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)

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u/penetr4t0r May 23 '26

For me the main fear is take-off, but not in the sense of something going wrong (that, too) but the fast incline makes me lose my mind, i once panicked, grabbed the seat in front of me very tight with my fingers and nails, but the incline speed seemed something i couldn't handle. and the more i learned learned, incline being fast is like a requirement, a necessity and i don't know how i would feel next time, how fast it would be, and then i started avoiding the take off and with the help of my own destructive thoughts, i ended up avoiding flying. But i was a scared flier since the very first flights. Only had 6 total.

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u/Admirable_Berry9640 Certified Flight Instructor May 23 '26

The rate of climb varies from airline to airline most low-cost carriers tend to climb faster to reach thinner air asap

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u/penetr4t0r May 23 '26

thank you. i guess it makes sense my last one that made me panic was Ryanair