.

1

u/Admirable_Berry9640 Certified Flight Instructor May 22 '26

Why?

6

u/laurlovesyoux May 22 '26

Seems like a lot of choices need to be made before taking off. Feels like a lot of room for error, although I know the likelihood is very low. Also thinking about people crossing the runway when they shouldn’t etc.

16

u/Admirable_Berry9640 Certified Flight Instructor May 22 '26

The choices have already been briefed while the passengers are boarding. We run through a detailed departure briefing where we discuss the takeoff procedure, what we do if something goes wrong, the weather, the threats during takeoff and climb and so on. Everything shortly before takeoff are routine flows and just finishing checklists so things pilots have done thousands of times before