Our monthly Cleared for Takeoff class met this weekend at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. For two hours, fearful flyers shared, learned, and asked Capt. Ron about fear of flying, takeoffs, turbulence, and landings.
Capt. Ron patiently answered questions and made new fear of flying fans with jokes like these: “Turbulence bothers me in the cockpit because I have to put down my copy of USA Today!” One woman told Capt. Ron he should be on Oprah because he’s so “caring and compassionate.”
During class, I always remain in the background, listening to students’ questions, jotting down blog ideas. Fearful flyer questions are good writing fodder. But during this Cleared for Takeoff class, I asked my own questions: “Where are all the men? Are women the only ones afraid to fly?” The majority of fearful flyers who come to class are women. Is fear of flying a female problem? Should we blame fear of flying on the fact that we’re the weaker, fairer sex? Could it be related to hormones??
Men do go online to order our FearlessFlight Harmonizer. They order downloads of our downloadable Cleared 4 Takeoff class. But by and large, they don’t go public with their fear of flying.
Why not? That four-letter word they don’t like to use: FEAR. And I’m not talking about flying fear. A lot of men are scared to admit they’re scared to fly. It’s about being brave. Being MANLY! It’s a macho thing not to be seen as a “wuss” about flying. So many men suffer in silence. They creatively disguise their flying fear by saying things like: “I’m bothered by flying” or ”I’m not a very good flyer” or ”I really hate to fly.”
So all you fearful flyer guys, as Dr. Phil says, “It’s time to get real.” It’s time to bring your fear of flying out of your carry-on baggage. Again to use Dr. Phil’s words of wisdom, “You can’t get over what you can’t acknowledge.” And there’s nobody better man than Capt. Ron to help you overcome it once you do admit it. He gets what it’s like to be a fearful flyer. He’s been there! He always begins class with the story of his first flight, which made a fearful flyer out of him until he finally overcame it to become a pilot.
We at Fearlessflight.com aren’t going to laugh at you or embarrass you or shame you. We recognize that flying scares the #@)?!#! out of you. You’re actually allowed to be afraid. And we don’t care whether you’re a man or a woman. You just have to want to become a better flyer.
