Are there tips and tricks to overcome a fear of flying?

After more than a decade in the cabin crew business, I think it's time now to share a tip or two I know:

• Keep your mind busy. Read a book, play a game on your smart phone, watch a movie, etc.
• Take an aisle seat. It will help you feel a bit in control when your anxiety peaks. A little walk around the cabin can relieve it.
• This is one of the cases where Xanax usage is legitimate, ask your doctor to prescribe some for you and use it shortly before the flight.
• The first hour or so of the flight will be the hardest, fear will be less after that and it might start peaking again before landing.
• Get enough sleep before the flight. Do not force yourself to be awake for long time before the flight planning to sleep the whole flight. If you have fear you know that you can't sleep, lack of sleep makes fear levels higher. Sleep well before the flight to have a better mood during the flight.
• No harm in telling a cabin crew member that you are worried about flying. If you ever felt scared during the flight, look at their smiling faces, this will help you realize that things are ok.
• Always remind yourself that flying is the safest transportation method.

Visit your local airfield and take a flying lesson or two. You'll better understand what's going on (Aha! He's adding flaps so the plane can fly slower!), and from then on the commercial flights might be much less scary by comparison. And who knows, you might like flying.

Many flight schools offer free or low-cost introductory lessons.

Distraction gives short-term relief while feeling fear during a flight. I draw and paint flower postcards when we hit turbulence. Big muscle activity helps to distract, but I must stay seated during turbulence, so at least my arms are in motion as I paint. Then I give the postcards to friends and others who read my books about Constructive Living as proof that one can be scared to death and produce something constructively.

Have you tried this website?:

http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-a-Fear-of-Flying

1 - Face the facts. Don't forget that the statistics are on your side. One study found that it's 261 times safer to take a plane from New York to Los Angeles than to drive the same distance. However, if this rational approach isn't doing much to address your irrational fear, then...

There are non-drug techniques for overcoming anxiety that a competent psychologist can teach you to do on your own as needed. There are a range of options that have been shown to be effective. Two examples are hypnosis and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), but there are others as well. A psychologist can help determine if these techniques can help you, and if so, which may be optimal in your case.

I remember reading a great answer by a pilot on a Delta non-rev forum addressing fear of flying. Can't find the link now, but basically it said that you need to think about the pilots as people, with families, life goals, etc, just like you.

They have had lots of training and experience, and like you, they have places to be back on land, and they will make 110% sure to give their best in order to get home safely back to their families.

Also, he mentioned about the extensive rules, maintenance schedules, and protocols that industry follows in order to keep everything running as smoothly as possible. Not to mention all the amazing new technology that has made commercial flying super-safe. Safer than driving, in fact.