Flight Safety - How It Seems and How It Is There is an interesting thread on the message board this week. You can find it at this link. The person posting as Noz writes: I cant help but stand idly by while others pysch themselves out in order to put themselves in a pressurized tube traveling at 500 MPH. I stopped or avoided flying about 4 years ago. I had a very bad incident back in 1994 but kept flying but it became incredibly stressful every time I did. Now I dont fly and havent for over 4 years. I dont miss it, I dont desire it, and I am over the whole traveling thing to see new places. People talk about statistics. They mention statistical values that support how safe flying really is. What they fail to mention is how unlikely it is for people to survive in an aircraft accident and statistically how many things actually fail or go wrong on an aircraft but dont necessarily bring it down. The number of factors external factors and influences involved in flying are immense. You are putting your life in the hands of so many people that its hard to rationalize why anyone would get on a plane to begin with. The number of integral components that can fail, the number of systems that can fail, the number of people who touch the aircraft during loading, unloading, refueling, etc...this isnt even going into deep maintenance cycles when parts are removed and then put back. I used to love flying...but the more I know about it, the more I know its rolling dice when getting on board an aircraft. Im truly surprised more dont fall out of the sky. So fear of flying is, to me, a rational fear - not based on psychological limitations unless you are fearful of heights. Its based on understanding how insane and irrational it is to sit in a cramped tube thats completely out of your control and if something does go wrong, you are done. I responded to the post as follows: You sound so thoroughly logical. As did the Dustin Hoffman character in Rainman who would only fly Qantas because Qantas never crashed. You argue that it is logical to be afraid to fly; you argue that statistics must be ignored. You ask us to consider how unlikely it is for people to survive in an aircraft accident. In doing so you are asking us to regard your view of what is likely and unlikely as valid. A persons view, like statistics that suggest what is likely in the future, can be accurate or inaccurate. We dont need to look at predictive statistics. We have descriptive statistics that simply compile the results. Descriptive statistics offer us - not opinion - but facts. It may be disconcerting to face the fact that seven BILLION people survived flight on major US airliners in the past ten years without a single fatality. And while it seems so likely to survive a car crash, 383,835 people who stepped into automobiles alive during that ten-year period did not step out alive after a collision. If you cannot stand idly by as others psych themselves out in order to fly, how can you stand idly by as passengers board the Metro North railroad only to perish when their train derails going around a 30 MPH curve at 82 MPH? How can you stand idly by as children going to school are shot by a gun nut (two things that happened recently in my neighborhood)? I think the blurb by Stephen Porges, professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, on the back cover of my book fits this discussion. He wrote, SOAR provides a relevant and understandable explanation of how the nervous system - as it works outside of awareness to protect us - overreacts and puts us into a state of anxiety when flying. What seemingly SHOULD happen sounds so terribly logical. But terrible logic can result when a person is unable to regulate emotion when flying and also unable to accept that the difficulty is within. Though you believe flying is dangerous, the facts dont line up with your belief. So, should I stand idly by as you assert that your view is rational? Should I stand idly by as you claim you dont fly because it is illogical to do so? If you should ever come to understand that your seemingly rational take on flying is rationalization driven by inability to self-regulate (at least when on a plane), the program I run can help you fix that. Another person posting as Fly by wired wrote as follows: I may have had similar thoughts as you Noz . . . . But it was based on a feeling and too many episodes of Air Crash Investigation. I think if you get into too many details about anything even remotely dangerous you can start to exaggerate. It may seem like a bigger danger than it is. Emotion and decision making. Disaster, if it seems too terrible to imagine, can cause an emotional impact that brings decision making to a halt. If something could happen that is completely unacceptable, it may become unthinkable to engage in an activity that could lead to that result. But the emotional impact of a collection of less dramatic concerns can add up and do the same thing. I think this is what happened to Noz, for he wrote, The number of factors external factors and influences involved in flying are immense. Since this issue is discussed in my book, I posted a few paragraphs from the book on how emotion can impair thinking. This message board