Fear of Flying? Learn from Real Airline Pilots

No. We're active airline pilots who fly for major U.S. airlines. We're not therapists, anxiety counselors, or medical professionals. We share our knowledge of aviation and what's routine for us as pilots. Many people find that understanding flight operations from pilots who fly daily helps reduce their anxiety.

Our instructors fly for major U.S. airlines and regional carriers, operating Boeing 737s, Boeing 777s, Airbus 320s, ERJ-170/190s, and other aircraft. They fly daily from NYC hubs to domestic, European, Middle Eastern, and Asian destinations.

Absolutely. If you tell us your route, aircraft type, and departure time, we can walk you through what the pilots will be doing at each phase, what ATC communications will happen, and what you might experience. We fly these routes ourselves.

For many people, fear comes from not understanding what's happening. When you hear a strange noise or feel turbulence, your mind imagines the worst. When you understand that it's a normal part of flight that pilots experience every day, it often reduces the anxiety. We can't promise it will cure your fear, but knowledge often helps.

Not at all. Most of our fear-of-flying clients have no interest in learning to fly. They just want to understand aviation well enough to be more comfortable as passengers. We tailor the session to your goals.

Modern aircraft have redundant systems for everything critical. If one system fails, there are backups—and backups for the backups. Pilots train for emergency scenarios every six months in simulators. What seems like an emergency to passengers is often a routine procedure we've practiced dozens of times. We can show you exactly how pilots handle abnormal situations.

That's usually turbulence or the sensation during a normal descent. Your inner ear can't distinguish between actual falling and changes in acceleration. When we hit turbulence, the plane might drop a few feet, but it feels more dramatic to your body. The plane is designed to handle far more stress than what you're feeling.

We're monitoring the aircraft, communicating with ATC about smoother altitudes, coordinating with dispatch and other pilots, and ensuring the seatbelt sign is on. Turbulence is uncomfortable, but it's not dangerous. We experience it routinely and know how to manage it. Sometimes we can climb or descend to smoother air, sometimes we just ride it out.

We experience concern and heightened alertness in abnormal situations, but not fear in the way passengers do. That's because we understand what's happening, why it's happening, and what the procedures are. Training and knowledge replace fear with competence. That's what we hope to share with you.

It's a collaborative decision between pilots, dispatchers, maintenance, and ATC, all focused on safety. If weather is too severe, if maintenance finds an issue that needs fixing, or if ATC restricts flights, the flight gets delayed. No one is pressured to "push it." Every delay is a safety decision.