Over 1 Billion people flew on commercial airplanes in the year 2000. There were over 18 Million flights and only 20 fatal accidents. Compare this with almost 42,000 traffic accidents in that same year, and you can see that airline travel is much safer than driving by car.

However, many people are so afraid to fly in a plane that they experience negative physical and mental symptoms at the very thought, even though they have no problem driving or riding in a car.

Probably the most important thing to keep in mind is that, while it may seem that the risk of flying is the cause of the fear, that is probably not the case at all. As with all phobias, the underlying cause is anxiety, which can be triggered by many different factors.

There is very little that an airline passenger can control in his surroundings. The climate cannot be adjusted if it is too hot or too cold. If the surroundings are cramped, it is difficult to make space and you can’t open a window to get fresh air. When turbulence rocks the plane, we have no brake or other controls to manage the situation. We can’t even see and probably don’t know the pilot. Contrast this to an automobile, which we either control by driving ourselves, or know and trust the driver personally.

Because we have to relinquish control, little frustrations take on bigger than life proportions on a plane. A little turbulence becomes an out of control plane spinning toward a crash. A runway delay leads to all kinds of negative thoughts as to why the plane can’t take off. Tight quarters close in more and more until we feel there is no escape.

A lot of people fight and beat these worries in their subconscious mind before they are even aware they have surfaced. Many others, however, confront some form of panic when faced with a flight, varying in degree from bearable, to tense, right up the scale to full out panic attack.

The good news is that there are ways to conquer your fears without drugs or expensive therapy. As with all anxieties, the first step is to understand the cause of the fear, and then it can be faced.