thread and the passage that follows is an example of how the book can provide SOAR graduates with a deeper understanding of ourselves, our thoughts, and our feelings. Our decision making function is termed executive function. In the book, I refer to this inner decision-maker as the Inner CEO. Here are a few paragraphs about how a persons Inner CEO works well, or not so well. The following is from the book. Probability Versus Possibility A good CEO recognizes that every course of action—or inaction—involves some level of uncertainty. Your Executive Function, if it is to serve you well, must accept that there are no guarantees. When a good CEO builds a plan, the plan is based not on certainty but on what can be reasonably expected. The next step is to commit—not in the naïve “nothing bad can ever happen” sense, but in the mature acceptance that this commitment, like any other, could work out badly. If the plan carries a high risk of failure, Executive Function may wisely decide to not take the risk. But if the risk of failure is exceptionally low, it is dismissed as not worth consideration. Impaired Executive Function doesn’t like probability. It wants certainty. Make no mistake, if an outcome were certain, what need would there be for Executive Function? In other words, if the score of the Super Bowl had been established before the kickoff, there would be no need for quarterbacks. As it looks for certainty, Impaired Executive Function misses the big picture. It fixates instead on the small—in fact, minuscule—picture. It brushes aside what is by far the most likely outcome—that the plane will arrive just fine—and focuses instead on the tiny possibility of disaster. Though a fatality occurs once in twenty-some million flights, when Executive Function is impaired, its logic seems to be, if something is possible, it can happen. If it can happen, it can happen to me. At that point, the disaster becomes personal; the thought of being in a plane that is crashing triggers the release of stress hormones. Stress hormones, because they force Executive Function to focus on what the amygdalae are responding to, compel impaired Executive Function to view images of personal disaster, which make it appear that any plan of action will result in disaster. Seeing disaster as the only possibility, the second ABC step—building a plan of action—comes to a halt. With no plan to commit to, no signal can be sent to quiet the amygdalae. Stress hormones continue, fixation on disaster continues; no relief comes until the person decides to abandon the plan. Professors George Loewenstein and Jennifer Lerner summarize the process, saying “As the intensity of immediate emotions intensifies, they progressively take control of decision making and override rational decision making.” ========== Give Someone The Whole World This Holiday Season If you have six or more people on your shopping list this season, chances are one of them doesnt fly. Another one in six flies but with difficulty. Open up the whole world for them with SOAR, The Breakthrough Treatment for Fear of Flying. You can help someone get back into the air who thought they would never fly again. You can help someone who flies with difficulty fly with the same ease others do. Some anxious fliers fear the plane will crash. Others fear panic at 30,000 feet where there is no escape by which to gain relief. No matter what a person may have tried, this will work. Reviews on the Amazon and Barnes and Noble web sites, show a lot of people agree, including the former Surgeon General of the Navy, a professor of psychiatry, and many very satisfied clients. Would You Like To Send A Gift Wrapped Autographed Copy? Place an order at fearofflying/book for an autographed copy. Include the desired inscription and the word WRAP. If more detailed instructions need to be specified, email me when you place your order: tom@fearofflying ========== Feeling Confident I recently took a flight from Oakland to Honolulu and back this past week. I wanted to thank you for your assistance with the 30 minute counseling session, the take me along audio (downloaded on my SOAR Iphone app), and reading your book. This was the best flight I have had in 15 years. I still have some work to do (take-off anxiety and turbulence), but I am confident I can keep practicing my strengthening exercises to assist with these parts of my flights. I fly again in 2 weeks and I am feeling confident and only a little bit of anticipatory anxiety. Thank you Tom! ========== Isnt It Amazing Hi Capt. Tom, your articles are so interesting¡! it gives me the clues for so many things in my life, that I now begin to understand, so I can manage them much better. Your program REALLY works! I just came from 4 flights within 2 weeks, and I was amazed at how, even with high turbulence, I was able to control my self, beyond a point that the people traveling with me couldnt believe it. I still have a lot of work to do, but I am improving. I cant even remember the turbulence, even If I tried to play the picture to remember how bad it really was, I simply cant. Isnt it amazing? Sincerely,
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 00:28:17 +0000
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