In brief
- Declaring you’ll never fly again is a common response to a stressful flight
- It’s important to reflect on the experience and avoid making rash decisions
- Instead, take some time to process what’s happened
- Flying is safe and there is help available to give you the confidence to fly calmly, including self-help options and professional support
Saying you’ll quit flying is really common
Stating that you’ll stop flying after a stressful experience is a frequent reaction.
Whether you’ve just stepped off a stressful flight, seen a news report or viral video about a crash, or just found your fear of flying is getting too much, your fear is real – but you don’t need to let it define your future.
Rather than acting on intense emotions, you should look to accept your fear and examine it. Doing so can help you find ways to cope.
It might also provide a period of reflection and a realisation that you might need to get professional support.
Why you might want to stop flying forever
Some people stop flying for ethical or environmental reasons – and those are all valid.
If it’s a fear of flying that’s stopping you from stepping onto a plane, then the first thing to do is to unpick what’s caused this situation:
- Have you recently had a bad flight?
- Have you seen negative media stories or online videos or crashes, turbulent flights or dangerous weather conditions?
- Has a parent, loved one, family member or friend shared stories about a bad flight?
- Is your flight anxiety part of a general increase in anxiety in your life?
In some cases, the decision to quit flying is a snap one taken in the moment. For others, it can be the outcome of several months, years or even decades of anxiety.
Only you will know what’s caused your fear of flying and we can show you some ways that you can help to regain the confidence you need to fly calmly.
Take time to reflect after a bad flight
A stressful flight can be a painful experience for everyone (including pilots!). The cause – whether it’s flying through bad weather, turbulence, an aborted takeoff or landing, cabin depressurisation, diverted flight, or something else – matter less than the impact.
It’s important to relax emotionally after a stressful flight. This can help the healing process that comes through reflection.
The experience of turbulence may be uncomfortable, but it’s not dangerous. In the end, your flight landed safely.
Processing an experience is a psychological term that means placing it into context.
While the experience you went through was understandably and objectively tough, processing it means finding the strength not to let it define your future.
You need to find ways to tell your brain that just because that flight was bad, not all future flights will be bad.
Increase understanding of aviation risks
It’s easy to become sucked into a social media rabbit hole, viewing endless videos of turbulence, bad weather and flight disasters.
These can, in the words of psychologists, distort our perceptions of the real world and the risk of flying.
What’s happening is that these videos create and compound feelings of anxiety. The more we watch, the more worried we can become. But we’re encouraged (through the algorithm) to watch more.
The key is to break the cycle and focus on reducing stress, not amplifying it. Breathing, grounding and mindfulness techniques can all help divert attention and reduce anxiety.
Instead of focusing on what ifs, you can learn to concentrate on what is happening right now – taking charge of your life and restoring some calm and confidence.
Avoid being influenced by others
It’s easy for us to be influenced by others, especially when they tell us stories about flights falling thousands of metres through the sky, for example.
The reality is that humans have a tendency to embellish and exaggerate stories. What may have been a bad flight quickly becomes a life or death experience.
The first thing to recognise is that while the flight was uncomfortable, it’s very unlikely to have been unsafe. They’re there to tell the tale precisely because commercial aviation is as safe as it is.
Traumatic flights are rare and the chances of you experiencing an aborted landing, moderate or higher turbulence, or a loss of cabin pressure are very low.
Even if you do, these are uncomfortable – not dangerous.
You can read our breakdown of aviation stats to see the real risks of flying.
Anxiety becoming a phobia? Consider professional help
Flight anxiety can become a phobia where it affects you in how you live your life. You may experience anticipatory anxiety and become triggered by something as small as seeing a plane in the sky.
Sometimes, aviophobia can be part of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) – a condition that causes chronic and excessive worry that can last months or even years.
We’re not medical experts and can’t provide a medical diagnosis. However, we would recommend that if your fear of flying is impacting your life and stopping you from doing things you love, then you should speak to a professional or get expert support.
Fly or not to fly, the choice is yours – so make it calmly
At Fly Above Fear, we love flying and want you to love it too – but if you don’t, that’s OK.
If you decide you’re never flying again, that’s your choice. But make it for the right reasons, and do so calmly and in command of all the facts.
You can check out our Fear of Flying section for information and advice. The Help Desk is the place to go for guides on how to tackle anxiety and techniques that can restore calm. If you’re flying soon, download the free Calm Flight Toolkit.
There are also incredible resources online and professional support available to help you to gain the confidence to fly.
Please share this article with anyone who might benefit from it.
FAQs
After a stressful or frightening experience, the brain often looks for certainty and safety. Saying you’ll never fly again is a common emotional response. It’s usually a temporary response, not a long-term decision to stop flying.
Turbulence (and other forms of weather) are expected and closely managed parts of flying. While turbulence, rain, hail and snow can feel dangerous, they’re not. Flying remains overwhelmingly safe.
We recommend you wait until the emotional intensity of the experience has settled. Giving yourself time to process things and don’t put pressure on yourself. When you’re ready, think about what happened rationally. Sometimes, understanding what happened and getting some support can help to restore your confidence.