... sat by a bloke on a plane who told me the reason the wings move like they're not screwed on properly is because if they didn't they'd fall off. So if you're sat by the wing and it's moving a bit - that's normal. Hope this helps.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/unusual-attitude/2010/07/easyjet-airbu...

fortunately they only explained that we'd been struck by lightning after we landed ...as I think I might have been a tad worried---though in general I am the fatalistic type, and worry less about flying than life in general ...

so I'll nominate Joni Mitchell's Clouds---you need to see them from both sides ...

...just after takeoff and before landing are the wheels retracting\lowering. Why they never warn you of this, I'll never know.

Can't say I enjoy flying, but it really is the safest for of transport.

And yes, you really do want the wings to have a bit of flex in them.

One for the playlist - "Flying" by the Beatles.

Die!

I find shouting that a few times during the flight helps any fear of flying I have.

inflight track: Flight of Icarus ~ Judas Priest

(Sorry!)

I find the best way to take yourself away to another place is to listen to The Word podcast.

Seriously, I have a great number of them loaded on my iPod. I invested in some Bose noise cancelling headphones. I do a lot of flying and they really help protect the old lugs.

my choice of accompaniment is The Best Way To Travel by The Moody Blues

And your plane was going down, you'd rather be with this jolly lot than the miserable sods in Lost, wouldn't you?

(Video is Bright Eyes - At The Bottom Of Everything)

I'm ok flying, and work means I fly pretty much every month. Statistically it is the safest form of travel. And it may help to keep in mind that most of the major parts and systems have back-ups just in case of failure. And as was said above, planes are designed to flex and rattle a bit.

Some people never get fully comfortable flying - including some guys I work with. Which is ironic given we make lots of bits which go on planes. The most common "solutions" seem to be alcohol or distractions (books, films, iPods etc). I find active noise cancelling headphones a big help, as they can help shut out the flying environment and replace it with something more soothing.

Have a good trip; "Alone In Berlin" is a great book, one ofnthe few that the GLW and I both rate highly.

Song : "This Flight Tonight" - the Nazareth version.

Despite the fact that all you do is sit in a tube facing forward for a few hours.

It's not a natural place for a human being to find themselves, safe though it is thanks to velocity and lift. Have flown to Australia and back once in my life and am still mildly boggled by the fact that I spent about 24 hours suspended in the stratosphere each way. Eating, sleeping, drinking, talking. At 40,000ft. For a whole day and night.

Incredible, really.

was to think of turbulence in exactly the same way you would think of a boat bumping over waves in the sea. The principle of an airplane travelling in the air is the same as a boat travelling in the sea. Somehow that has always comforted me.

the flying part is great and nothing to be frightened of. It's all the silly busines around flying that pisses me off. The security measures that don't make me feel secure, just angry. The cattle class budget airlines that stiff you for extras at every available opportunity.

That's why my next trip to Europe is going to be by train.

...about flying, in fact I just couldn't bring myself to get on a plane for over 10 years.

In the end the pressure from the family to fly to Canada with them was just too much so I decided to give it another go. The answer :

DRUGS

I took a significant amount of diazepam (all above board and from my GP, just considerably more than he prescribed for one dose !)Taking a large dose is apparently safe enough as a one off (or two-off as you'll need to get home)

Even such a large dose didn't actually knock me out, but it did make the 8 hour flight do-able - just. Fear of flying is a bugger to control.

You come in over a big lake, surrounded by mountains, often with horrendous -veG turbulence. The plane then, in the final stages of descent, stands on one wingtip at what feels like about 500m to perform a screaming 180° turn before thumping onto the tarmac.

The chap sitting next to me the other year told me of one flight he'd been on where the pilot made three tries at an approach, through awful turbulence, aborting each time just before the big turn. He announced that the weather had improved and he was going for one more try and the passengers basically rioted, forcing him to divert to Lyon.

I either heard on a podcast (maybe the Skepics Guide) or read recently that in first world/western countries (btw I'm making the stats up from memory), you would need to fly about 15 million times (or once a day for about 40 thousand years) before your odds are up. Even in third-world countries you still needed around a million flights.

Or you could follow the lead of the statistician who took a bomb in his luggage on every plane he took, on the grounds that it would be incredibly improbably for there to be two different bombs on the same plane!

Which with the benefit of hindsight, is pretty ironic.

Most probably flipped the wrong switch and turned the fuel pump off...

I suffered from panic attacks for about 10 years, and had always had a fear of flying that had set back my career.

