aviation disasters<\/a> is amplifying anxiety,\u201d said Anjali Chhabria, a Mumbai-based psychiatrist. \u201cEven if someone hasn\u2019t experienced trauma personally, the constant stream of bad news creates a sense of danger.\u201dK Dinesh, founder, Cockpit Vista, and a retired Indian Air Force wing commander, has seen it all\u2014CEOs gripping books like life jackets, elderly couples haunted by decades-old trauma, and passengers frozen at boarding gates. Some drown the fear in music or medication, others, in alcohol. \u201cBars near boarding gates aren\u2019t just for leisure. Some passengers knock back four or five pegs just to get on board.\u201dPsychologists say the fear is more pronounced among high-calibre travellers like engineers, entrepreneurs, and scientists, who are accustomed to always being in charge. \u201cFlying forces them to surrender\u2014to an unseen pilot in a sealed cockpit,\u201d said K Dinesh, of the Bengaluru-based counselling centre for fearful flyers. \u201cThat\u2019s where the panic begins.\u201d![\"Feeling](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/et-logo.jpg\" "\\"Feeling")
The centre has seen a marked rise in inquiries after the Air India crash. Using flight simulators, it recreates take-offs, landings, turbulence, and cabin sounds in a controlled setting. \u201cMost people don\u2019t realise that not every bump or noise signals danger,\u201d he said. \u201cBy the end of the course, even the most anxious begin to regain confidence.\u201d<\/p>\nIn a typical 180-seater aircraft, nearly 30-40%of passengers are silently battling some form of anxiety or phobia of varying degrees\u2014a figure that aligns with global aviation data.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are altering travel plans, choosing trains over planes, or extending holidays to avoid flying. It may not be rational, but it\u2019s completely human,\u201d said psychiatrist Batra. \u201cOur brains are wired to fear the recent and the dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dinesh cited the instance of a sharply-dressed executive sitting on a flight, seemingly calm, until he noticed sweat trickling down the man\u2019s temple. \u201cHe hadn\u2019t turned a page in 15 minutes. When I asked, he admitted, \u2018I\u2019m terrified of flying\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contrary to assumptions, the fear isn\u2019t restricted to novices and often, it permeates those with deep knowledge and analytical minds, according to aviation experts.<\/p>\n
They noted that flyers realise that unlike cars or trains, flying does not offer an exit mid-way to the destination, which can be overwhelming for some. In extreme cases, flyers have demanded to be allowed off minutes prior to take-off. <\/p>\n
For many, recovery starts not with the anxious flyer, but with an \u201cenabler\u201d\u2014a parent, spouse or friend\u2014who nudges them to seek help. At Cockpit Vista, these companions can attend sessions free of charge. \u201cPeople don\u2019t willingly sign up for fear therapy. But with someone by their side, they take the leap,” said Batra.<\/p>\n
And the fear doesn\u2019t always announce itself as a panic attack. Often, it creeps in quietly, changing behaviours. Chhabria notes that some couples now travel separately to reduce the chance of a shared disaster.<\/p>\n
Even minor aviation incidents like runway overshoots or emergency landings can erode confidence. While airlines abroad such as British Airways and Lufthansa carry out formal fear-of-flying programmes, there is no such programme offered by Indian airlines currently, leaving Cockpit Vista as the sole structured support system for such passengers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe media forgets a crash in five days. But a fearful flyer remembers it forever,” said a therapist.<\/p>\n
For many travellers, it is a battle fought not just in the air but well before they even reach the boarding gate in an airport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last month\u2019s plane crash in Ahmedabad has made fliers nervous. \u201cAfter a tragedy like this, fear of flying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4317],"tags":[74237,76916,111149,111147,26219,58736,105,218,111148,111146,111144,111145,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-300573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-air-india-crash","9":"tag-air-travel-anxiety","10":"tag-airline-safety-awareness","11":"tag-aviation-disasters","12":"tag-fear-of-flying","13":"tag-flight-anxiety","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-mental-health","16":"tag-mental-health-and-flying","17":"tag-passenger-anxiety-management","18":"tag-plane-crash-impact","19":"tag-psychological-effects-of-air-travel","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114935259746952736","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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