I went to a counsellor regarding the panic attacks. Ten sessions (private) and £500 later, the panic attacks had gone. Also, completely unexpectedly, so had the fear of flying. We never even discussed that. I can now get on a plane without any problem at all and regularly do. I like looking out of the window.

Therefore from my perspective it must all be about control and the unrealistic expectations one has of oneself, because that's what the panic attacks were. You have to learn to let go and trust other people.

Another comforting thought for me is that I live under a busy flight path. How many of those planes have fallen from the sky onto my house?

...but I actually rather like flying now, having been quite nervous of it for many years. Takeoff is my least comfortable moment, but everything else I actively enjoy. I just make sure I have a G&T and maybe a beer or a glass of wine, and that soothes quite nicely. It's just a case of rationalising to myself that very very few people ever come a cropper on planes. It's safer than crossing the road by a country mile.

Also, of course, the last few times I've flown I've had small children to look after. In acting like flying is no big deal for their sake, I've found that flying is no big deal. They LOVE it, too (and here's where the iPad is seriously useful: back-to-back Peppa Pig).

I've flown regularly since I was a child (my parents lived abroad) and I always loved it. Then on my honeymoon about 15 years ago I had the most awful flight ever, severe turbulence, overhead lockers pinging open, stewardess's trolley in the air, people forcibly hoiked out of the loo and strapped in, and finally an emergency landing and it put me off for ages, naturally.

But I thought if I become afraid then I'll never travel, so I made myself realise it was a one-off. Now I just ride turbulence like it were a rollercoaster, and it helps.

My wife, who was always terrified of flying, dreamt she died in a plane crash and since then she's been fine. She flew to Washington today and was quite looking forward to it.

It's not that bad things won't happen, but they're rare. Enjoy it.

a fear of flying, and undertook a course of counselling, went up in a light aircraft as aversion therapy etc etc.

After weeks of treatment, he finally believed himself cured, and was overjoyed; so much so that he booked himself and his girlfriend onto one of the final round-trips to New York that went out on Concorde, and back on the QE2. A considerable investment.

He never made it past the departure lounge.

So my condolences on your affliction. My advice; don't book anything more expensive than RuinAir to Dublin midweek until you realy, really know you're over it!

who had a phobia about flying and was due in Faro the next day. So, we put half a bottle of whisky down his throat and made him watch 'Battle of Britain'. For some reason, this seemed to make things worse.

My wife gradually developed a real fear of flying over the years to the extent that she would start to become really anxious a month or so before we were due to fly. About 4 years ago she was hypnotised and taught some relaxation techniques. These really helped remove the anxiety leading upto the flight and although she still didn't enjoy the flight she was a lot better than normal.

Me? I love taking off and landing it's just being up there I don't like.

In my experience, people who fear flying come under two categories:

1) Those who fear being involved in plane crash
2) Those who fear feeling trapped somewhere with no escape route

I'm a 2. And I think it's just the last remnants of my agoraphobia, rather than a fear of flying itself.

I hope you have an enjoyable trip.

Hope so, although anybody who isn't just a little bit afraid of flying is a fool, IMHO. My wife went on a BA fear of flying course (which worked, by the way - she hadn't been on a plane for 15 years). She learnt about all the scary rattles, creaks and bumps, and they gave a certificate to produce on subsequent flights. It got her into the cockpit more than once. They laid on their most awe-inspiring silver-haired pilots for the course, one of whom said, "When I started in this job flying was dangerous and sex was safe. Now it's the other way round." Brought the house down...

If my memory is correct - and it may be way wrong - the safest form of transport is, in fact, the lift (or elevator).
However, as was demonstrated on Mythbusters, your chances of surviving a free falling lift situation are about as close to zero as you can get. It's certainly less than your chance of surviving a plane crash.
You have to look at it as the likelihood of something happening vs the consequences if it actually did happen.
Funnily enough for most people averse to lifts it's the confined space that's the big issue, whereas I believe it's being "up there" that's the problem for most flyers although, as Lucifer Sam said, the being trapped element affects many people too.
Console yourself with the irrefutable probability that your flight will almost certainly be a safe one. You will still get those white knuckles taking off and landing but really anyone who doesn't hasn't truly grasped the seriousness of the situation

Thanks to one and all for the pointers,tips and clips!. It has certainy helped and put my mind at rest a bit. I'm sure I'll still be nervous before the departure, but there's no going back now! People have far worse things in ife to deal with, so hope I haven't come across as some nervous idiot!

Another favourite:

Thanks for all the song suggestions, I've put all the ones I could find on here and a few others. Enjoy.

http://open.spotify.com/user/lordwright/playlist/0i6Azm5QcWROFd6Pyvr9dP